You might have noticed that I didn’t send an essay last week. No, I wasn’t being lazy. I’m never overwhelmed and I never procrastinate, either. The truth is, I was engaged in a period of quiet contemplation [https://mavengame.com/2020/02/one-about-words/]. Impressed? You should be.

Lately, I’ve been pondering the difference between thinking and contemplation. Thinking has more than its share of negative connotations. For example: If someone shouts “Think!” at you, they’re not too happy with whatever it is you just did. (In my experience, anyway.) No one’s ever shouted “Contemplate!

> At the age of six, I wanted to be a cook. At seven, I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.Salvador Dalí You like cancel culture? Try canceling everything. No more side-projects. No more project-projects, either. Marie Kondo didn’t go far

> Do you want me to strike this?Ron Albertson, Waiting for Guffman I took a few stage-directing classes in school, but I didn’t learn much in the way of formal technique. (The theater department of my liberal arts college abhorred all things “pre-professional.”) When directing a play, I’

In response to last week’s essay [https://mavengame.com/2020/01/guy-wash-your-glasses/] —about revising your work without getting bogged down in the details—Maven Game reader Nick Matiasz writes: > Your advice reminds me of Dr. Betty S. Flowers’s four-step approach to writing — madman, architect, carpenter, judge. Nick

Any random lifestyle influencer can tell you to wash your face (and become spectacularly successful with that important, if somewhat obvious, piece of advice [https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lauraturner/rachel-hollis-girl-wash-your-face-self-help-book] ). But how many will remind you to wash your glasses? Two? Three? I’m going to own this niche.

In Norse mythology—I enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s collection in particular—Thor and his brother, Loki, confront the troll Útgarða-Loki. In one of a series of humiliating defeats, Thor engages in a drinking contest with the troll. Útgarða-Loki empties his horn with a single gulp. Thor, however, despite quaffing three

Back in college, I took a video course. (My heart’s desire had been to go pro with the weekly newsletter thing, but it was the late 90s and I was ahead of my time. Now that there’s big money in newsletters, you can probably major in it.) For

A friend texted me the recent New York Times article about dopamine fasting. [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/style/dopamine-fasting.html] “This was made for you,” he added unnecessarily. (Naturally, my wife had already shared it with me. Plus, I’d seen it first. Because I’m constantly

Writer and woodworker Jim Dillon [https://thousanddollarshop.blogspot.com/] wrote to me after last week’s essay [https://mavengame.com/2019/11/robot-mode/]: > GOOD ONE! Jim has been reading the Maven Game long enough to know how to capture my attention: emphatic compliments in ALL CAPS. > My work