The Italian cyclist Daniele Nardello won the Tour de France twice. Ever heard of him? I hadn’t. I’ve never seen anyone wearing his fluorescent charity-branded rubber wristband. I’ve never heard about him dating Ashley Olsen when she was half his age, either. In fact, despite twice dominating

Diamonds are precious because we think they’re scarce. They’re not [http://diamondssuck.com]. We get precious about our work because we think creative opportunity is scarce. It isn’t. Want to cure writer’s block? Adopt an abundance mindset: * There are more than enough readers for the work

Whatever you’re working on, whatever you’re grappling with: relax, relax, relax some more. Breathe. Make it a deep one. Drop your shoulders. There you go. Now your jaw—open your  mouth wide and then let all the tension go. That’s right. You’re doing it. At a

In publishing parlance, I’m not “in house” anymore, meaning I no longer hold a full-time editorial position at a book publisher. (Ironically, I now work in my actual house.) It wasn’t an easy transition. When I left those roles behind, they stood me up in front of the

In a recent New Yorker: > Any work that resonates in some way can only be autobiographical. It just comes in different crypto-forms. This is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who wrote and directed The Lives of Others. His new film, Never Look Away, is loosely based on the life of

As a kid, I thought tonic water was just a weird-tasting soda my grandparents liked to drink. I had no idea it was medicine. Originally, people drank tonic water to ward off malaria. The gin was optional—in theory. Tonic water contains quinine, a bitter extract of cinchona tree bark

Welcome new subscribers! I hope you like the Maven Game. There are many excellent options in the newsletter space today. I appreciate your giving this humble operation your attention. And now, on to the intellectual pyrotechnics someone told you to expect! But first, a bit of housekeeping for my existing

> George: You don’t think she’d “yada yada” sex… Elaine: I’ve yada yada’d sex. George: Really? Elaine: Yeah. I met this lawyer, we went out to dinner, I had the lobster bisque, we went back to my place, yada yada yada, I never heard from him

Turns out, what was formerly known as Moldawer’s Law [http://mavengame.com/2017/07/immolate-yourself-in-your-writing/]—”experts struggle the most in their own area of expertise”—is even older than I’d thought. Hundreds and hundreds of years older. From Ram Dass [https://beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-ep-5-darshan/]: > I was only

In South Korea, people now pay to be locked up [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-prisonstay-idUSKCN1NS0JB]. The daily grind there is so stressful, prison has become a viable alternative: no deadlines, no performance evaluations, no commute. This could be the next big South Korean import since The Good Doctor… It’