learn to love that pond

As a teenager, Pat Metheny was a musical prodigy. Well into his sixties, he's still teaching, performing, composing, and recording. Why? He couldn't possibly have anything left to prove, could he? Apparently not: "I am definitely well into the not-giving-a-shit zone of my career,"

tuning in

(I'll be moderating a panel on book auctions at the U.S. Book Show this week. If you'll be at the event on Tuesday, please swing by.) I've wanted to discuss the Believer's interview with Michael Imperioli since the magazine came in

breaking it in

No serious pitcher plays with a brand-new glove. You've got to break it in first. Stretch a couple of heavy-duty rubber bands around it, or sleep with it under your mattress—the methods vary, but the principle remains the same. You break a glove in a little if

the dose makes the poison

When crafting advice for others, remember your Paracelsus: dosis sola facit venenum. Latin a little rusty? "Only the dose makes the poison." It isn't enough to tell us what might help. As an expert, the least you can do is tell us the least we can

let's get ready to ramble

Making my way through the sprawling Wheel of Time series (WoT) as a young aspiring writer, I often wondered how author Robert Jordan did it on a technical level: How could one person keep so much information straight across one enormous book after another while telling an epic story? As

skimping on prep

Recipes list prep time for a reason. There's nothing worse than getting four pans bubbling on the stove only to realize you needed a chopped onion thirty seconds ago. Fresh out of college, I made videos with friends and shared them at parties. This was pre-YouTube, so the

no pain, all gain

They'll tell you not to compare your insides to other people's outsides. You won't listen. As a writer, it's hard not to envy Brandon Sanderson, the prolific and successful fantasy novelist. Forget the $41.7 million Kickstarter campaign and all the best-sellers

stating the obvious

"What were they wearing?" "Something...brown. Maybe?" My wife notices clothing. I don't. When I try to remember a situation, the clothing data just isn't there. It's hazy, like trying to read a book in a dream. Shirts? Pants? A

the notes you don't play

"The Old Man and the Sea could have been over a thousand pages long and had every character in the village in it and all the processes of how they made their living, were born, educated, bore children, et cetera," Ernest Hemingway told The Paris Review. "That

just do it

In 1986, I watched William Shatner host Saturday Night Live. Great host, great episode: You had the Enterprise refitted as a theme restaurant and Shatner exhorting Star Trek fans at a convention to get a life, among other excellent sketches from one of the best casts in the show'