the word-count remedy

I was in a funk earlier this week. It'd be easy to blame the news for my mood, but I've never found blocking websites or shutting off social media to be much help. (Believe me, I've tried.) In fact, I lean into depressing news

hit the sustain pedal

Jane Friedman admitted something wonderful in yesterday's Electric Speed newsletter: I don’t send as frequently as most, I don’t study my metrics, and I don’t follow best practices on email length or subscriber retention. Could I be doing better if I modified my practices? Maybe.

putting the pieces together

Pieces of You was one of the soundtracks of my college experience—along with pretty much everyone else in the late 90s—but according to this article in the Wall Street Journal, Jewel's debut album was far from a smash hit out of the gate. In fact, sales

the art of practical writing

I'm excited to dig into The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act. Like Freudian analysis, the Method erupted onto the scene, turned conventional beliefs upside down, and quickly became dominant. One day soon, the Method may be supplanted, also like Freud's work. But by

all pent up on purpose

In his his excellent guide A Writer’s Time, Kenneth Achity offers a choice little tip: Since writing a book is no mean undertaking, you owe it to yourself to start the project with a vacation, let’s say, on Maui. This is the kind of practical writing advice I’

the click

There's a moment in The Doors: Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player, asks the band for five minutes alone (five minutes!) to put together an opening for their new song, "Light My Fire." Morrison et al head outside. A moment later, Manzarek calls them back and plays

the bucket list

Lately, most of my active project work has involved mapping content to parts, chapters, and sections of books. In other words, figuring out what a particular book should contain and in what order. People get stuck here. It's overwhelming. You need a solid process or you're

learning from the schlep

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree," Lincoln said, "and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Good advice for 19th-century lumberjack Presidents. Bad advice for writers. Chop first. Chop a whole cord of wood. Then reach for the whetstone. Even better,

deactivating the ugh field

Chronic respiratory issues kept the young Patrick O'Brian out of school and sometimes landed him in a hospital bed. As a result, the precocious boy spent many hours alone growing up, bored out of his mind and desperate for an escape. Naturally, he turned to books and magazines.

phoning it in

"Everything I do is the most important thing I do," the actor Mads Mikkelsen told an interviewer [https://www.vulture.com/article/mads-mikkelsen-in-conversation.html], continuing: > Whether it’s a play or the next film. It is the most important thing. I know it’s not going to