Category: Productivity

The Right Mindset for Creativity

Everything we need to know about getting our head in the right place so we can, you know, make up stuff…and turn it into that lovely little thing called art. (Well, it wouldn’t sound nearly as cool if we said “that lovely little thing called product,” would it?

mindsetby Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson

In his wildly popular 2006 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson defined creativity as “the process of having original ideas that have value.” Aside from being wonderfully succinct, this definition implies that any creative enterprise requires two key phases:

Phase 1: Coming up with an original idea read article

Peggy Bechko: How to Doom Your Novel or Script

the-agony-of-defeat-trevor-batstoneby Peggy Bechko

Looking to Doom Your Novel or Script?

You laugh.

Ha ha. read article

Make Others Believe in You by Believing in Yourself

charismatic-leader

Whether we call it self-confidence or self-delusion, creating an awareness of your self-worth and ability that you can share with others is certainly one of the keys to success in any field, especially any showbiz field, and that includes writing.

In the following video, AJ Jacobs has a fascinating approach to this process. It’s called “Method Acting,” and we don’t doubt for a minute that it works:

Everything We Need to Know About Failure

TVWriter™'s latest hero. And not just cuz he's standing by some drums.
TVWriter™’s latest hero. And not just cuz he’s standing by some drums.

…From a guy who definitely made this talk a success for us:

We used to be kinda proud of being aimless. Well, okay, not proud exactly, but definitely amused. Watching and listening to James Murphy, above, has caused us to re-examine our lives. read article

LB: The TV Shows I Actually Watch

Glad You Asked Department 6/17/13

question_ditkoToday’s question comes from Lydia, who wants to know:

When you’re sitting back and chilling, what TV shows do you watch? Are you a fan of shows that are critical darlings, or do you secretly love the kind of genre stuff that most people won’t admit to getting into? For that matter, are you secretly a reality show fan? You can trust me with your secrets. I won’t be judgmental. Or not too much anyway.

I get asked questions like Lydia’s quite a bit – mostly when hanging out at my favorite coffee house (hey, it’s the Seattle area – everyone here’s got a favorite coffee house), so even though I know every reader is going to have a judgment about this (because every reader is, after all, human) here’s my reply: read article