I feel like I should preface this post by saying that this isn’t a post about the book Rework. While I’m sure it’s an excellent book, and probably covers ideas worth thinking about here on Thoughtwrestling, I really wanted to talk about … well, rework. As in, “having to do something over again, because it…
Tag Archive: creative work
Creative tools you really need – and about your wants
TweetSometimes I get mad when people think they need a certain kind of computer, notebook, coffee or location to do creative work. I think that’s utter crap. Let’s look at some popular misconceptions about creativity. We’ll look at what you need to be creative. The cool part is that you don’t have to spend much money…
What is your motivation?
You’ve got to feel good about yourself, and other people, before you can reach your potential. Otherwise, your life is going to be like a psychic game of Snakes and Ladders where all you do is slide further and further downward when you try to move forward. Or will it? The scenario that I described…
The Conduit
Lately I’ve been doing more baking than usual, making stuff like Chinese steamed buns and cinnamon rolls. While kneading some dough recently I had an epiphany, thinking to myself: “this is what thoughtwrestling is.” If your ideas are raw materials, thoughtwrestling kneads them into a smooth ball of dough. Dough is the intermediate stage of…
Dancing with the Romantics: How I do my best creative work
Mark, the Broadcasting Brain, has simple needs: he does his best work at the kitchen table with papers spread out around him. I do too. Bill finds there’s an astonishing lot of physical movement in the apparently sedentary act of writing, and a good hike with his dog can shake out the ideas. Same here….
Dealing with the lonely pursuit of creative work
Much creative work is solitary and/or lonely. The act of trying to create something that no one has ever seen or said before is something that has to be done alone, by definition. Even while working in teams or with a collaborative partner, you must still extract your thoughts and ideas and give them form….
Dig something big
There’s a quote from the afterword to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (the first book in his excellent series of novels about Roland the gunslinger, his ka-tet, the Man in Black, and the Dark Tower) that has been imprinted in my mind ever since I read it. I thought I’d share it with…