14 writers offer some extensive insights into their work and the writer’s life. Here are some of the stand-out points:
Elmore Leonard:
Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you [...]
Writer’s write, the best writers write and mop the kitchen floor
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 24 February, 2010 to the comment subset
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Different degrees of passion for different folks
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 22 February, 2010 to the comment subset
Interesting reading. There are three types of people in the world, those who have no passion at all (yet are still content), those with a passion for one thing, and those passionate about everything.
People with a passion for one thing are those who have found some calling in life and live and breathe that [...]
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Structured procrastination, let’s give this a whirl then
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 16 February, 2010 to the comment subset
In short the way to complete a crucial task is to convince yourself it is not as important as something else, therefore making it easier to tackle.
All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastinating does [...]
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If I could overcome procrastination I could banish creative block
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 12 February, 2010 to the comment subset
25 artists and creatives talk about how they deal with creative block.
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Venn: productivity = motivation – procrastination – workload
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 25 January, 2010 to the comment subset
An article at Hicksdesign about the amount of work, or more like lack of work, most of us complete in a typical eight hour day, started me thinking about what constitutes actual, or real, productivity.
We might spent eight hours a day working, but what do we actually achieve in real terms? Not so much [...]
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The “I don’t sleep, I write” remedy for writer’s block
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 20 January, 2010 to the comment subset
A tip for boosting your writing output may also be a solution for fending off writer’s block, by never allowing it to set in.
A friend who just finished writing a(n excellent) book in a short period of time says you have to ignore your brain when it tells you it’s done for the [...]
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Relax, chill out, have fun, that’s the way to get things done
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 2 December, 2009 to the comment subset
Rory Marinich’s hedonstic variation of the Getting Things Done system of time management and productivity.
When you focus on producing, you ignore the importance of everything but production. That’s just as unhealthy as not producing. Sure, it might get you doing some of the menial bullshit you’d rather avoid, but if you’re filing important creative [...]
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If it worked for Einstein it has to work for the rest of us
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 9 October, 2009 to the comment subset
The key to Albert Einstein’s success was to intensely focus his attention on a small number of projects rather than trying to achieve a dozen things at the same time.
Einstein’s push for general relativity highlights an important reality about accomplishment. We are most productive when we focus on a very small number of projects [...]
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Productivity, it’s all about less talk, and more action
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 to the comment subset
All you need to know about being productive in four simple words.
… if however you were looking for slightly more advice on boosting motivation and productivity, then this should be helpful.
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It’s not how much time you have it’s how organise that time
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 3 September, 2009 to the comment subset
The ability to effectively utilise small pockets of spare time – can give those determined to succeed in whatever they are doing – the edge over others who are apparently more talented and passionate.
A lot of people ask me how I’ve been able to dedicate time to side projects when my life is already pretty [...]
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