The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
~ Carl Jung
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The play instinct →
Boredom →
Boredom is just “What’s the use?” in disguise. And, “What’s the use?” is fear, and fear means you are secretly in despair. So put your fears on the page. Put anything on the page. Put three pages of it on the page.
~ Julia Cameron
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Really, this book is worth reading →
I mentioned this book previously (in, Driveway Moments). As I read more, it became clear this book is stuffed full of useful information for podcasters. At some point, I’ll get around to organizing some sort of “resources” something-or-other over on the Podcaster Community, and Sound Reporting will definitely go in the “must read” books list for podcasters.
Almost nothing in the book is directly usable… but there’s a ton of stuff—far too much for me to quote—that I found made me think.
To be honest, a lot of it felt like, “yes, I agree” and “yes, I learned that the hard way.” But there was also a lot of “that’s a good idea” and “yikes, now I know I don’t want to do that that way.”
These chapters were particularly fertile ground: Writing for Broadcast, Story Editing, Reading on the Air, Hosting, and Booking. They contains tons of information from the professionals.
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Potent muse →
The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.
~ Stephen Nachmanovitch
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Procrastination →
Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I’m going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.”
~ Steven Pressfield
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Solitude →
Solitude bears the same relation to the mind that sleep does to the body. It affords it the necessary opportunities for repose and recovery.
~ William G. Simms
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Painting →
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
~ Pablo Picasso
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Universality →
Creativity is harnessing universality and making it flow through your eyes.
~ Peter Koestenbaum
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Wait, that’s absolutely backwards →
“Do you have any ideas in mind?”
I was talking with someone recently, and they asked me what ideas I had in mind. I described a visual that had recently come to mind for me, and I then, as a followup to that visual, I added a few ideas as single words.
(I’m very intentionally, not being specific here…)
When I finished—it all took but a few moments—it struck me…
Dude, those single words really are the ideas I want to convey…
But that imagery? It’s exactly the opposite of those ideas. That visual is a terrible idea…
Let’s set aside the confusion I may have caused to my friend. (Although, I did point out that I saw the contradiction.)
It seems to me it’s really rare to have a moment of such clarity around something important: If I hadn’t been explaining it to another person, I might have hung onto that visual imagery.
Where are you hanging on to the wrong details?
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