Writing Excuses

I have this sense that if you find smart people and put them in a room to talk about anything, that whatever they say will, at least, be insightful and most probably also enjoyable.

Writing Excuses is built on a similar format. Four really smart fiction writers, who are also friends and have been talking to each other over a microphone for years, speak for about 15 minutes about the art and craft of writing fiction - usually genre fiction and fairly often specifically science fiction or fantasy. The result is insightful and enjoyable in dollops!!

 

Reading fiction is known to have made readers more empathetic, but if these authors are any thing to go by, writing fiction really stops you from judging people but make you pause to understand them - whether these turn up as characters in your book or as readers of your story. They work thru clichés and harmful generalisations that kill your story and don't deliver for the world we live in.

At 15 minutes long these conversations between Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, Brandon Sanderson, (my favourite) Mary Robinette Kowal and occasionally their guests are not that long, but far more full of smarts than the authors often pretend.

Beyond The Triangle by Amy Beth Horman

In the incredibly specific lie universal truths. That is why when Amy Beth Horman talks about the journey towards becoming a professional violinist in her podcast, Beyond the Triangle, it resonates. What she is really talking about is how to strive for excellence, how to become a professional and why is music such a universal human need.


If you are learning to play the violin, and/or hope to play it professionally, she is also talking about specific techniques and resources and milestones fairly unique to your journey. In which case this podcast is truly gold for you. Follow up with her articles on the Violinist (I especially loved the one called, 'Fall in love with your voice'); and the Instagram account she runs for her 8 year old goofy daughter who practices the violin every morning and plays it and performs it like magic, and you'll never be out of inspiration.

I have your back, kid!

 You know the nightmarish moment of dread just before you start to go to sleep, that moment when you are smiling with gratitude for being done with the day (for better or for worse) and that nothing much will get thrown your way at least for the next 8 hours and your mind smirks unkindly at you and that split second of a moment, where your heart freezes with dread and your eyes are wide awake, because you know that your mind, the one that is smirking right now, KNOWS. It knows the shittiest, scaredest part of you, and sometimes when I am about to go to sleep with my dog in my lap, and my parents in the next room and I feel such sense of gratitude, it reminds me that one day there will be a world with me alone, and none of them in it.


 In the bright daylight of the day, I can rationalise and distract and pacify myself, but god I hate that last moment of consciousness that brings in the fearful ghosts.   

Work Goal

At this stage, my work goal is:




Maximise Performance
Build a Breadth of Capability


My mantra is:
Be SEEN
MAKE IT BETTER
GET IT DONE
TREAT PEOPLE AS PEOPLE

Mantra

After a few days of holding my mantra for the year of focus in my mind, I found it just got boiled down to these four phrases:




[Be] Seen
Make It Better
Get It Done
Treat People as People


 

Sustained Success

This is my year of focus, and it came from me sitting alone on my desk and taking a deep look at what I was doing, only to realise that actually it is as common as cold and the journey is as simple as deciding to sit in a boat and letting the current carrying me.

One of the people creating that current* is James Clear, and I came across his excellent book and articles.

In one of which he says this excellent thing,

The Recipe for Sustained Success 

           1. Decide the type of person you want to be.

           2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

So, as a first step, I thought I should decide the type of person I want to be.

I listed all the people I admire, and then quickly marked the qualities that I admired in them. I realised there were really just two reasons why I admired people, either they kept getting promotions and more promotions, or they were kind. I usually admired people best who were both.

Drill down a little bit more and I realise the kind of person I want to be is,

Seen as a expert who raises the bar on the quality of the product
Seen as a consultant who is effective and efficient, who had a pulse on what was needed and were able to get it done
Seen as a person who is kind and helps people find their strengths.


SEEN - MADE IT BETTER - GOT IT DONE - PERSON

*For me. This is my blog, everything that is specific is specific to me.

Bad Meetings Make Me Want to Die

That's all.