Tag Archives: Work It!

The key to good creative work? Do a lot of it.

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Ira Glass of This American Life reassures creative types that frustration is normal early on. (Thanks to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings!)

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

David Shiyang Liu’s kinetic typography brings Glass’s words to life in a way that combines reading and hearing.

My favorite lines:

The most important possible thing you can do is to do a lot of work … because it’s only by going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap [between your expectations and the quality of your work].

What we create isn’t supposed to be brilliant when we first start out. It’s normal for our early work not to meet our expectations. Just as Anne Lamott counsels us, we have to get through the not-so-good material in order to discover the really good material.

I feel much better now.

A post a day: Looking back at the June 2012 Challenge

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Last month, I challenged myself to publish a blog post every day from the 1st through the 30th. It was fun, exhilarating, even mind-numbing—and I posted 34 times in 30 days. While I’ve achieved many goals over the years, I was rather surprised Continue reading →

Alone doesn’t mean “lonely”

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Being alone and happy doesn’t mean sequestering yourself from the world. It means being confident enough to know that you can surround yourself with people, but not depend on them for your own happiness.

— Tyler Tervooren, 13 Rules for Being Alone and Being Happy about It

Give this blog post a read, whether you’re always outgoing and people-friendly, or whether you’re more reserved and introspective. There’s so much great insight here. If you want to better understand yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues, or your neighbors, let Tyler shed some light on the value of working alone.

Skull-and-crossbones brocade. Why not?

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Fabric addicts should keep well away from eBay.

A few years ago, I bought five yards of this black-and-silver brocade on eBay. My mother is a professional dressmaker, and I figured she’d come up with something that would do it justice. After all, she has two full-sized filing cabinets full of patterns from the 1930s to today, plus 50 years of sewing experience.

Fast forward three years later.  Continue reading →

Working from home? Stay on track with a Work Log

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Working from home is a special treat for many of us. We don’t have to leave the house or fight traffic or even get dressed when we work at home. However, some people find this freedom overwhelming, and wind up working in circles all day long.  Continue reading →