arrange • compose • conduct
It’s a good idea to have different “gears” for reading. I slow down to my slowest speed when I’m reading poetry. Every word is so carefully selected, so I want to savor them, hear them. My next gear is for novels – brisk, but I’m not a speed reader by […]
How does urgency play a role in your workflow? Is there a solution? I have a harder time writing my daily post in the morning than the evening. The imminent deadline of bedtime and the clock hitting midnight is sufficient to put me in my seat and begin writing. The […]
Do your habits change when your location changes? After so many years of writing, it seems like the habit should be the habit, wherever you are. But it’s just not true – different places provoke different things and require different things. I read recently that heroin addiction has a strong […]
Every streak is right on the edge of breaking. I can’t even say how many times I’ve thought to myself, “Oh, I can’t write tomorrow and I haven’t pre-published anything!” A few hours later, and my streak would reset to 0. Writing daily here is the longest streak I’ve ever […]
If you think you’re only capable of one vocal style or technique, your minad is lying to you. Sure, you may have an affinity for one vocal tone, or even an aptitude for it. But our voices are infinitely flexible, and when I hear someone say, “I can only sing […]
This question has been one of the best tools I’ve found to improve my own art making. How do you make your art? I ask it of other artists: What’s your photo editing process like? Whats’ the hardest part about knowing when your poems are done? How long do you […]
You can’t remember anything without directing attention to it. Dr. Amishi Jha: But what happens is that what we pay attention to is the doorway, it’s like the conduit by which we remember information. So, if you were not attending to your environment, you were not encoding it to get […]
Knowing you’ve done something before is a great help when you want to do it again. I’ve been writing daily for years now. Long enough to start to notice a pattern or two. For example, there are some times – maybe a month or so a year – when I […]
You’re most likely to quit your practice regimen right after the day you break your streak. Streaks are a great motivational tool, but no streak is failsafe, and no streak lasts forever. But our brains can trick us into thinking that missing a day of practice is a sign that […]
“What’s a good backup plan if you’re studying music?” A student asked this today during a really frank and positive conversation about music careers. Pursuing a career in the arts is scary, isn’t it? But my answer seemed to surprise them: don’t have a backup plan. For three reasons. First, […]