-In Lynda Barry’s What It Is there’s a short comic strip of a writer deep in thought, trying to figure out what she should write a book about. Ten years later, someone asks what her book is going to be about. “Shh! I’m still thinking,” she replies. We can’t think our way to good ideas. We have to roll up our sleeves. We have to do the work in front of us.
-Make time each day for your own work, and wear yourself out doing it.
-Don’t think about how long it’s going to take. Just focus on doing a little work on it each day.
-The best way to serve the world is to serve your work. And the best work is the work that connects the divine with the human.
–Haruki Murakami said the best way to express yourself as freely as possible is not to ask, “What am I seeking?” (which causes you to ponder heavy things and slows you up), but to instead ask, “Who would I be if I weren’t seeking anything?”
–The difference between genre and style. Genre is a category. Style is the life and humanity you give the art. As Jerry Saltz put it, “Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ is a classic country song; the vulnerability of her performance is what makes you die inside when you hear it.”
-The better story wins.
-Relax. You can’t read every book.
-A great way to live: follow your interests and share them with the world.