"Aren't you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you?"

Elizabeth Gilbert at TED, talking about the fear that lingers behind the nagging need to write, the curious nature of genius and what happens when you keep showing up to do your job.

Bonus points for using Tom Waits as a positive role model.

NaNoWriMo: Back on the horse

After taking a few days off post-TEDx, I'm back on-course, at 13, 339 words. And today is not yet over (though the finale of Mad Men looms, with a giant time-sucking sound.)

Tom Stoppard on writing, via Scott Simon at today's TEDx MidAtlantic

It had been years since I'd thought of this beautiful passage about writing until I heard Scott Simon quote it this morning at TEDx MidAtlantic. It comes from the amazing play The Real Thing, by Tom Stoppard:

"Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead."

You can see Scott Simon's magnificent presentation here:



(No direct link, sorry. Select his talk from the scrolling list on the left)

NaNoWriMo inspiration: Laura Lippman

Maybe it's because we used to work for the same newspaper. Or maybe it's because she nails the details of Baltimore in her books. Or maybe it's because the woman can write the hell out of a book and leave you wondering how she does it.

Whatever, I'm a fanboy, a homer. So here's summa Baltimore's pride and joy, Laura Lippman.

"He's a writer looking for inspiration..."

Who remembers this great movie about finding the writer's muse?

NaNoWriMo: Read this now

Merlin Mann on "The Top ... Habits of Amazing Writers."

In which Mr. Nabokov dissembles while moving to the couch

Somehow I've gotten this far in life without hearing Vladimir Nabokov's voice or seeing him move. Oddly cartoonlike for such a wickedly good writer. I love how he's clearly enjoying the hell out of himself here.

NaNoWriMo Progress, Day One

I'm almost at exactly the daily count that I need to hit if I'm going to be on track for NaNoWriMo, but I'm only about 1/3 of the way toward my Day One goal of 5,000 words. I figure that'll be far enough in to tell whether this idea has some momentum and, if so, to give me a little buffer should things slow down as I'm told they do in week two.

UPDATE: Finished at 4,212 on the day. Not bad - more than double the average quota, though I know for certain I need to bank some excess because of the looming TedX Midatlantic, which looms in all its massive time-suckerness on Thursday.

"It's all in your head, and you take your head home with you"

Nick Hornby, on writing. Thanks, PBS, for the non-embeddable clip. Skip to 5:30 to get the the good bits.

On writing: The guy who wrote the book

Crummy video quality, but worthwhile to hear Stephen King talk about how a story idea can just kind of appear directly in front of you.