Personally, I best love your stories about your friends, your family, and your travels. I loved last weeks post, it was hilarious and interesting and I really want to go to Madrid now and party with Paco. I also want to hear about the ghosts, I've been waiting a long time for that, and now Fabian too.
I paused at that point in the story (ghosts!) because I thought it gets all a bit unbelievable. My friend Zoya, who was caught up in it all, has reminded me a few times to continue. The truth is always strange, as Lord Byron put it in Don Juan. Paco, for instance (who, ironically, is an exceedingly Byron personality) is even more intense and interesting than I described; I'm simply unsure if he'd enjoy me describing him, as he's quite private. Anyway, I promise to continue the tale about ghosts; it's a matter of not sounding like a complete loon, I think. But thanks for being here, Denise; I deeply appreciate your kind words.
Alright then. I'll get into Fabian because WHAT A BIRD! And the name is from a character in a book I wrote when I was 21, and never published. It's central character turns up in the Harvard Skull Fiasco novel, which, if you send me your email address (replying to my newsletter), I'll send to you as an ebook attachment, because I'm terrible at capitalism. Oh, the other thing? Thanks for being here, Bo.
Hearing about you teaching your children to be wildly creative, and it wildly backfiring (in an amusing way!), makes me want to hear all about what you’ve taught them!
Parenting books seem to me to occupy a similar place as creativity books. Lots of marketing, occasional (outdated) psychology. It doesn’t sound like you would enjoy writing an instruction-style book on either of these - and it may be the entirely wrong way to go about it - but it would to be enamouring to hear how you went about both being creative and parenting your children to be the same!
~From a British Isles reader who read teaching books while in school ε>
I spent a few days this week slowly (and manually) importing stories from my blog, and revisiting older things I wrote. There's one called 'Call me Nebuchadnezzar' in which the girls somehow invent a religion. If you haven't seen that one, I recommend it because it's all about the girls confounding me.
I think that a book about creativity would have to make you feel a little odd as you read it. It has to demonstrate how to put themselves into that headspace, by taking them somewhat there and teaching them to stay there. Like, I think - this is my experience, at least - if I visit wrongcards and look at 20-30 ecards in a row, I feel a bit strange afterwards. It puts (even) me in a weird headspace. People need a weird headspace; they need to re-learn how to be playful.
So, I'd have to dispense with the essay format, because it's not really compatible with 'being creative', and turn a book about creativity into short-stories and vignettes, somehow, which might have a cumulative effect of making the reader feel strange and inclined to make something. This would no doubt confuse a certain kind of reader. With films, people reject what is not familiar and avoid what seems original, whilst complaining at a lack of originality in cinema. So what I'm saying is that I'm unsure if 'mass audiences' would recognize my book for what it would be; they would turn to a grifter who cites statistics instead, and who encourages them to 'imagine they're making progress', without themselves providing any evidence of inventiveness. I'm just thinking about this properly now for the first time, and who knows, maybe it will turn into a non-fiction book? With a lot of absurd anecdotes!
Yes I think you’re quite right, it would be a very peculiar and unmarketable book (similar to wrongcards I suppose!), which would leave it open to survivorship bias of those creatives who find it and can bear the swirling storm of stories and instructions; but I’d read it for one, so don’t let that stop you!
This is all reminding me of a strangely vivid dream I had where I found a book on creativity, in the middle of some kind of fantasy dungeon, with a bright orange and black cover, adorned with a couple of tape measures? How strange…!
Personally, I best love your stories about your friends, your family, and your travels. I loved last weeks post, it was hilarious and interesting and I really want to go to Madrid now and party with Paco. I also want to hear about the ghosts, I've been waiting a long time for that, and now Fabian too.
I paused at that point in the story (ghosts!) because I thought it gets all a bit unbelievable. My friend Zoya, who was caught up in it all, has reminded me a few times to continue. The truth is always strange, as Lord Byron put it in Don Juan. Paco, for instance (who, ironically, is an exceedingly Byron personality) is even more intense and interesting than I described; I'm simply unsure if he'd enjoy me describing him, as he's quite private. Anyway, I promise to continue the tale about ghosts; it's a matter of not sounding like a complete loon, I think. But thanks for being here, Denise; I deeply appreciate your kind words.
More on Fabian please (including where he got his name from). And why brackets are important
Alright then. I'll get into Fabian because WHAT A BIRD! And the name is from a character in a book I wrote when I was 21, and never published. It's central character turns up in the Harvard Skull Fiasco novel, which, if you send me your email address (replying to my newsletter), I'll send to you as an ebook attachment, because I'm terrible at capitalism. Oh, the other thing? Thanks for being here, Bo.
Hearing about you teaching your children to be wildly creative, and it wildly backfiring (in an amusing way!), makes me want to hear all about what you’ve taught them!
Parenting books seem to me to occupy a similar place as creativity books. Lots of marketing, occasional (outdated) psychology. It doesn’t sound like you would enjoy writing an instruction-style book on either of these - and it may be the entirely wrong way to go about it - but it would to be enamouring to hear how you went about both being creative and parenting your children to be the same!
~From a British Isles reader who read teaching books while in school ε>
I spent a few days this week slowly (and manually) importing stories from my blog, and revisiting older things I wrote. There's one called 'Call me Nebuchadnezzar' in which the girls somehow invent a religion. If you haven't seen that one, I recommend it because it's all about the girls confounding me.
I think that a book about creativity would have to make you feel a little odd as you read it. It has to demonstrate how to put themselves into that headspace, by taking them somewhat there and teaching them to stay there. Like, I think - this is my experience, at least - if I visit wrongcards and look at 20-30 ecards in a row, I feel a bit strange afterwards. It puts (even) me in a weird headspace. People need a weird headspace; they need to re-learn how to be playful.
So, I'd have to dispense with the essay format, because it's not really compatible with 'being creative', and turn a book about creativity into short-stories and vignettes, somehow, which might have a cumulative effect of making the reader feel strange and inclined to make something. This would no doubt confuse a certain kind of reader. With films, people reject what is not familiar and avoid what seems original, whilst complaining at a lack of originality in cinema. So what I'm saying is that I'm unsure if 'mass audiences' would recognize my book for what it would be; they would turn to a grifter who cites statistics instead, and who encourages them to 'imagine they're making progress', without themselves providing any evidence of inventiveness. I'm just thinking about this properly now for the first time, and who knows, maybe it will turn into a non-fiction book? With a lot of absurd anecdotes!
I knew you would be able to grasp the issue!
Yes I think you’re quite right, it would be a very peculiar and unmarketable book (similar to wrongcards I suppose!), which would leave it open to survivorship bias of those creatives who find it and can bear the swirling storm of stories and instructions; but I’d read it for one, so don’t let that stop you!
This is all reminding me of a strangely vivid dream I had where I found a book on creativity, in the middle of some kind of fantasy dungeon, with a bright orange and black cover, adorned with a couple of tape measures? How strange…!
I’ll go check that story out! Thank you :)