724 passages, newest first · 110 ms
`0:09:12`
Yeah. It's just this awe, this majesty. Yeah. And I've had many moments throughout the years where I've seen that and I've had that wow moment and I've said, I didn't even know that that was possible. Like a sense of elegance that I want to recreate. That book is full…
`0:09:58`
Which was just like my what a great way to describe like clear cut trunks are left, short trunks are left and just like desolate emptiness. Nothing that's bald people. Man, the the the thing that really stands out in that is sometimes you read that and you'll see something like that you feel like…
`0:10:43`
all gut. You were talking about the 37 signals guide to internal communications earlier. Yeah. When you have a piece like that where does the genesis moment, how does that happen? What inspires a piece like that? Is this a a question that you keep getting, a sense of frustration? What is anger? Yeah. Yeah, anger, frustration…
`0:11:29`
how we do it. So there there's this competitive spirit. I think that that drives some of that for me. But it's usually like one spark and then um again is is there a fire or is it just go out pretty quickly? It that it I really want to follow my gut on that…
`0:12:15`
When I come up with an idea for a product or a screen and I sketch it the sketch is like the best version of the thing. All from there on out it only gets worse in a sense. Just because the sketch of course doesn't take into consideration all the things that it has to…
`0:13:01`
Um what we did was we took a collection of short essays and cut the short collection of short essays down by half Our contract was like you have to produce 40,000 words or something like Cuz the book has to be this thick, you know in the book world it's like it's thickness…
`0:13:46`
You know and and he read it and he said this is really good. I'm really proud of this. It's too short though. And we said okay, so is this just about length or is it about subject matter? It was just about length. Okay, so we're going to add pictures. We're going…
`0:14:31`
individually I think we'd be happy with all the 40,000 words. But when you look at a book it's a collection. It's not a single essay, it's a collection of things and the collection didn't feel right. I often think of writers they sort of have their zone. It's sort…
`0:15:17`
write you know 10,000 words cuz that's what they do in the book publishing industry. Well I listened to your interview with Derek Sivers who's like one of my favorite people and writers and all that. And uh he said it the same way I would say which is write a bunch of essays…
`0:16:04`
a books worth of material here. Can we turn this into a book? It's not enough just to collect the essays it's enough to have them first, write them one at a time over many years and then put them together. But your sprinter analogy, I was a sprinter. And uh Finally I a sports…
`0:16:49`
essay I'll do that well. But if I push myself further than that, I mean you could say like maybe you should push yourself. What's wrong with pushing yourself? There's nothing wrong with that except to the point like I don't actually enjoy writing long things. I don't really like that. So…
`0:17:36`
suggestions but they're not really there's no calls to action. It's not like do these seven things and you will become whatever. It's like here's a point of view and we're just going to leave it out there and then you can think about it. I I like writing that way…
`0:18:21`
be us. Right. So uh it starts with with with what's natural. And then I just want to stay within the natural realm. I really think that the the thing I'm trying to get across here is that it's okay to know your limits and work within them and not feel like to become…
`0:19:07`
in school. Um I had to write it was all about length. It was like long basically and subjects I didn't care about. And uh it was miserable. It was it wasn't even writing. It was like um it actually I would just call it pointless. Mm. That's what it was. It was pointless…
`0:19:52`
about earlier is I can't wait to see the end product which is the synthesis and clarity Yes. of the idea in my head now on the page. Yeah, it's exciting. And sometimes it's frustrating I mean often times it's frustrating not even sometimes often times it's frustrating to like to to…
`0:20:38`
walk and and and and just sort of like talk it out and go oh, that's the line. Like there's there's usually like a line that gets me or there's a combination of words or a title for the essay. So I need some hook that I have to find that brings me…
`0:21:24`
stab. It's the coming back to something that I couldn't pull off the first time. So if I'm working on an idea and I can't quite get it there I do need confidence to return to it because like the prevailing feeling at that point is like couldn't do it. Couldn't…
`0:22:10`
Okay. Um Rick Hogan was our editor-in-chief and he was awesome old school printed out red ink you know like symbols and like I got to look these up. Right right Three dumb three lines under the thing. What is that again or whatever? Um and for as the first time I've ever worked…
`0:22:55`
the same. They didn't edit the piece in the same way but we talked through the things. I find that it's easier to talk through improving writing than it is to look at another draft. So when when I would submit a piece for Ink they wouldn't come back with a revised version. We…
`0:23:41`
working with an editor was great. I will say when I write my articles I don't share them with anybody ahead of time. I don't ask for feedback on them. I just put them out there and I'll edit usually as I go. Sometimes I'll do a final read and you know even…