Ludmilla Jordanova is Professor of Visual Culture in the Department of History at Durham University in England. I found this wonderful observation of her’s in Helen Sword’s great book, Air & Light & Time & Space. “I see writing as an artisanal activity, like being a potter or a woodworker. The craft  »  Read More

According to common wisdom, you’ll get in trouble if you “can’t see the forest for the trees.” That might be good advice for most of life, but when you write a book you must pay attention to the forest and the trees and also the bark, the leaves, and the branches. The Forest When you’re writing a book, the forest  »  Read More

I don’t know how it is with your family, but when my family gets together we start telling stories. It might be the story of that uncle’s time with the jazz band, or a grandfather’s tiger hunt, or that time when my mother gave away my dad’s only sweater to a hobo. They don’t interest anyone but us, but we love  »  Read More

Getting ideas is the easy part. Human beings have idea after idea without making any special effort. The challenge is how to improve the quality of your ideas and help them work for you. Here are five ways. Improve Your Inputs As one farmer put it to me “If you improve the quality of what goes into the ground, you’ll  »  Read More