Testing syndication. Move along, folks, move along. Nothing to see here.
March 9, 2011
Books to inspire
A friend of mine has been bugging me to read 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, so I finally ordered it. While I was browsing Amazon I came across a bunch of how-t0-write books, a weakness of mine. Even if I disagree with the author’s advice, just reading about writing stimulates my imagination and draws me in the direction of my desk. It was hard to narrow it down, but I finally chose the nuts-and-bolts Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstein and balanced it with the more philosophical A Writer’s Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write by Eric Maisel.
Don’t you just love opening your mailbox and finding books?
After opening the box and checking out each book, I realized I’d had a different reaction to each one. Maybe because I read an article about how emotion is the basis for rational thought, it made me pay attention when another time I’d have just rolled right over the moment. I hadn’t consciously anticipated one book over the other, but as I remembered lifting each one out of the box, I felt three distinct emotions:
- A Writer’s Space gave me the happy thrill of anticipation;
- Character Traits I felt would be informative, but I wasn’t especially excited about it;
- 7 Habits gave me a little shock of anxiety
It made me wonder if I was reacting to the covers of the books–which I’d already seen on the Internet–or if I was in a more philosophical mood and not inclined to work on myself, or what. In case my body knew something my brain didn’t, I started with A Writer’s Space.
Do you get inspired by these kinds of books, or do they get in your way?
March 8, 2011
Requiem
You don’t have to know anything about classical music to be inspired by Mozart.
March 2, 2011
The craving of the soul
This is what I crave. It’s the reason I do a way better job working for other people than for myself. It’s why I feel useless without a paycheck. It’s why my contributions seem worthless. It’s why I need acknowledgement on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, my birthday. It’s why I have a very hard time writing a book simply because I want to.
At my core, I crave external validation in an active form. A thank you, a pay raise, an apology, a compliment…Anything, really.
No doubt everyone loves to be validated by the world, but I think mine goes a little deeper than that. It seems to be the reason I do everything I do, and I get very down when I go through dry spells. I almost don’t feel human. (The latest has lasted a few months.) I’m happy to have identified this, although it seems weak of me to care so much, especially since I can’t control how other people interact with me. Ultimately, however, it must be a good thing to bring things like this out into the light.
What about you? Can you identify a single need you work to fulfill?
