Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Doctorow at Boingboing

I'm a fan of Boingboing and visit it daily.  I am also a fan of one of the founders, Cory Doctorow.  I recently found two articles that may of importance to creative people by Doctorow.  The first is how to avoid writer's block and the second discusses politics and the issues involved with net neutrality.

In the first, he offers advice from Roald Dahl via Lifehacker on how to keep momentum while writing and avoid writer's block.  The key for Dahl seemed to be leaving the work halfway through a sentence so that when he returned, he would start the session by finishing a thought rather than creating a new one.  This let him settle into the rhythm of his work.
Put in practice while working, it can apply far beyond just writers. When facing a long term project with multiple milestones, Dahl's "never return to a blank page" mentality remedies hiccups in focus. By keeping yourself motivated to return to a milestone or project you feel comfortable with, you may find it easier to keep making progress.
The net neutrality article is more involved with what to do with your work once it is completed.
If Net Neutrality is clobbered the way the telcos hope it will be, the next Web or YouTube won't come from disruptive inventors in a garage; it will come from the corporate labs at one of the five big media consortia or one of a handful of phone and cable companies. It will be sold as a ''premium'' service, and it won't upset anyone's multi-million-dollar status quo.

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