TWIC: procrastination, writing, music, desks, sewing, emotions and language

On fighting procrastination.

1. The dream to have a great body, but never being motivated to go workout.
2. The dream to succeed in college, but not having the willpower to study.
3. The dream to be wealthy, but not having the discipline to build it.
4. The dream to get married, but never being brave enough to commit.
5. The dream to have a loving family, but never taking time off work.

Numbering is different in the original.

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An interview with PC Hodgell (Youtube link but interview is exclusively audio).
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Harsh truths from famous writers.

16. Get through a draft as quickly as possible. Hard to know the shape of the thing until you have a draft. Literally, when I wrote the last page of my first draft of Lincoln’s Melancholy I thought, Oh, shit, now I get the shape of this. But I had wasted years, literally years, writing and re-writing the first third to first half. The old writer’s rule applies: Have the courage to write badly. – Joshua Wolf Shenk
17. Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. – Mark Twain

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Thousands of out of print sewing patterns.
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Crib Sheet for journalists (ESL edition).
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Tiny Desk Contest (maybe for hedgehogs but also for American musicians)
From the rules:

Videos must:

• feature a desk (there must be a desk—any desk—in the Video);
• contain a song that is the Entrant’s original work (covers will not be accepted);
• be created specifically for the Contest (videos that were submitted to previous NPR Music Tiny Desk contests or to any other contest or competition will not be accepted);
• be a maximum of ten (10) minutes in length;
• be uploaded to YouTube in any format acceptable to YouTube; and

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Maggie Stiefvater discusses College or Not?

Nowadays that means that my past novels are paying my mortgage while my current project is paying future bills. But back then, it meant I was happier having another job while I worked out getting published.

And, I mean, biologist sounds like a good job.
This has gotten very long and it’s all saying essentially the same thing: don’t let WRITER be your identity, even if WRITING is your ultimate job. Don’t conflate FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS with IGNORE COMMON SENSE. Don’t believe that somehow putting aside your writing to get a degree in Zebra Husbandry means you have abandoned your true self. Don’t think about a ticking clock, think only about forward movement. Pursue whatever degree will give you that balance of identity, security, and vivid creative material. Only you can answer which degree fills in that blank.

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The subject for your next book. You use the letters of your name to fill in the blanks:
A/an A B about a/an C D E to F his/her/their G.
A Keenly Observed Trilogy about a Young Man's Quest to Understand his Sexless Marriage.
Seems quite the melodrama - and this subject would be somewhat easy to write in that I am shy about writing about sex.
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Plutchik's wheel of emotions.

Image cropped. Follow the above link for the whole thing. Via eqjosh.
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A young artist on Instagram commented elsewhere asking for comment on his/her artwork. I don't consider myself as having discriminatory taste in artwork but it seems pleasant.
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