Happy Friday,
I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home doing very little besides reading and drinking ice cold seltzer. Plans to have no plans sometimes make the sweetest weekends, no?
The best links for this week:
Susan Orlean on Committing to being Unprepared. Orleans explains the importance of being surprised as a writer; one should prepare, but not go into a story feeling they already have a complete understanding before speaking with sources. If we don’t find surprising turns in the story, how can we expect to surprise or delight our reader? Also, I recently read Orlean’s The Library Book, which is delightful and which I talk about in more detail in this month’s newsletter, going out on Monday.
I stumbled across the Wild History of Key Lime Pie, including why it was invented and an argument for why it’s the most American pie – and it is indeed, wild. Move over apple.
Robert Caro’s Esquire interview. This interview focuses on Caro’s mindset and single-mindedness in writing his legendary volumes on President Lyndon Johnson and Robert Moses. His work is worthy of the formidable men who were his subjects, and it’s incredible to see the lengths he went to in getting each classic title precisely right.
An argument from David Perell for why learning starts with Inspiration. David’s latest piece is an elegant effort describing how the spark of curiosity can become a lifelong passion for learning, if properly stoked, and open doors to exciting opportunities. The problem is schools often extinguish that spark, rather than growing it. What can be done to correct this costly issue? Here is a beautiful line from the first section: “Inspiration is a uniquely human experience because it isn’t motivated by mere survival. It transcends the world of needs and lives in the world of wants.”
Advice from Mason Currey on building Creative Stamina. His advice on the counter-intuitive practice of limiting the time you have to create has been proven true in my own life time and time again.
Currently reading: The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis
Enjoy your weekend.
