Over at the 37signals blog, David H. gives some good advice:
Why would you want to pour so much of yourself into anything less than your best idea? Other ideas might seem more achievable or convenient, but if your heart and mind is elsewhere it’s all for naught.
I agree.
And this is mine.
A great article from the Slate reviewing John Curran’s Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks.
The contents of the notebooks are as multi-dimensional as their Escher-like structure. They include fully worked-out scenes, historical background, lists of character names, rough maps of imaginary places, stage settings, an idle rebus (the numeral three, a crossed-out eye, and a mouse), and plot ideas that will be recognizable to any Christie fan: “Poirot asks to go down to country—finds a house and various fantastic details,” “Saves her life several times,” “Inquire enquire—both in same letter.” What’s more, in between ominous scraps like “Stabbed through eye with hatpin” and “influenza depression virus—Stolen? Cabinet Minister?” are grocery lists: “Newspapers, toilet paper, salt, pepper …” There was no clean line between Christie’s work life and her family life. She created household ledgers, and scribbled notes to self. (“All away weekend—can we go Thursday Nan.”) Even Christie’s second husband, the archeologist Sir Max Mallowan, used her notebooks. He jotted down calculations. Christie’s daughter Rosalind practiced penmanship, and the whole family kept track of their bridge scores alongside notes like, “Possibilities of poison … cyanide in strawberry … coniine—in capsule?”
Fascinating stuff.
The Mystery of the Messy Notebooks – Why Agatha Christie’s method was utterly deranged.
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making
I love the products of Pixar. Naturally, I’m curious about how they do it.
Recently, Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar, did an interview with a writer from The Economist.
You can watch the entire interview here.
Or, you can read a selection of quotes excised by writer Scott Berkun here.
(Again, due to some work being done on our house, I’m unable to work on comics this week. Here’s something else you might find interesting…)
Interesting Boston Globe article on those of us who dare to be bashful.
An interesting few tables of information documenting the day jobs of some of our most famous writers.
