Writing to ‘get it right the first time’ is like driving a car with the emergency brake on. In order to write more good stuff faster, and suffer less, you need to focus on removing the stalling, obsessing, and nitpicking from your composing process, and to think about a different kind of process.
kung fu grippe
a personal weblog,
or “blog,”
by Merlin Mann
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2010-01-12
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There’s a typeface that says, “Me and my chimp are gonna eat speed and gravy and look through this hole in the wall while you and your sister rassle real hard in your panties. Thankyavurrymuch.”
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2010-01-11
I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.
— Walden, eerily summarizing a certain “book about email” that will be published 156 years hence.
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2010-01-10
HOWTO
Pen
Ellie
Breaking: Print Media NOT Dead!
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2010-01-09
Nulla dies sine linea.
— Horace, reminding all writers, “Not a day without a line.”
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PiL - “Public Image” (1978)
Fact: In 1978, an irascible, 22-year-old Londoner called “John Lydon” invented Belinda Carlisle Dancing.
Look it up.
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2010-01-08
Dan Hartman - “Instant Replay” (1978)
Unless I’m tripping, that’s (pre-KISS) Vinnie Vincent on guitar and (pre-Hall & Oates, pre-SNL) G.E. Smith on bass.
Frankly? I hope I’m tripping.
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Joy Division - “She’s Lost Control” (BBC, 9/15/1979)
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My ignorance is essential. I do not write what I know but what I need to know.
— The late, great Don Murray, on how the topics for his column would choose him.
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Please don’t let me hit the ground.
Featuring an extremely rare public performance of my critically-acclaimed “Ian Curtis Move.”
Join me here.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Want to pretend like we’re hanging out this afternoon? Me, too.
So, right now, go play this 9-minute (“alternate 12-inch”) version of “Temptation” on repeat for an hour while you type about managing expectations.
Got it? Cool.
Welcome. Comfortable? Want some seltzer or something? Sure. So. Should we listen to “Temptation” again? Really? Okay. No, totally. Me, too.
Fucking, yes: me, too.
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The Damned - “New Rose” (1976)
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Motörhead - “Ace Of Spades” (The Young Ones, 1984)
From my favorite episode.
Do not miss the awesome cameos by Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, and Emma Thompson.
