I’m not all that concerned about being replaced —

Your article hits on a key question. What do we mean by success? For some reason, the idea of success in our era, in our culture, means being above almost everyone else, like the top 1%. We scorn anything less. Shouldn’t a vibrant society have room for lots of quality musicians, interesting writers, athletes, research scientists, and any other field where people focus on renown? The problem is that most of these aren’t dreaming about excelling in their favored skill, but wanting the accolades and attention of many.

A good plot cooperates with the way human minds process information. — What could be more delightful than a great story told well? Homer continues to gain “Iliad” fans after thousands of years and Shakespeare retains his reputation as a master playwright. How did they assemble the parts to create a satisfying whole? Is it possible to find a common denominator for…

There’s more to using the time wisely than just spitting out new sentences — Time for writing is limited. We can’t let ourselves be distracted every few minutes with all those side tangents… questions nagging at the back of our minds. What is the word for that thing? Do they really talk like this? Are there mountains in that area? How far can a healthy person walk each day…

Living through crisis is story-telling at its best — I haven’t been writing. There have been a couple of crisis in my family that have dominated every waking hour, and even my dreams, for months now. It happens. Watching this hurricane slip into a temporary lull, it feels as if I were barely escaping with my life. It’s hard…

The demands for our attention can be paralyzing. How can we free up our minds to write? — We live in a time where overwhelming amounts of information on anything are immediately available from a multitude of sources. Our minds have to ward off so many interruptions and distractions while evaluating and sifting at the same time. Is this information true? Does that headline matter? Should I focus…

Organization doesn’t have to be a rigid mold that compresses creative people into uniform blocks. — The writing process is different for everyone. Each of us has our way of spreading out, lining up, or sorting our thoughts into useful patterns, collages, stacks, or piles. What works for one person may be torturous for another and ten times so when applied to the creative process. But…

4 ways to decide what to ignore — When it comes to what we take into our minds, what we read, or watch, or listen to, how do we know what is actually important? Everyone is making decisions all the time about what is important, and they’re more likely to stem from habit, self-centeredness, and knee-jerk reactions than…

Love of dance will last long after skill diminishes Photo courtesy of esquire.de. Park In-hwan and Song Kang starring in the tvN drama “Navillera”, available on Netflix. A K-drama called “Navillera” caught my attention a few days ago. An old man who is spellbound by a young dancer in training…