We get 4000 weeks if we’re lucky (80 years). 28,000 days to live under the sun. I spent the day at a funeral. Our good friend’s grandfather passed and invited us to celebrate his life. A life well lived. Grandpa was deaf, and so was his wife. They both had…

A rule of life is a practice for committing our lives to a particular way of being in the world. You could say intentional living at its best. What if we took this practice and applied it to our creativity? When I say creativity, I’m suggesting broad strokes. Anyone that…

Every creative person and anyone wanting success is always on the look for hacks. We study and examine high achievers and ask: How did they do it? What do they eat? When do they sleep? What books should I read for a little of their magic to rub off on…

So what does it take to get people to read your stuff? You can go the click-baity route and mimic the latest Buzz Feed headlines. Offering little depth and sounding like a boring robot. You could go the opposite extreme and write stream-of-consciousness drivel amassing three readers including your hippie…

We all have perfectionist tendencies. Doesn’t matter if you’ve written thousands of articles on Medium, or published twenty books. Perfectionism is a disease we all must fight. Now you may say: sure Ryan, perfectionism is a problem for you. Not me. I publish and ship all kinds of stuff into…

The oldest book of the Bible, Job, is a lesson in fragility. Job is reeling from the loss of his family, possessions, and health. Job spends the bulk of the book listening to his dumb friends, who have theories on why he’s suffering, and complaining to God. But God has…

Productive writing requires momentum. How do we get it? What is your greatest ally in writing? Momentum. A tool box of storytelling ability, proper sentence structure, punctuation, and interesting content are a plus too. But momentum is the fuel for long term, consistent, and productive writing. Why? Let’s ask Jerry…

It will require some forward thinking Many brave souls are in the thick of National Novel Writing Month. A yearly competition where people write a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel. I’ve participated seven times and I’m in the middle of novelizing right now. For many this will be…

Minus the drugs. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic cultural music festival Woodstock. A three-day festival hosted in Woodstock, New York, predicated on two main agendas: music and peace. I often wonder if I was born in the wrong generation as I’ve been intrigued by the culture…