The Obstacle Guy
3 Books That Changed My Mindset As A Beginner Writer
Creating is what is meant to be a human. What I can say about the importance of a book in helping you out getting ideas and gaining inspiration. We all know. They impact almost all aspects of the life of this sophisticated animal present on the planet Earth. Don’ mess around. Let’s dive into the books which caused a paradigm shift in my thoughts and mindset about being a beginner content creators.
Steal like an artist:
Austin Kleon has written some amazing pieces on modern creativity. He is the go-to guy if you seek any advice on creativity. It is one of them. We would be discussing two of them because he was the find of the year for me. Steal like an artist is a book written on the core idea that nobody is the origin. What we think is original, actually is the interpretation of the already present content. He references the quote of Pablo Picasso:
“Art is theft.”
Nothing is original. Ideas do not come by revelation upon you. It is your info diet that becomes your content ideas.
“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”
He references the quote of cartoonist Gary Panter says, “If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original!”
The most interesting thing he proposed in the book is the idea which he termed as “ The Secret”.
The idea is to create content and share it with people. It is pretty crucial because if an idea or thought or art piece is not shared it becomes obsolete. Share your stuff on the internet.
“Learn to code. Figure out how to make a website. Figure out blogging. Figure out Twitter and social media and all that other stuff. Find people on the Internet who love the same things as you and connect with them. Share things with them.”
“Show just a little bit of what you’re working on. Share a sketch or a doodle or a snippet. Share a little glimpse of your process. Think about what you have to share that could be of some value to people. Share a handy tip you’ve discovered while working. Or a link to an interesting article. Mention a good book you’re reading.”
(I have written a full synopsis of it. Check it out: Steal like an artist)
Show your work:
It is also penned down by Austin. The fundamental idea is again how it is important to share your ideas with the world as the name tells us. But he deciphers many other topics as Imposter syndrome, charging others for your work, the race for followers, etc.
It is significant to put yourself out there. It should be done even if it is bad even as well. Because bad is still a piece of art. Learn and improve in front of people. He wrote as Andy Baio says:
“Carving out a space for yourself online, somewhere where you can express yourself and share your work, is still one of the best possible investments you can make with your time.”
If you think your piece of art is not up to mark. You feel yourself fraud. Yeah, it is one of the major problems faced by creators in the 21st century. He proposed an idea that fascinated me a lot. That is :
“ Beginner teaches beginner better.”
You are an amateur and you got a level of understanding of a beginner. Have you wondered in your school or college years that sometimes a topic which seems a little hard, sometimes more than your teacher? Your friend can explain it. As a beginner, you have ground-level knowledge. But the teachers sometimes make things complicated because of their more knowledge about things.”
“It often happens that two schoolboys can solve difficulties in their work for one another better than the master can.” -C.S Lewis
Ok, we put ourselves out there. But are you on the hook? Are you hunting any fish? It is important as well.
“Whether you ask for donations, crowdfund, or sell your products or services, asking for money in return for your work is a leap you want to take only when you feel confident that you’re putting work out into the world that you think is truly worth something. Don’t be afraid to charge for your work, but put a price on it that you think is fair.”
For being on the hook, you need an audience. You need some followers. How many times do you see your stats on the medium or analytics of your website? Here is what Austin says about it:
“If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community. If you’re only pointing to your stuff online, you’re doing it wrong. You have to be a connector. The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If you want to get, you have to give. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice. Shut up and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. Don’t turn into human spam. Be an open node.”
(Full synopsis of the book here: Show your work)
How to take smart notes?
I think it is the most underrated book. I guarantee you if you are a writer most specifically it is gone change your concept of writing. Because nobody wants to start writing from scratch. The main crux of the book is the methodology used by Niklas Luhmann a German writer who wrote 58 books and tons of articles. There are three parts of the method as he describes in the first 3 chapters of the book.
Everything you need to know, Everything you need to do, and Everything you need to have.
If you have read Getting things done where David Allen describes the idea of “Mind like water.”
Then you know why is important to have flow. The flow in writing is not the same as making plans. We make plans to write. We do some research, then think and then we write. How flow is created?
“Making your notes simple and siloed into separate, smaller stacks makes everything look less complex, but it reduces the likelihood of building and finding surprising connections between the notes themselves.”
How to do it?
“ Each step is straightforward and well-defined: (1) assemble notes and bring them into order, (2) turn these notes into a draft, (3) review it and you’re done. “
The mechanism is simple, consisting of three things.
1. Make fleeting notes. Always have a Quick Capture inbox where you can just chuck stuff and worry about processing it later. 2. Make literature notes. Whenever you read something (and by extension, watch and listen to something), make notes about the content. Write down: (a) what you don’t want to forget, (b) what you might use later, © use your own words. 3. Make permanent notes. Go through your inbox once a day ideally, think about how these notes relate to your stuff (research, thinking, interests). Don’t just collect ideas. Develop ideas, arguments, discussions.
The idea is to put everything into what he called a “Slip Box.” It is there your ideas grow and engage. These connections would spark new ideas into your brain.
“Write exactly one note for each idea, and write as if you’re writing for someone else. Use full sentences, disclose your sources, make references, try to be as precise, clear, brief as possible. Throw away fleeting notes from step 1, but the literature notes from step 2 into your reference system. You can forget about them now. All that matters is going into the slip box.”
What do I need for it?
Hahaha… It is beautifully explained by Sonke Ahrens as :
“There is this story where NASA tried to figure out how to make a ballpoint pen that works in space. If you have ever tried to use a ballpoint pen over your head, you have probably realized it is gravity that keeps the ink flowing. After a series of prototypes, several test runs, and tons of money invested, NASA developed a fully functional gravity-independent pen, which pushes the ink onto the paper by means of compressed nitrogen. According to this story, the Russians faced the same problem. So they used pencils (De Bono, 1998, 141). The slip-box follows the Russian model: Focus on the essentials, don’t complicate things unnecessarily.”
( If you are interested in knowing the method which I build upon these ideas then you can check this out: How to take smart notes to enhance your creativity?)
It doesn’t matter you use pen and paper or apps for it. But what matters is the connections between writing and sparking ideas out of them which can fascinate your audience.
Originally published at https://theobstacleguy.com on February 19, 2021.
