Austin Kleon – Page 344

Fitting it together

Thursday, April 21, 2016

“This is an age of divorce. Things that belong together have been taken apart. And you can’t put it all back together again. What you do is the only thing that you can do: you take two things that ought to be together and you put them back together. Two things, not all things! That’s the way the work has to go. You make connections in your work… That’s what we do, we people who make things. If it’s a stool or a film or a poem or an essay or a novel or a musical composition, it’s all about that. Finding how it fits together and fitting it together.”
—Wendell Berry

Two recent interviews

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Podcasts invitations beget podcast invitations, so I say no to a lot of them, but I recently had two enjoyable hour-long conversations about writing and creativity, the first with Jeff Goins (here’s a PDF transcript):

The second with Brian Clark, for his podcast, Unemployable:

3 reasons why you should show your work

Thursday, March 24, 2016

A few weeks ago I gave my friend Chase Jarvis 3 reasons why all workers — not just “creatives”! — should be showing their work:

Documenting your process helps your progress.
Keeping track of what you’ve done helps you better see where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re headed. It’s also a great way to hold yourself accountable — if you dedicate yourself to sharing a tiny bit of your process every day, you’re forced to actually do the work you should be doing.
Sharing your process reaps the benefits of self-promotion without the icky feelings.
People are often just as interested in how you work as much as the work itself. By sharing your process, you invite people to not only get to know your work, but get to know you — and that can lead to new clients, new projects, and all sorts of other opportunities.
Building an audience for what you do creates a valuable feedback loop.
Christopher Hitchens said the best thing about putting out a book is that it’s a “free education that goes on for a lifetime.” As you gain fans and followers by sharing your work, they will, in turn, share with you. Even when the feedback is bad, it can lead you down new paths.

That’s a short version of the why. The book will teach you how.

Journal talk at Book Passage

Friday, March 4, 2016

Video of a talk I gave last October at Book Passage in Corte Madera, while touring The Steal Like An Artist Journal. (I didn’t remember they were filming! I gave three talks that day on completely opposite ends of San Francisco — this was the third.) It’s the same as the talk I filmed at BookPeople (which has all the slides) but there’s a Q&A in this one that starts around the half-hour mark, if you want to skip straight there.

How to read more

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Here’s a short list of tips that have helped me form good reading habits over the years. Share it as much as you like. You can also download a printer-friendly version and hang it in your workspace or classroom.

Throw your phone in the ocean. (Or, keep it in airplane mode.)
Carry a book with you at all times.
Have another book ready before you finish the one you’re reading. (Make a stack of books to-read or load up your eReader.)
If you aren’t enjoying a book or learning from it, stop reading it immediately. (Flinging it across the room helps give closure.)
Schedule 1 hour a day of reading on your calendar like you would an important meeting. (Try commutes, lunch breaks, or getting in bed an hour early.)
Keep a reading log and share your favorite books with others. (They will send you even more books to read.)

If you’re looking for a good book to read, here are books I recommend and books I’ve written.

And to keep you on track, here’s a wallpaper for your phone: