Always Choose Orange

In a recent Q&A about his new novella   The Narrow Road Between Two Desires , author Patrick Rothfuss talked about his extremely intricate editing process (he edited   Name of the Wind   800 times and spent 30 hours eliminating every superfluous instance of the word "that" from   The Wise Man's Fear ). This made me think a lot about how to slow down and enjoy the process of making art . Join me in this episode for a few thoughts and recommendations about ways to go deeper in your creative practice!

Do you find yourself getting distracted easily when trying to complete creative tasks ? One moment you're writing, or drawing, or songwriting, and all of a sudden, you're doing something else entirely? If so, you're not the only one! This week I share a new technique I've been using (with great success) to help myself lean into discomfort for the sake of my creative growth.

When talking about his reading practice , author Richard Powers once said, "I like to keep one work of fiction and one of nonfiction going at once, and I’ll use them to triangulate against each other to conjure up some third space." In this episode, we talk about this idea of the "third space" that arises when we read more than one book at the same time and how it can transform our reading experience into something deeper and richer than ever before.   Articles referenced in the episode:   https://austinkleon.com/2020/02/13/on-reading-more-than-one-book-at-a-time/   https://austinkleon.com/2023/01/11/letting-books-talk-to-each-other/

This week, my brother Andrew joins me to talk about our favorite books we read in 2023. The two of us use the six questions below to guide our discussion and take a few detours along the way to explore different aspects of reading (including how we get oriented when we start reading a new book in a markedly different style than what we just read).   What is the most ambitious book you read this year? Which book surprised you the most? What was your personal favorite? Which book impacted your life the most? What's one book that made you cry? Which book had the best prose? How would YOU answer these six questions for 2023?

Have you ever experienced a moment where you were sure you understood something and suddenly, a whole new world opened up based on something someone said? Words have tremendous power to enact change. In this episode, I talk about three pieces of language we can adjust in order to transform our perspectives and completely alter the actions we're able to take in our lives. This episode was recorded on January 16, 2024.

Today, we'll look at goal-setting from another angle - what are some simple things we can do that will have a ten-year impact ? Tune in to hear me talk about childhood memories, toilet seats, and a quote about the sacrificial nature of true gift-giving. This episode was recorded on January 5, 2024.