Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
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Constraints can lead to your best work. Jack White: Telling yourself that you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want— that just kills creativity.
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Related, Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat In The Hat using 236 different words. His editor challenged him to write a book using only 50 different words. He won the bet, producing Green Eggs and Ham, one of the best-selling children's books of all time.
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Gustave Flaubert: Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.
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Geography isn't super important (though foster connections where you can!) Community is online. He namechecks Twitter and Google Reader, which is a wild choice for a book last updated in 2021.
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Recommends keeping a daily X calendar to build chains, and a simple log boog of the best thing that happens each day, not detailed, but just enough to spark memories.
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Nicholson Baker: If you ask yourself "What's the best thing that happened today?" it forces a kind of cheerful retrospection that pulls up things to write about that you wouldn't otherwise consider. If instead you ask "What happened today?", you're going to remember the worst things, because you had to deal with them. If you ask what the best thing is, it will be a particular slant of slight, or some wonderful expression, something small and joyful, like a particularly delicious salad.
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Andre Torrez: Complain about the way other people make software by making software.
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Write fan letters. Better yet, write fan letters in the forms of public blogs extolling things you love. Don't seek validation, but share your love with the world. Make something and dedicate it to your hero, answering a question they've asked, building on their work, or solving a problem for them. Maybe it'll get back to them, maybe it won't. Do it anyway.