Justine Musk's Blog, page 42

Ten Things That Make You Interesting (how to develop your own interestingness, part two)

You can define
as "the quality or condition of being interesting" (duh!) or, perhaps more importantly, "the ability to hold one's attention." We all want to be interested and interesting. In her book FASCINATE, Sally Hogshead refers to a study that demonstrates how "people would be willing to pay almost a week's salary to be the most fascinating person in any situation." And in today's increasingly cluttered and hypercompetitive environment, the ability t...

the importance of being interesting (and how you can develop your own interestingness), part one

I remember a pivotal conversation with my high school guidance counselor when I was 17. He called me to his office to inform me that my high school – a small Canadian school in the village of Lakefield, Ontario, population 1200 (or thereabouts), that bussed in farm kids from surrounding counties and native kids from a nearby reservation – was nominating me for a four-year scholarship to arguably the most prestigious university in the country (Queen's University, which likes t...

email (and advice) to a young aspiring writer

Okay, as far as blog posts go this is a bit of a cheat. This is from an email I wrote a few months ago to a charming sixth grader who emailed me and asked for writing advice. I found this a very interesting assignment, and gave it some thought (see me in the photo, I'm thinking, thinking). This was my response. Let me know if there's anything that I should have added.

Dear (incredible young person who had the fantastic taste to read and like my book and wants to be a writer):

Thank you so m...

how to think more creatively and come up with better ideas

1

There's a show I like to watch when I'm on the treadmill called A WORK OF ART. In the same vein as TOP CHEF or PROJECT RUNWAY, it's about a group of artists who complete an assignment each week. Their works are put on display and critiqued by the judges. One of them is pronounced that week's winner and one of them is eliminated.

My favorite is Miles, a talented twentysomething who is puppy-cute and has OCD (as soon as I learned he had OCD I figured he'd be one of the top contenders...

5 ways to put more 'soul' into your writing

What does it mean to write with 'soul'?

'Soulful' gets defined as the expression of profound emotion.  But when you write, it's not enough to express it, you have to invoke it in the reader.

Fiction – and some forms of nonfiction – require that you put the reader through a well-crafted emotional experience.

You can also define soulful writing as writing that taps into something that is distinctly and uniquely you.  Donald Maass in his book The Fire of Fiction explains that original writing is...

the 'how to write a creative manifesto' manifesto

1. Writing a manifesto is ideal for our creative work and promotional use of social media because it's about defining the path and the way.

When we are on the path, when we commit to the path, we win.

The fun is to win everyday.

Creative work is a practice.

Social media is a practice.

We must design our path so that we love the practice. Many roads may lead to the same place, but that doesn't mean they're all equally effective or enjoyable for me or for you.

...

why writing a manifesta can help you develop a creative vision (and sell more books and maybe even change the world)

(note: I'm using 'manifesta' instead of 'manifesto' because I like the womanly sound of it. indulge me.)

One of my favorite bloggers, Kelly Diels writes a bang-up post about what she would do if she was a new writer named Dorothy who'd just published a book about her adventures on the yellow brick road:

So this book should sell. It needs to sell. Dorothy wants it to sell.

Even more than that, Dorothy wants it to be read, to land, to take root, to grow, to inhabit, fertilize and animate our...

why writing a manifesta can help you develop a creative vision and ultimately sell more books

One of my favorite bloggers, Kelly Dielswrites a bang-up post about what she would do if she was a new writer named Dorothy who'd just published a book about her adventures on the yellow brick road:

So this book should sell. It needs to sell. Dorothy wants it to sell.

Even more than that, Dorothy wants it to be read, to land, to take root, to grow, to inhabit, fertilize and animate our popular imagination.

If I was Dorothy – and I am – I would start a blog before I even started writing the...

the writer as seducer

Writers, like seducers, aspire to get outside of themselves and into the perspective of another person, to gather information they can use in their campaign.

They develop a 'cool eye': the ability to step outside of their own ego and exist within the moment, to see things as objectively as they can.

Storytelling, like seduction, is about the power of fascination.

It's about getting inside someone's head and under their skin. It's about knowing when to step close and when to step away, and when ...

why 'write what you know' can be very bad advice

Write what you know.

This has always been problematic advice for me. I started writing fiction when I was very young – I wrote my first novel when I was 14 and it almost, almost, got published several years later – and I could sense from my obsessive reading that writers were supposed to know a lot more than I did.

I was a sheltered, smalltown girl, and the only thing I thought I knew was that I didn't even know what I didn't know.

I embarked on a quest to become Worldly and Experienced…at...