Creative Ideas Worth Sharing: February

1. Did you know that an Apollo rocket is actually on course only 2-3 percent of the time? That means at least 97% of the time it takes to get from the earth to the moon, it's off course. The astronauts know this, accept this fact as part of the process and are constantly course correcting. 

In other words, your work doesn’t need to be in perfect alignment every single day. Just keep trying and keep adjusting. 

2. Publish at 70% (Oliver Burkman)

3. There are two sides to creative productivity: proactive and receptive. We focus a lot on the former and not enough on the latter. When we aren’t creating enough, we tell ourselves to go out and fill the well. Consume more creativity, so we can create more creativity. But I think the key to overcoming / avoiding burn out might instead be to make enough quiet space to receive ideas. 

The last time I was feeling super inspired and in creative flow was a few summers ago, when I spent literal hours everyday floating on my back in the pool. 

I wasn’t “filling the well” with countless books and experiences. I was just … floating on my back and staring at the sky. 

So the question is: how do I get out of GO MODE and into FLOAT MODE? Particularly when I’m living in London and I haven’t see the sun for weeks on end? 

(Podcast: Helping Writers Become Authors)

4. Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. - Mary Oliver.

5. “Anyway, that is a thing art does for us: allows us to fix our emotions on events at the moment they occur, it permit a union of heart and mind and tongue and tear. Whereas in life, from moment to moment, one can’t tell an onion from a piece of dry toast.” - The Women’s Room, Marilyn French