After lingering on my to-read list for years, I finally checked Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way out from the library last week. Right away, I encountered a core idea of her creativity practice that I rebelled against: the morning pages. What are morning pages? Put simply, the morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, … Continue reading On Day 1 of doing morning pages
Author: T Coe
On 7 things from last week (3/6/23)
The Magician's Land (Lev Grossman). I concluded my reread of Lev Grossman's The Magicians trilogy last week and remain impressed with the world-building...but felt that the concluding book fell a little flat. The O.C. (Season 1). It was silly to think that The O.C. would remain character-driven through the end of Season 1. Twenty some-odd … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (3/6/23)
On the Major Dramatic Question and Richard Feynman’s 12 problems
One idea I really liked in Amy Whitaker's book Art Thinking was a concept borrowed from Hollywood screenwriters—the "MDQ," or Major Dramatic Question. The MDQ is the engine that drives the plot of a narrative forward, broadening the stakes, extending the specific to the universal. Whitaker suggests that people can have their own MDQs—which she … Continue reading On the Major Dramatic Question and Richard Feynman’s 12 problems
On the joy of talking to parents about parenting
How did no one tell us about this? This was the mantra for the first year of life as a parent. There's the hard stuff they don't tell you—the sleepless nights, the visits to urgent care, the devious and various behavioral "regressions." And there's the good stuff, too—the toothless smiles, the first words, the innocent … Continue reading On the joy of talking to parents about parenting
On the law of the instrument
Known as "law of the instrument" or "law of the hammer," this cognitive bias is perhaps most familiar as a quip, one usually attributed to Abraham Maslow (yes, he of the hierarchy of needs): If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail. … Continue reading On the law of the instrument
On business development and the shame of not knowing everyone
As an introvert, I was never going to be much of a business developer. (I've written previously about my mild aversion to picking up the phone.) But even though I fall on the marketing side of the A/E/C business development-marketing spectrum, sometimes I still find myself in business development situations. Typically, this is a "leads … Continue reading On business development and the shame of not knowing everyone
On valuing your time vs. keeping a client happy
Over the past four Mondays, I've sat in on a series of "bootcamps" for the firm's project managers on a variety of topics. Given that I don't do any project work, these bootcamps weren't all that relevant to me. But—they were very illuminating when it came to understanding my colleagues. The most recent bootcamp focused … Continue reading On valuing your time vs. keeping a client happy
On songs that send us somewhere, or, on the song atlas
It shouldn't surprise me, but it always does: some songs end up "fixed" to a place in my personal history, the record equivalent of Proust's madeline, a cue that sends me somewhere back in my personal geography. Together, I think of these fixed songs as a personal "song atlas." "Sun" by The Hotelier I hear … Continue reading On songs that send us somewhere, or, on the song atlas
On 7 things from last week (2/27/23)
Art Thinking by Amy Whitaker is an interesting read about how to add more "art thinking" to our lives. Deserves a closer read in the coming week. I've sensed it—the breakdown of my once vital social network, and considered it a byproduct of marriage and kids. I hadn't also considered that it might be I'm … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (2/27/23)
On good noticing and doing more than getting through the day
It's been a rough back half of the week for my household. Our toddler has been sick and fussy, toggling between weepy desperation at his illness and sloppy mania when he's felt just marginally better. (Falling down several stairs being one side effect of such sloppiness.) Time has narrowed to a tunnel, and these long … Continue reading On good noticing and doing more than getting through the day
Taylor Coe 