What's a podcast app and why should I give a shit?
There's an enormous disparity between my geek friends and my literary friends when it comes to how they listen to podcasts. While my geek friends argue over the subtle quirks between their seven favorite podcast apps (aka podcatcher, aka podcast client), quite a few of my literary friends don't know what the hell a podcast app is. And when they do listen to a podcast episode, they do it by going to a website from a browser on their computer and clicking play. I want to change this. Not the part about us geeks arguing over trivial features – no one can stop that, it’s a force of nature – but I want stop this method of playing podcast episodes from the browser...
vid004: The index card treatment
In this video, I get to focus on Kate's perspective on the index card treatment, which is how she lays out index cards to outline her novel. It not only can help with plotting a story, but with detecting patterns in your book. Kate also came up with a fabulous metaphor about a risk with the index card treatment — a metaphor that required all of my bad animation skills. She says many more things that I didn't get a chance to animate, so check out the full one-hour audio conversation for more of her insights. Enjoy!
vid003: From start to end
In this video, I dig into Kristen Forbes' process for writing a story or essay. And I vent about my dislike of the pantser/plotter stereotype. (For those who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, watch the video for a quick explanation.) But most importantly, I animate a great story Kristen told about her obsession with Chad Simpson's writing -- a story that I hope you find as wonderful as I did...
vid002: From head to heart
In this video, I fixate on one particular topic: Scott's quest to turn his second book (a novel in progress) into a deeper story. And more generally: can you turn something formulaic (and in your head) into something deeper (and in your heart)? ...
vid001: Marinating with Joan Didion and Telaina Eriksen
In this video, I fixate on two cool topics that came up during my conversation with Telaina Eriksen: 1. Writing in the moment vs. letting things marinate; 2. Putting your thoughts within the context of a particular scene. I take an under-educated stance on why Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking worked so well. I also find a way to stick my kid’s precious stuffed animal (Shaggy the Jaguar) into the video...
vid000: Introduction to The Creative Turn
The video introduction to my new series. At the very least, you'll find out the meaning behind the zany, poorly-drawn, mad scientist... I hope you (somewhat) enjoy it.
video: Too Hip for the Room: George Carlin
So I'm still experimenting with different themes and styles and formats for my videos. Here is a posthumous interview with the great George Carlin. I've always wanted to know how he evolved into the great comedian that he became. So I asked him...