!Name Drop Alert! Brad Pitt once told me that each project is the antidote to the last. He’d just made ‘Meet Joe Black’ and was now making ‘Fight Club.’ Regarding writing and relationships, I had to agree. Do you?
Ouch. That will take some thought, but just defining a "story" is wicked hard. As for key elements, I'd start with the Idea and the Way In. Most times the second is harder to find.
Definitely. That’s the reason whenever I read anything altruistic, like The Once and Future King, I balance it out with one of your novels for good measure!
You should. I found ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man’, by Mary Trump, to be awesome and inspiring. That is, until I recently saw a summary of a biography on Amazon about her, (on the actual biography; not a review), refer to her as something along the lines of ‘one of the greatest writer’s of the 21st century’… While dumbstruck that, after her only having written two books, anyone would seriously assert such a grandiose statement like that about her, I couldn’t help but feel that you without a doubt are! Especially, after listening to ‘Consider This’ and ‘The Invention of Sound’. You have the rare gift of affirming trauma, while not enabling the vanity of its survivors, and that has given me far more hope as a reader/listener/consumer of your work, and human being, than anything else in society ever has…
Because I don’t want to affirm, or come across as, being a sycophant, and I want to have your next novel somehow top ‘The Invention of Sound’:
If you need encouragement to not let that you’re one of the greatest writers alive get to your head though, Chuck, you did mistakenly refer to Alejandro Jodorowsky as who initially was set to direct ‘Alien’, on The Joe Rogan Experience recently (a film which I’ve noticed Joe Rogan mentions, or is mentioned, quite frequently in discussion with his guests); rather than the actual film that he was set to direct, from which everything for Alien came from, and David Lynch replaced him on; Dune…
Yeah, I botched that one. My understanding is that the creative team for 'Dune' was in place, but the project hit a snag so they instead created 'Alien.' Different people have told me different details. My bad.
Wrote a long, wordy reply, and then accidentally pressed ‘cancel’ instead of ‘post’. Basically, its contents consisted of that you are absolutely allowed to be human like the rest of us, my opinion/belief that your work renders an extensive amount of the morally ambiguous institutionalized methods of mental health professionals obsolete (if only we that consume your work are courageous enough to read between the lines of your work and act accordingly through self-improvement), and that you are a genius wordsmith, a wonderful human being, and, subsequently, a marvel to witness in action!
It might not seem like it, because I use a lot of commas and such (and not always accurately), but your advice, and the advice you’ve received from others, that you’ve shared, has had a major impact on my psyche and ability to strategize more efficiently when it comes to what I desire in my life… I’m unsure of if I could ever articulate how much I appreciate you and your work, Chuck, but, for starters, I have been, and will continue, to purchase your work, so that you can continue to churn out spiritually provocative, at times horrifyingly overstimulating, seemingly irreverent classics, through all types of creative mediums!
Interesting! I place Chuck's work that I have read so far on art that permits strength, it almost celebrates the untalked about. instead of works that romanticizes weakness as I like to put it. That's why his books are banned in some prisons I think. That's the best compliment you can give a writer.. he should take it.
I don't think this is what you mean, but Re: writing, have you heard of The Creator's Curse? You supposedly get better with each thing you create, and so you always look back on your most recent work dissatisfied, since you're better now than when you began the project. I've definitely been through this with writing, and now that I think about it, I guess it applies to relationships as well.
Oh that reminds me! The Great Katya Zamolodchikova says "If you're not cringing at your past work then you're not making any progress. Maybe someone is cringing right now." Like damn!
I always think it goes in pairs- you write something awful, the next thing you don't think is so bad, you're in a good relationship, the next one is a bit shitty or you don't care as much. Maybe that is exactly what an antidote is really- it resets you.
I do sort of wish I liked everything I write though and every relationship was great......but then I'd probably be the sort of conceited little shit I wouldn't like.
So perhaps 'clock resetter' would be a better description that 'antidote'?
Somewhat agreed. My pattern tends toward writing something less-offensive, then over-correcting by writing something especially offensive to the culture. If you hit the same note too often things feel monotonous.
I've wondered for some time now, was it your intention with Adjustment Day to be especially offensive to the culture? I thought it was an especially scathing and relevant satire, yet a lot of readers I talked to didn't seem to "get" it.
Absolutely. My second writing project was so much better than the first, and the third was better than the second and so on.
My second marriage is much better than the first.
Does that mean you believe Survivor to be a superior book to Fight Club? Even though you are the author, I believe they are both equally great. (Damned being your best work IMO in case you were wondering.)
Don't make me choose. If 'Damned' works, it does so because I wrote it while caring for my mom at the end of her cancer. So Madison's emotion might be more real as she misses her parents. If I have to choose I'd go with the short story "Zombies" as my favorite. As I told the plot to Tom Bilyeu on his podcast, Impact Theory, his facial expression was priceless. He assumed the premise of the story was real.
I've been itching for the opportunity to say Damned is my favorite book ever right now! the line '' don't make a date with a heart attack" will stay with me forever. And, that Hitler part, when he got knocked out, Archer told Madison to take a trophy.. I was, deep down, screaming.. please please take his moustache!! She did, that was glorious.
At times, I guess in our darkest moments between life and death, we'd lean on our partner, friend, mom and dad and siblings, or a pet.. couple of weeks ago all I had was the book Damned to give me purpose. You wrote one hell of a book.
Not going to argue with Pitt. The guy is (mostly) one of the best for picking scripts that keep his fans happy. In the nineties one of my housemates had a “Legends of the Fall” poster hung on her bedroom door. In the film after that one “Se7en,” Pitt refused to go shirtless (noted in the film’s commentary track by Pitt) and regretted it. Sometimes the fix causes other problems but at least you’re not stuck in a rut. I don’t think Fight Club was just an antidote to Joe Black as it also seemed like a response to his modesty on Se7en’s set. My housemate and I saw Fight Club together and, while I raved about the story, she seriously just raved about Pitt’s torso. He plays with high and low brow from film to film a lot but also has some exceptions (Was Mr. and Mrs. Smith an antidote to Oceans Twelve?). Seeing as it has kept his filmography mostly interesting, I respect the methodology. Then again, some people have found a good life in sticking to what seems to work even if it gets repetitive as hell. Sometimes the antidote is recycling or returning to what worked before but just fine tuning, isn’t it?
Does that mean each of your writing projects eventually become poison? And if you're seriously stuck on a project, like for years, will the next project be equivalent to chemo?
Personally, I think being able to finish something starts that healing process, the next project is continuation of that.
Agreed. There’s no reason to evolve without failure. Falling forward still comes with the risk of breaking your nose or chipping a tooth. Openness is the medicine to both: writing and relationships. Inviting the unexpected into your own story from the last place you’d look.
Openness to ugliness. It’s better than being boring and alone. And honestly, did you really like your perfect teeth that much anyway?
This made me think of something. Many people exit relationships only to date the complete opposite of their last partner. Which reminds me, I spent years focusing on a tragic love story only to stop everything I was doing to write a fairy tale adventure-fantasy with talking animals. I think we pendulate between extremes as a way of balancing things out. Date the bad boy only to settle for the quirky one at the end of the day. Top off a salty snack with a sweet one. Inhale, exhale. Catch my drift?
Gotta love the extremes, but as you age you find a long-term middle-ground. Those unstable outlaws are sexy as hell, but who needs the everyday chaos? (you wrecked my car? Again?) The white hat goody-goodies get boring, fast. Maybe that's why I try to create my soul mate in fiction?
When people think about hacking they knee jerk to some nerds coding their brains out on a cold machine. Social engineering is not only a completely valid way of hacking, it's far more superior in my humble opinion. You can't code your way out of emotions. I may not be able to see what someone is viewing on their screen at 3am on a Wednesday but I can certainly take a few stabs at it without hesitation marks.:P
Hah! My hometown was riddled with black widow spiders. From an early age we were taught that the spiders had to take a "stance" before they could bite. So we had that moment to slap them off. Desert living.
If anything, sometimes Tom would be shocked and respond vaguely. When I first brought in the support group scene from 'Fight Club' where the narrator meets the dying people, Tom looked around the table. He was checking to see if others seemed offended. None were so he wasn't.
This train of thought is probably at the root of the fear of a creative been pigeonholed in their endeavors. Even if the creative doesn’t know what they want to do in the future, they’ll probably be concerned about doing the same thing over and over and never “evolving” or pushing themselves in other/new directions.
Absolutely. My father told me something similar once, regarding a failed relationship " some day you will say "I'm glad that relationship was over, so I could be in this one"
And Brad Pitt could have worn a shirt every single scene. It would have elevated the material and hint at the idea that Tyler never actually fought. Anytime it came down to business Jack was always the one taking off his shirt and ready to go. Tyler was more of the peacock.
Yes, seems like it to me. The new thing I’m working on has really gotten me out of what was quite a funk. I can’t wait to go back and forth between each piece I’m doing. I can already tell it’s going to keep me much more balanced and feeling less like I have all my eggs in one basket. Your dad gave great advice! I hope you’ll share more of it.
Good Ol' Google at it again. "Deadly Black Widow Spiders Feast on Males after Mating with Them and Liquefy Their Prey. Black widows spiders are notorious for their powerful venom and gruesome mating habits, which sometimes involves the females killing and eating the males after procreating."
Hey Chuck, I love when you talk about textures of information. Slipping in second person or third person, writing description or instructions or sound words. Adding a list. Definitions. Slogans. Warnings. It got me thinking about what else could be textures of information. Could tweets or hashtags be a texture? I'm always on the lookout for new textures.
One scene from the movie "Midnight at Paris" stuck with me ever since I heard it. Not sure if you guys seen it. Owen Wilson's character is sitting in a restaurant/bar and he's chatting with Hemingway to see if he can get Papa's opinion about a 400 page novel he wrote. And Hemingway replies, "My opinion is I hate it."
Owen's character responds with, "But you haven't even read it."
Then Hemingway comes back with, "If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing. If it's good, I'll be envious and hate it all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."
Scribble that on a post-it note and slap it right over my heart. But I'm conflicted about it. Part of me wants to think we're all in this together, trying to help each other out, and then wipe happy tears away when our peers succeed. But another part of me goes, "What do they got that I don't got? I can do that, maybe even better."
What do you think about their interaction? Is there any truth to it?
The answer to your question is: The full members pass on this substack is 200 bucks a year! It means there is no such thing as we're in this together. selfishness, Envy, jealousy and our insecurities drives us more to do better than companionship. We humans like to pretend otherwise though.
Hah! In 1990 I paid $200 for ten sessions with Tom Spanbauer. It was fun and social and mildly competitive. And I continued to pay $200 every ten weeks for maybe three years (?). Best investment ever.
You can't go wrong there. Paying to get better at the thing that drives you forward, is never a bad decision. In Poker it's called a +EV play.
At the end of the day, is it love or hate? What accomplishes more? Love makes you happy but can get you complacent, while hate sets you a target to aim at. We seem to forget that we've descended from primates, not from the heavens above, so I'm more than content with whatever feelings the mainstream thought deems unethical. Yes, when I see a magnificent piece of writing by someone I envy the fuck out of him or her.
In most cases that's true, the Hemingway observation. But when I read something amazing, its effect is it makes me want to write. It excites me to write by showing how good writing can be. If anything I feel a gentle competition with other writers in workshop.
This reminds me of Alexander McQueen and Galliano. At the very beginning of the book Gods and Kings. "During their twenty-year reign, they poured their creative souls into fashion, helping companies turn into not only megaconglomerates but also names that will stand for decades to come. In return they were sacrificed in the name of capitalism.They were indeed kings, the sort history later hails as The Great. But kings come and kings go. And Gods remain.”
Seems to be the case with writing for me. Especially if I get feedback or reviews to improve. Each project is a chance to do better and to try out new things.
Moving to new cities might be the other. I always want to see new places. Some places I loved, some I am glad to leave behind.
Ouch. That will take some thought, but just defining a "story" is wicked hard. As for key elements, I'd start with the Idea and the Way In. Most times the second is harder to find.
Definitely. That’s the reason whenever I read anything altruistic, like The Once and Future King, I balance it out with one of your novels for good measure!
I'll take that as a compliment...
You should. I found ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man’, by Mary Trump, to be awesome and inspiring. That is, until I recently saw a summary of a biography on Amazon about her, (on the actual biography; not a review), refer to her as something along the lines of ‘one of the greatest writer’s of the 21st century’… While dumbstruck that, after her only having written two books, anyone would seriously assert such a grandiose statement like that about her, I couldn’t help but feel that you without a doubt are! Especially, after listening to ‘Consider This’ and ‘The Invention of Sound’. You have the rare gift of affirming trauma, while not enabling the vanity of its survivors, and that has given me far more hope as a reader/listener/consumer of your work, and human being, than anything else in society ever has…
Because I don’t want to affirm, or come across as, being a sycophant, and I want to have your next novel somehow top ‘The Invention of Sound’:
If you need encouragement to not let that you’re one of the greatest writers alive get to your head though, Chuck, you did mistakenly refer to Alejandro Jodorowsky as who initially was set to direct ‘Alien’, on The Joe Rogan Experience recently (a film which I’ve noticed Joe Rogan mentions, or is mentioned, quite frequently in discussion with his guests); rather than the actual film that he was set to direct, from which everything for Alien came from, and David Lynch replaced him on; Dune…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m0cJNR8HEw0
Ha! I recall/noticed that swing-and-a-miss as well and was curious as to whether it was an error of misremembering, misspeaking, or something else.
Yeah, I botched that one. My understanding is that the creative team for 'Dune' was in place, but the project hit a snag so they instead created 'Alien.' Different people have told me different details. My bad.
Pandering?
Am I that obvious? But... see how good it feels to be right?! Like when we used to watch game shows on television.
Wrote a long, wordy reply, and then accidentally pressed ‘cancel’ instead of ‘post’. Basically, its contents consisted of that you are absolutely allowed to be human like the rest of us, my opinion/belief that your work renders an extensive amount of the morally ambiguous institutionalized methods of mental health professionals obsolete (if only we that consume your work are courageous enough to read between the lines of your work and act accordingly through self-improvement), and that you are a genius wordsmith, a wonderful human being, and, subsequently, a marvel to witness in action!
It might not seem like it, because I use a lot of commas and such (and not always accurately), but your advice, and the advice you’ve received from others, that you’ve shared, has had a major impact on my psyche and ability to strategize more efficiently when it comes to what I desire in my life… I’m unsure of if I could ever articulate how much I appreciate you and your work, Chuck, but, for starters, I have been, and will continue, to purchase your work, so that you can continue to churn out spiritually provocative, at times horrifyingly overstimulating, seemingly irreverent classics, through all types of creative mediums!
Interesting! I place Chuck's work that I have read so far on art that permits strength, it almost celebrates the untalked about. instead of works that romanticizes weakness as I like to put it. That's why his books are banned in some prisons I think. That's the best compliment you can give a writer.. he should take it.
So was Snatch the antidote to Fight Club? Because that is one hell of a remedy
I just can't even............
I don't think this is what you mean, but Re: writing, have you heard of The Creator's Curse? You supposedly get better with each thing you create, and so you always look back on your most recent work dissatisfied, since you're better now than when you began the project. I've definitely been through this with writing, and now that I think about it, I guess it applies to relationships as well.
I'd never heard of that, but it certainly rings true for me!
Thats why family and friends are so important. I was wondering why Mr.P talks about babies so much.
Do I? Babies?
Family. Friends. Babies. All the things that don't just leave us high dry.
That don't leave us high and dry if we fail or fail to make money.
Alien babies, devil babies, Gut's included incest babies, baby names, dead babies...ear babies.
A very good point. Thank you.
Oh that reminds me! The Great Katya Zamolodchikova says "If you're not cringing at your past work then you're not making any progress. Maybe someone is cringing right now." Like damn!
I always think it goes in pairs- you write something awful, the next thing you don't think is so bad, you're in a good relationship, the next one is a bit shitty or you don't care as much. Maybe that is exactly what an antidote is really- it resets you.
I do sort of wish I liked everything I write though and every relationship was great......but then I'd probably be the sort of conceited little shit I wouldn't like.
So perhaps 'clock resetter' would be a better description that 'antidote'?
Somewhat agreed. My pattern tends toward writing something less-offensive, then over-correcting by writing something especially offensive to the culture. If you hit the same note too often things feel monotonous.
I've wondered for some time now, was it your intention with Adjustment Day to be especially offensive to the culture? I thought it was an especially scathing and relevant satire, yet a lot of readers I talked to didn't seem to "get" it.
Yeah and my dog is the antidote to all my failed relationships. She's my soul mate.
I love this.
Saaaaaaame.
Isn't unconditional love amazing. Love your name btw....
Absolutely. My second writing project was so much better than the first, and the third was better than the second and so on.
My second marriage is much better than the first.
Does that mean you believe Survivor to be a superior book to Fight Club? Even though you are the author, I believe they are both equally great. (Damned being your best work IMO in case you were wondering.)
Don't make me choose. If 'Damned' works, it does so because I wrote it while caring for my mom at the end of her cancer. So Madison's emotion might be more real as she misses her parents. If I have to choose I'd go with the short story "Zombies" as my favorite. As I told the plot to Tom Bilyeu on his podcast, Impact Theory, his facial expression was priceless. He assumed the premise of the story was real.
I've been itching for the opportunity to say Damned is my favorite book ever right now! the line '' don't make a date with a heart attack" will stay with me forever. And, that Hitler part, when he got knocked out, Archer told Madison to take a trophy.. I was, deep down, screaming.. please please take his moustache!! She did, that was glorious.
At times, I guess in our darkest moments between life and death, we'd lean on our partner, friend, mom and dad and siblings, or a pet.. couple of weeks ago all I had was the book Damned to give me purpose. You wrote one hell of a book.
With all due respect to Mr. Pitt, he was speaking your words in a story of your making. If name dropping were to be done, it should be in the reverse.
G.
Gotta love you for that.
Not going to argue with Pitt. The guy is (mostly) one of the best for picking scripts that keep his fans happy. In the nineties one of my housemates had a “Legends of the Fall” poster hung on her bedroom door. In the film after that one “Se7en,” Pitt refused to go shirtless (noted in the film’s commentary track by Pitt) and regretted it. Sometimes the fix causes other problems but at least you’re not stuck in a rut. I don’t think Fight Club was just an antidote to Joe Black as it also seemed like a response to his modesty on Se7en’s set. My housemate and I saw Fight Club together and, while I raved about the story, she seriously just raved about Pitt’s torso. He plays with high and low brow from film to film a lot but also has some exceptions (Was Mr. and Mrs. Smith an antidote to Oceans Twelve?). Seeing as it has kept his filmography mostly interesting, I respect the methodology. Then again, some people have found a good life in sticking to what seems to work even if it gets repetitive as hell. Sometimes the antidote is recycling or returning to what worked before but just fine tuning, isn’t it?
Does that mean each of your writing projects eventually become poison? And if you're seriously stuck on a project, like for years, will the next project be equivalent to chemo?
Personally, I think being able to finish something starts that healing process, the next project is continuation of that.
Agreed. There’s no reason to evolve without failure. Falling forward still comes with the risk of breaking your nose or chipping a tooth. Openness is the medicine to both: writing and relationships. Inviting the unexpected into your own story from the last place you’d look.
Openness to ugliness. It’s better than being boring and alone. And honestly, did you really like your perfect teeth that much anyway?
I love this writing group so much.
This made me think of something. Many people exit relationships only to date the complete opposite of their last partner. Which reminds me, I spent years focusing on a tragic love story only to stop everything I was doing to write a fairy tale adventure-fantasy with talking animals. I think we pendulate between extremes as a way of balancing things out. Date the bad boy only to settle for the quirky one at the end of the day. Top off a salty snack with a sweet one. Inhale, exhale. Catch my drift?
Gotta love the extremes, but as you age you find a long-term middle-ground. Those unstable outlaws are sexy as hell, but who needs the everyday chaos? (you wrecked my car? Again?) The white hat goody-goodies get boring, fast. Maybe that's why I try to create my soul mate in fiction?
Ooooh, Dax Shepard talked about this last week when we taped Armchair Expert. I can't wait to post about the weird brain science. Soon.
I can’t help but think as we age, those ups and downs balance so much we flatline. Horrible pun intended.
And me too on the soulmates, when I’m not busy creating my greatest enemies.
Chuck, do you think we all do this, in some respects? Immortalize our soulmates in our writing so we always know where to find them?
Us grey hats are the most darling... :)
When people think about hacking they knee jerk to some nerds coding their brains out on a cold machine. Social engineering is not only a completely valid way of hacking, it's far more superior in my humble opinion. You can't code your way out of emotions. I may not be able to see what someone is viewing on their screen at 3am on a Wednesday but I can certainly take a few stabs at it without hesitation marks.:P
Which is why the future most likely will come out of Burning Man instead of some university. Social experiments are fun.
This statement is true. I hope. As long as it's not 2001 Space Odyssey. Is it wrong for me to love HAL a little bit? I must be a horrible person.
Fun fact: HAL is one letter off from IBM
Grey hats will make you want to give them their third car they wrapped around a tree...
Also...why'd you have to post a picture of a Black Widow? Now I won't be able to sleep tonight lol
Take a look at this artist's installation of a black widows web... https://www.arte-sur.org/home/tomas-saraceno-14-billions-working-title/
Oh god, that looks like Venom had an orgasm in that room... https://bit.ly/32YqkVn
I laughed a little more than I should have at your comment.
Hah! My hometown was riddled with black widow spiders. From an early age we were taught that the spiders had to take a "stance" before they could bite. So we had that moment to slap them off. Desert living.
If anything, sometimes Tom would be shocked and respond vaguely. When I first brought in the support group scene from 'Fight Club' where the narrator meets the dying people, Tom looked around the table. He was checking to see if others seemed offended. None were so he wasn't.
This train of thought is probably at the root of the fear of a creative been pigeonholed in their endeavors. Even if the creative doesn’t know what they want to do in the future, they’ll probably be concerned about doing the same thing over and over and never “evolving” or pushing themselves in other/new directions.
I‘d also think towards overcompensating for the flaws of the last work.
Absolutely. My father told me something similar once, regarding a failed relationship " some day you will say "I'm glad that relationship was over, so I could be in this one"
And Brad Pitt could have worn a shirt every single scene. It would have elevated the material and hint at the idea that Tyler never actually fought. Anytime it came down to business Jack was always the one taking off his shirt and ready to go. Tyler was more of the peacock.
More of a Show Pony. With all due respect.
Do I get better the more I, uh, write? Is this sentence the antidote to the first?
Im ready for an antidote to the current project.
No, but it's a great attitude when u need it.
Yes, seems like it to me. The new thing I’m working on has really gotten me out of what was quite a funk. I can’t wait to go back and forth between each piece I’m doing. I can already tell it’s going to keep me much more balanced and feeling less like I have all my eggs in one basket. Your dad gave great advice! I hope you’ll share more of it.
Good Ol' Google at it again. "Deadly Black Widow Spiders Feast on Males after Mating with Them and Liquefy Their Prey. Black widows spiders are notorious for their powerful venom and gruesome mating habits, which sometimes involves the females killing and eating the males after procreating."
Rock and Roll! lol
Hey Chuck, I love when you talk about textures of information. Slipping in second person or third person, writing description or instructions or sound words. Adding a list. Definitions. Slogans. Warnings. It got me thinking about what else could be textures of information. Could tweets or hashtags be a texture? I'm always on the lookout for new textures.
Also consider nonfiction devices such as rules and "See Also." The textures are endless.
Haiku.
Here's a totally random post!
One scene from the movie "Midnight at Paris" stuck with me ever since I heard it. Not sure if you guys seen it. Owen Wilson's character is sitting in a restaurant/bar and he's chatting with Hemingway to see if he can get Papa's opinion about a 400 page novel he wrote. And Hemingway replies, "My opinion is I hate it."
Owen's character responds with, "But you haven't even read it."
Then Hemingway comes back with, "If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing. If it's good, I'll be envious and hate it all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."
Scribble that on a post-it note and slap it right over my heart. But I'm conflicted about it. Part of me wants to think we're all in this together, trying to help each other out, and then wipe happy tears away when our peers succeed. But another part of me goes, "What do they got that I don't got? I can do that, maybe even better."
What do you think about their interaction? Is there any truth to it?
Correction, it's "Midnight IN Paris."
The answer to your question is: The full members pass on this substack is 200 bucks a year! It means there is no such thing as we're in this together. selfishness, Envy, jealousy and our insecurities drives us more to do better than companionship. We humans like to pretend otherwise though.
Hah! In 1990 I paid $200 for ten sessions with Tom Spanbauer. It was fun and social and mildly competitive. And I continued to pay $200 every ten weeks for maybe three years (?). Best investment ever.
You can't go wrong there. Paying to get better at the thing that drives you forward, is never a bad decision. In Poker it's called a +EV play.
At the end of the day, is it love or hate? What accomplishes more? Love makes you happy but can get you complacent, while hate sets you a target to aim at. We seem to forget that we've descended from primates, not from the heavens above, so I'm more than content with whatever feelings the mainstream thought deems unethical. Yes, when I see a magnificent piece of writing by someone I envy the fuck out of him or her.
In most cases that's true, the Hemingway observation. But when I read something amazing, its effect is it makes me want to write. It excites me to write by showing how good writing can be. If anything I feel a gentle competition with other writers in workshop.
This reminds me of Alexander McQueen and Galliano. At the very beginning of the book Gods and Kings. "During their twenty-year reign, they poured their creative souls into fashion, helping companies turn into not only megaconglomerates but also names that will stand for decades to come. In return they were sacrificed in the name of capitalism.They were indeed kings, the sort history later hails as The Great. But kings come and kings go. And Gods remain.”
Seems to be the case with writing for me. Especially if I get feedback or reviews to improve. Each project is a chance to do better and to try out new things.
Moving to new cities might be the other. I always want to see new places. Some places I loved, some I am glad to leave behind.