Testing, Testing, Is This Thing Still On? - Dispatches for QuadrantNine
Testing, Testing, Is This Thing Still On?
Well it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these. The past year has been quite the existential journey for me involving various things from rethinking my priorities and values in life to a journey of side-project management discovery. Which is to say: it’s been a busy year, personally at least. I’ve decided to bring this newsletter back from it’s unscheduled stasis because I miss sharing stuff you all. The new schedule is TBD as I work out.
Since this is a newsletter focusing on side-projects I want to share a simple piece of advice that has helped me prioritize over the past year which projects to work on. If you’re like me and your brain is brimming with project ideas to a point where it’s impossible to focus on one, then the best word of advice I can give you is this: pick only three projects to work on at a time. It’s so simple, but it has helped me with focus so much.
Between my writing projects, podcasts, and personal development goals I now have so much more focus than I did before. I used to only work on projects as the inspiration came to me, which lead to my project list ever expanding but my projects never being completed. Choosing three to focus on has helped a lot. Picking only three projects might seem counter productive. It might seem like I have less to work on, which is true to an extent, but it also increases focus and determination to finish, because if I finish that means I can move on to my next idea.
Right now my three projects of choice are: - A novella I’m working on self publishing on Kindle. - An audiodrama. - Learning how to program, specifically how to improve my Python skills.
And I can’t wait to finish them so I can move onto the next big thing! Of course this is just what works for me, not everybody’s brain is the same. After all, there are no solutions, only tools. But I do highly encourage experimenting with it.
Project Updates
From the Quadrant
This newsletter is back, other than that it’s been pretty quite over on my blog.
From the Webb
Although I’ve been spending a lot more time on my novella, I’ve written a few short stories from time to time. Without listing every single one I’ll just share a few of my favorites.
- Seven Years - A husband and wife return from a night out in the city. They return to their quiet rural town to find that it’s no longer what it seems.
- Pretty Eyes - Bouncing back after a breakup is hard, especially when your date can’t stop looking you in the eyes.
- Potted Plant - Every house has their quirks. Some have misaligned door and others have yard tools passed from owner to owner. Meanwhile ours has a strange man with Lima bean colored skin hiding behind the potted plan in the living room.
From the Lab
The Productivity Lab has gone on indefinite hiatus due to changes in both Mark and I’s lives. However, you can listen to our backlog of experiments and book reviews here.
Recommendations
Books
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I went into this book completely blind and I came out stunned by it. So to pass that on I won’t spoil anything. Just read it!
- Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer - When I found out that Jeff Vandermeer, the author of my favorite book of all time, Annihilation, wrote a book on writing, I just knew I had to pick it up. In Wonderbook, Vandermeer shares his creative process, philosophy on the craft, and countless pointers on what it takes to build captivating stories all accompanied by beautiful and surreal illustrations to help get his point across. If you’re a fiction writer I highly recommend you check out this book.
YouTube
- The Biggest Climate Bill of your Life - But What Does it DO!? - I’m a month late to this news but I still think it’s relevant. In this Vlogbrothers video, Hank Green breaks down the largest piece of climate legislation to ever make it through the US Congress. There are a lot of exciting things in the bill and we’re about to see some big leaps in green technology over the next decade!
- The Trinity of Quality - Henry from Minute Physics, a channel dedicated to explaining concepts from physics like special relativity or inertia, takes a departure from the usual science topics to explain what he calls the “Trinity of Quality” aka his thoughts on what makes any creative endeavor good. Broken into three categories: actual quality, personal taste, and discernment, Henry defines and talks about why it’s important to focus on all three aspects. A must watch for any creative.
Podcasts
- Oh No Ross & Carrie: Magic Mind Edition - Oh No Ross & Carrie is one of my favorite shows out there. Their show takes comical deep dives into fringe beliefs, pseudoscience, and paranormal claims. In each episode they both try out and debunk something with an extraordinary claim anywhere from flat earthers to snake oil. I personally picked their review of Magic Mind because I have some familiarity with the so called productivity drink over at The Productivity Lab. Spoiler: the drink taste horrible.