book reports

While on vacation, I read Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit and found that it was full of advice that could easily be applied to many creative endeavors, from building kickboxing combos to journaling to writing code. Here are some highlights from my reading, grouped by themes: Forward momentum: Any approach that renews your self-confidence and keeps you moving forward is worth cultivating and repeating. In every situation, at the beginning or end of the workday, you have a choice....

Writing notes on borrowed library books has always resulted in a disjointed mess of paper slips and smartphone scribbles. Once the library loan ends, then POOF, all of your notes and highlights disappear into the aether! How can you stop this? Well, Bookcision helps a lot if you’re using the Kindle app. My history with note-taking I love borrowing paper books from friends and the library. But this gets problematic because I also LOVE scribbling notes in books....

Are you a fan of antiheroes and morally ambiguous magic users? Gregory Maguire does a wonderful job of illustrating complex and undefinable characters. Here are some gems I’ve come across: Book One: Wicked “She used to say she saw the unknown city of anger in her dreams.” “She wore long, frayed grey gloves that she boasted buying second hand from a local undertaker, cheap for being used in funeral services.”...