flâneur

On having more interesting ideas - by Henrik Karlsson

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A hobby of mine is to answer random questions that people email me, and I figured I should publish some of the answers here so I don’t have to repeat myself. If you have a question, you can use this Google form and I’ll publish an answer from time to time. Here’s one. A reader asked me how I go about finding interesting things to write about. I am not sure how good I am at being interesting, but I do spend a lot of time coming up with ideas—both for essays and for other contexts—and I am much better at it than I used to be. So: It is a muscle. Every day for maybe 7 years, I’ve written about what I think in detail, and the more I’ve done it, the better I’ve gotten at articulating what is new and interesting and meaningful in my thoughts. There is a quote attributed to Oscar Wilde: “To write well all you need to do is develop your mind. If you have thought deeply, nearly everything looks interesting.” And it really is a lot like that. When I talk to people who have worked with their idea

CY TWOMBLY’S STUDIO IN ROME, 1966 A hobby of mine is to answer random questions that people email me, and I figured I should publish some of the answers here so I don’t have to repeat myself. Here’s one. A reader asked me how I go about finding interesting things to write about. I am not sure how good I am at being interesting, but I do spend a lot of time coming up with ideas—both for essays and for other contexts—and I am much better at it than I used to be. So: It is a muscle. Every day for maybe 7 years, I’ve written about what I think in detail, and the more I’ve done it, the better…

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