You can’t do anything else

02020-05-07 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

I think this is good advice no matter what you want to do.

“I still have a writing session every day. It’s another thing that organizes your mind. The coffee goes here. The pad goes here. The notes go here. My writing technique is just: You can’t do anything else. You don’t have to write, but you can’t do anything else. The writing is such an ordeal. That sustains me.”

Jerry Seinfeld, in the New York Times, about how he’s working through isolation. I love that: you don’t have to write, play guitar, photograph, read, (insert anything here)… but you can’t do anything else, like checking Facebook, Instagram or other social media, or making phone calls. Keep your mind on the ball. If nothing comes to you, stay with that for the allotted time.

1 Comment

  1. JaneParhamKatz

    In Seinfeld’s new Netflix stand-up, 23 HOURS TO KILL, he was funnier than ever and seems even more energetic at 65. He is a wise professional and appears to live a balanced personal life.

    I’m distracted, not as much about Rona…more about Trump’s daily trashing of our democracy and the corrupt Attorney General and Congressmen that cover his tracks. They take just the next step to completely destroy us. Hmm, I wonder what is really behind it all. Maybe something nefarious, or maybe just the dollar.

    So, thank you, Dear Ottmar, for sharing Jerry’s words on the sustaining power of his writing routine. Can you believe he still feels writing is “an ordeal”? I find it impossible to concentrate for long. But I’m having a wonderful time forcing focus for just 10 minutes at a time. I go from Yoga, to piano practice, to working on my painting, to writing, etc., then back again. I find it’s fun and decreases the “ordeal” aspect of these things.

    Reply

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