Creation, not consumption

David Gane

May 21, 2021 — 1 min read

As I’ve worked on rebuilding habits and getting back to work, I’ve had to remind myself of a mantra that I picked a while ago:

Creation, not consumption.

If I want to be a writer, I need to focus on the creation of story, and not only the consumption of it.

Consumption can be good when we are learning our craft, discovering what is new in storytelling, and opening ourselves to interesting forms, but unless we are practicing writing, we’ll never truly develop our skills and make a living at it.

Perhaps the better analogy is to find a balance between my inputs and outputs. Too much input and not enough output can be a bad thing (and could probably apply to other aspects of my life as well).

So, hopefully, I will continue creating over the next period of my life and sharing it with you.

Ripples in the pond

This past week, my writing partner and I were at the Cathedral Arts Festival, a week-long event in our city. Every year, at the end of the celebration, several blocks of a street are closed for a fair filled with music, food, arts, and crafts. It's a fun

Mistakes happen

Yesterday's newsletter didn't go to the right group, so I had to resend it tonight. It may even come out after I'm finished with this blog post. I finished it early yesterday, did several edits, then had my wife read it before I sent

Pebbles

Write a blog post every day. Write your book every day. Show love to those close to you. Take walks. Exercise. Read. Each of these is a small pebble in the pond that ripples forward and backward through your life. Throw enough, and eventually, they'll ripple back. (h/

My first posts

I first started posting on Tumblr in May 2007. I shared family stuff and links until I eventually started writing about writing. Usually, it was about trying to convince people to write. A lot of it is uncomfortable to read now—a little too cocky and unsympathetic to people'

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Ripples in the pond

Mistakes happen

Pebbles

My first posts