thinkitcreative

Where do you get your ideas from?

Writers get asked this often and more often than not, the answer can be distilled to this: I don’t really know. They just come to me.

Ideas are like luck. You can believe they just happen and that you’re just fortunate to be there when they materialze. But that’s a pretty fanciful notion, isn’t it?

Here’s what I know as someone who has been in the idea business for more than 10 years on my own, and more than 20 in the writing trade: luck and ideas come from practice.

You have to make a habit of being there—of showing up and doing the thing that needs to get done to get the things you really want. There is no shortcut.

I like what Neil Gaiman says about this: “You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”

Part of the habit of ideas is to feed your appetite for more of them. I’ve talked before about 21 places for creative inspiration.

I want to share with you 10 more. The list is varied, but what they all have in common is an unyielding devotion to showing up regularly with great writing and solid ideas.

Who’s on your favourite list for creative inspiration? Let me know.

James Altucher
His positions on a lot of things might raise your eyebrows. He and I disagree, for instance, on the importance of voting (I see it as a civic duty in Canada, but I can see why he feels the way he does, living where he lives). But there’s a strange genius to what James does. I admire that, not to mention his deep sincerity. He also happens to be a prolific storyteller who understands the intimate bond between reader and writer. More than just teaching the value of not holding back at all in your writing, he also writes killer headlines. How can you help but click on a story called How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $2mm? I never miss a thing this guy writes.

Dan Zarella
I value a handful of field-tested research more than a truckload of opinions, and that’s why I read social media scientist Dan Zarella’s blog regularly (as well as his latest book). The takeway is more than just for social media. There’s insight here you can apply to all aspects of marketing and selling. As a direct result of Dan’s work—and his generosity in sharing his findings online—there’s a lot more certainty to writing for the web than ever before. Be sceptical of the opinionated. Act on verifiable data.

rob mclennan
Poetry is what reminds me that there are no easy answers to creative problems. As I say so often: simple is hard. I turn to many poets often for advice through their words. One in particular is rob mclennan, whom I’ve know since the days of Bard poetry readings in the basement of a downtown bar here in Ottawa. His blog isn’t just a platform for his own elegant prose, but for others, too.

Leo Babauta
As much as I’m a stickler for evidence-based research, one place where that can’t help much is in learning the mastery of living the good life in the fine sense that Aristotle once spoke of. The path to happiness is not through data, but through wisdom earned through practice. It’s that easy. And that hard. This is why I keep coming back to ZenHabits for more.

Colleen Francis
Wait, I know what you’re going to say. “Hey you’re plugging her because she’s a client!” Well, that’s partly true (I’ve been writing for Colleen for many, many years). But there’s an even more important reason. Colleen is one of the industry’s best speakers and coaches, teaching business owners and sales people to increase sales the smart way. I learn something new on every job I work on for her. If you want to be a better speaker, a better business owner and even just be smarter about working with people, Colleen has the world by the tail. So I’m happy to share her wisdom with you, dear reader.

Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman of the University of Cincinatti shares my passion for the future of publishing and has some very thoughtful things to say about that. She does a great job of helping to teach writers to think more like entrepreneurs. There are also valuable takeaways for everyone—not just writers–in search of advice and encouragement on keeping their creativity muscles well-exercised.

Jeff Goins
This is a recent find for me. Jeff’s a writer for writers. His blog is pitched at those who care about “writing, creativity, and changing the world.” And he does a great job of delivering on that. His stuff glows with an infectious positive energy and that’s why I subscribe to his updates. Bonus points for being a fellow guitar enthusiast.

Lisa Larter
She practices what she preaches about how businesses can do a better job of using social media in their marketing activities. Her post on why business owners need a “stop-doing” list helped give me a push in the right direction in 2011 and I’ve been reading her ever since. Lisa gets bonus marks for being a fellow resident of Ottawa–where a one-time non-existent entrepreneurial culture is growing today, thanks to the people who put in the time to make it happen.

Roger Ebert
Yes, the man’s a giant in film review. But at his core, Roger’s a writer who just happens to talk about film. His ideas often touch on things that transcend cinema. He built a rather fine career on his considerable writing talents, and yet in the last several years, his skills have grown even more. It’s partly in defiance of illness and loss, but there’s something else that drives this guy’s incredible passion for words. He’s not afraid to colour outside the lines. He reminds that there is endless satisfaction in digging deeper into your thinking and to not just settle for what comes quickly.

Artie Isaac
I was first drawn to Artie because of his speaking style, which I admire greatly (and that includes his trademark bowtie). He’s a powerful advocate for anyone who is in the ideas business. What I’ve found has really been keeping me coming back, however, is his emphasis on ethics. He’s also a fan of Thich Nhat Hanh. So again, bonus points.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

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With his usual aplomb, Marco Arment’s sage advice on design applies as much to platforms as it does to other products.

Good design is what you’re left with after you’ve said “no” to a lot of things.

How to bring good design to a platform

1. Demonstrate from the top that high quality and attention to detail are prioritized and appreciated above everything else, including being the first to market, having the most features, or having the most aggressive prices. If you can get those as well, that’s great, but quality will not be sacrificed to do so.
2. Instill these values in your staff. If you can’t, hire a staff for which you can. Better yet, hire a staff for which you don’t need to.
3. Aggressively pursue simplification, elegance, craftsmanship, and the highest-class user experiences in the product line. Ruthlessly cut or hold features or entire products that aren’t good enough.
4. Make it pretty.

How not to bring good design to a platform

1. Skip steps 1–3 above.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

With this sad news today, let me share with you something personal.

I was one of the people who appeared in the original batch of Apple “Switch” ads, back in 2002.

They ran for a little while on TV and elsewhere (a decade later and surprisingly it’s still not hard to find the entire series of ads on YouTube).

Back then, it was a different time for Apple. But already, you could see this was a company in the midst of a remarkable rebirth, thanks to the creative genius of Steve Jobs. I was happy to lend a hand when I emailed Apple way-back-when, explaining why I took a chance and bought that first iMac when I had launched my new company a year earlier. That email led to my involvement in the campaign, which was a lot of fun at what was for me a huge personal turning-point in life. So in many ways, I’ve always had a particular fondness for Steve Jobs and Apple.

It wasn’t just that Steve was the head of a company that made great products that helped in my own personal rebirth, building my business into what it is today. Steve set an example for so many of us: the best way to give a damn about things that matter deeply to you is to show it with great work that moves and inspires others.

Thank you, Steve.

I’ll keep giving a damn, working hard to put my own dent in the universe.

 [Update: My old friend and fellow Switcher, Pete (Damon) Wright has posted his own recollections today, too.]

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

This post is most more personal than usual for me. It might mark the start of a new area that I’ll occasionally include in this blog. We’ll have to see.

As I see things, in this business, sharing what I know ought to be about more than the sum of my successes in 20+ years as a writer and consultant.

I’ve also learned a lot from my mistakes. Often not as quickly as I should have.

Maybe I should share more of those with you (do let me know what you think about that…my email address is in the sidebar).

Deception has taught me the hardest lesson in my professional career.

If you’re lucky, it won’t happen to you often, but eventually you will encounter someone who will do a dishonest thing to you in business that will cut you deeply.

Most people are inherently good. I’m convinced of that. It’s just that when they make mistakes, they have an inner narrative that helps them rationalize why they do what they do. They don’t mean to deceive, they just have different—maybe conflicting—objectives.

But no matter their motives, the outcome is unmistakeable.

Trust can be a blind spot. But trust is also the currency of all good relations. I’m not much use to others if I’m gun-shy and hesitant to trust new people.

In my case, I had to make a decision whether I would let my own bad experience reshape the way I was going to do business with people.

After some thought, I decided to change two things: 1) that I would check my assumptions more often and 2) that I would be more direct than I already am in communicating my feelings and expectations. To do anything other would be wasted time and spirit.

As Joan Gatusso explains in summarizing a key teaching of Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh: “The seeds you may be watering are seeds of being misunderstood, victimhood, judgment and deception, seeds of past hurts and sorrows. If you are, then you need to be watering seeds of kindness, loving action, forgiveness, love and compassion.”

Choosing this path was not easy. Important choices never are.

But I’m a better communicator from the experience.

Maybe a little wiser, too.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Speaking at Carleton University recently, I noticed how many people in my audience were fact-checking and googling the sources and writers that I was recommending, all on-the-fly.

We all do this so often now that we take it for granted. It’s a great way to build a discussion and collaborate.

It’s also the first place that people go to find out more about people. That’s not just limited to speakers and the sources that they talk about in a presentation.

The space we loosely think of as “online” is everywhere now. Online is about everyone. People learn a lot more about you now, faster than ever.

What remains in your control is your content.

I don’t just mean your personal bio, your portfolio or even your resume you’ve posted somewhere. I mean what do you post online? What articles have you prepared? Which books or films or albums have you reviewed and talked about online? What do you tweet about? What do you like on Facebook? How do you treat people online? What do you share? How well do you express your ideas in the places where you post—even if it’s not related to your work? All these things add up to form a impression of how people see you—and of whether they want to do business with you.

Your content is your business card, your portfolio and your personal bio…all-in-one.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Photo:Lenore M. Edman

Being an entrepreneur is a bit like being a magician.

With sleight of hand, you make it look as though you make money out of nothing at all. Your income doesn’t come from a paycheque: you don’t get one.

Instead, you make things, or come up with ideas for things and then you find a market to buy those things.

But make no mistake.

Just like a master magician, your performance comes from years of practice at perfecting a thousand little things. You just make it look easy to others.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

On the heels of a lot of promising signs for ebook publishing comes bad news from the hard-copy side of the business as Key Porter Books suspends operations.

I wasn’t at all pleased to see how they broke news to writer Mark Bourrie that his upcoming book, Fog of War, was being put, in their words, “on hold status.”

Granted, there’s no doubt that management at Key Porter had plenty to agonize over leading up to this, but I can’t think of a worse way to break bad news to someone than than via email.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Says a lot about what’s happened this decade.

(Photo: Brett Jordan)

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.