Share What You Care About

I've just come across something that's shaken me up, in a good way.

I've long been wanting to write a book. In fact, I have several drafts of half books, abandoned, never finished.

Tonight, I was browsing around in Julia Cameron's book The Right to Write, when I remembered a book I read a long time ago: Gerald Weinberg's Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method.

And right there, in the beginning, was the key that I've been looking for. Something that I've obviously read before, and long ago forgotten. Which is this:

Most people tell you to write what you know about. Forget that. Instead, write what you care about.

He goes on to say:

"I've violated that rule ["write what you know about"] countless times in my career. In fact, I start most of my writing projects because I don't know about something. For me, writing about a subject is one of the best ways to learn about it. And, of course, if I don't care about it, why would I want to learn about it?"

That, right there, unlocked so much creativity and juice in me, I just had to share it.

Turns out, that's what I've mostly done with this newsletter, although I could do it even more.

I think it's a good rule for teaching, for doing online courses, as well: Teach what you care about. Even if you don't know it, yet. Take that as an opportunity to find out, and then share that.

It's much more valuable to learn from someone who truly cares. That's exactly the ingredient that was missing in school for most of us growing up.

So go teach what you care about. What are you waiting for?

Interview on Everyday Light Warriors

I was interviewed by Yenny Stromgren on Everyday Light Warriors  (iTunes).

This one was probably my most relaxed interview to date. I had a lot of fun with Yenny. Enjoy!

New Features in Simplero

We have an exciting bit of news for those of you who regularly schedule appointments with your customers. This week, our good friends over at Acuity Scheduling launched an official integration with Simplero. With just a few simple steps, you can now synchronize your clients to Simplero when they schedule appointments. Acuity Scheduling has a quick guide on how to set this up.

Random Links from around the Interwebs

The cost of light has fallen by a factor of about 500,000 since prehistoric times.

Contrary to what some people are suggesting, terrorism is actually massively overreported, and that has serious consequences. It's nowhere near as big a danger as the conversation would suggest. And that's the entire point of terrorism.

The internet as it was in 1996. Ah, the good old days. Love how he pronounces URL. Via kottke.

Lots of love,
Calvin