Viewing entries in
Writing

On Kim Kardashian, AI & the Future of Creativity

Comment

On Kim Kardashian, AI & the Future of Creativity

What’s fascinating is watching AI move into areas we think of as creative. It’s not difficult to imagine Artificial Intelligence -- or really Machine Learning algorithms -- taking on routinized tasks. But over the past few years, AI has moved into what is typically thought of as creative work. It’s both fascinating and a bit disconcerting to those of us who think of ourselves as creatives.

Comment

On Working Fast & Real-Time Collaboration

1 Comment

On Working Fast & Real-Time Collaboration

I’ve been thinking about spinning bikes, gin and “Chicken Wars.” The viral social backlash to the Peleton “The Gift that Gives Back” ad was fascinating. As Peleton was woozy on the ropes, Aviation Gin swung a round-house right with its “The Gift that Doesn’t Give Back” ad. They cast THE SAME ACTRESS who played the wife on the spinning bike, except she was now commiserating with girlfriends over gin cocktails because (we’re led to believe) she left her husband. KNOCKOUT! 

1 Comment

On Brainstorming & Collaboration

Comment

On Brainstorming & Collaboration

Today we are standing on the doorstep of a new decade, and so I’ve been thinking a lot about the challenges ahead, and the new approaches and ideas we’ll all need to tackle those challenges. Naturally that leads to… brainstorming!

Comment

How to Make Your Story’s Hook Great

Comment

How to Make Your Story’s Hook Great

“The only vampire I ever met was in Natchez, Mississippi.” That’s the opening line of a story* I’ve told hundreds of times both to entertain and  teach. It’s simple. But it’s a hook I crafted through many drafts and rounds of audience feedback. Why’s it great? And how can you make your own hooks great? I’ll dissect.

Comment

How to Begin Your Creative Process

1 Comment

How to Begin Your Creative Process

Thoughts rumble around in my head like rocks. Boulders, stones, pebbles. They’re rough ideas, starter concepts and floating phrases. And I can hear them crashing, crunching and bumping into each other. This is the beginning of my writing process.

1 Comment

On Shuffleboard, Air Guitar & Professional Karaoke

Comment

On Shuffleboard, Air Guitar & Professional Karaoke

Noel likes to wait until the very end of the night to sing Beyonce. Before then she's too busy doling out Buds and little bags of Classic Lay's. But by about 1:45, the ten customers at Nick's Lounge, which does karaoke every night of the week, have all sung at least once, and Noel glides out from behind the bar, tells Steve the DJ to cue up a deep track--"'Single Ladies' is so overdone!"--and kills. I mean, she really kills.

Comment

Uber Jimmy

Comment

Uber Jimmy

Jimmy clicked the volume down a few levels. I could sense him spot-glancing me in his rearview mirror before he finally said, “So, it’s kinda been a tough afternoon.”

I was overnighting in L.A. for work on a Thursday and using Uber to get place to place.

Comment