“Writing on a computer can be terribly distracting, so sometimes I like to use a pencil and paper to jot down ideas. I always end up drawing a cartoon duck. Inevitably, the duck is holding a notepad, and I can read the ideas that he wrote down.” At Clickhole, six writers explain how they overcome writer’s block.
Howard?
Writing For Your Life
“I think essay and memoir hang together in a balance. There’s any number of ways to strike it, but from Montaigne on down that balance seems key to their design.” The Paris Review interviews the essayist Michelle Orange, author of the recent This Is Running For Your Life.
Art For Free
This past week, The Guggenheim made 65 art catalogs available online. Open Culture‘s Dan Colman has written a “few handy instructions” to guide you through the treasure trove of records.
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A Finalist in Our Midst
Sometime Millions contributor Bezalel Stern has been named a finalist in this week’s New Yorker cartoon caption contest. We think he’s got a chance at winning this thing.
Ghost Stories and Haunted Histories, as Told by Louise Erdrich
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Louise Erdrich discusses her new novel, The Sentence, a ghost story that handles serious topics with nuance and dark humor.
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The Ultimate Moral Rebel
The Guesthouse of Mirth
Edith Wharton is known as a novelist but she was also a wonderful hostess, whose guests (including Henry James) remember her as “kindness and hospitality incarnate.” Kate Bolick has turned Wharton’s life-long attempt to master “the complex art of civilized living” into an entertaining guide, “The Guesthouse of Mirth,” just in time for those last few summer parties. Pair with Roxana Robinson‘s reflections on Wharton’s life and works, including the original The House of Mirth.
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It’s All a Game
As you probably read last week, Elon Musk (founder and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX) is sure that we’re living in a computer-generated simulation. Over at The New Yorker, Joshua Rothman takes a hard look and tries to determine the actual odds of humans inhabiting a simulated world.
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