Writing tips #6 – Twyla Tharp

Back in action

A plan is like scaffolding around a building. When you’re putting up the exterior shell, the scaffolding is vital. But once the shell is in place and you start work on the interior, the scaffolding disappears.

-page 119

There’s an emotional lie to overplanning; it creates a security blanket that lets you assume you have things under control, that you are further along than you really are, that you’re home free when you haven’t even walked out the door yet.

-page 123

Another trap is the belief that everything has to be perfect before you can take the next step.

-page 124

I should have heeded the CEO who told me, “You only need one good reason to commit to an idea, not four hundred. But if you have four hundred reasons to say yes and one reason to say no, the answer is probably no.”

-page 128

When you set up to work, pick a fight with your rituals. Ask yourself why you need this ritual, what solace and protection does it bring, what state of mind does it create, what good does it produce.

-page 134

Generosity is luck going in the opposite direction, away from you. If you’re generous to someone, if you do something to help him out, you are in effect making him lucky. This is important. It’s like inviting yourself into a community of good fortune.

-page 136