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austin

creativityist notes - 07.30.08

by John on July 30, 2008

Welcome to Creativityist -- a blog devoted to finetuning your Mac, your workflow, and your soul to develop your creativity. I hope you'll consider subscribing to the free RSS feed.

Now that we are starting to get settled in Austin, I’m finding a few more chunks of time to work on Creativityist. Here are a few notes about the goings on that might be of interest to Creativityist readers:

  • I added a Resources page. Right now, it is a list of some recommended reads from my own experiences, though I might develop that page with some other resources as well. If you would like to suggest a book or another resource, drop me a line in the comments.

  • I also created a Series with summaries of the different series that have run on the site. I’m always looking for good series ideas, so if you have one, let me know.

  • Through PerformancingAds, I’ve added some buttons to the sidebar — and they’re cheap! If you have a product, service, or website that you think might be of interest to the Creativityist audience, please consider purchasing an ad to help support this growing site.

  • I’m working on an idea for a big collaborative project to help everyone who participates develop their own creative habits. I’m excited about it and I hope you’ll consider participating. Look for more information about it later this week.

  • Finally, I’ve noticed that the subscriber count on the RSS feed is starting to close in on 200. If you haven’t subscribed, I hope you’ll consider doing so to push us over the top.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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creativity loves company

by John on February 18, 2008

I read Ethan Watters’ Urban Tribes in 2005. While I thought the book was interesting, what stuck with me most was the realm in which the book was written. Ethan Watters is one of the co-founders of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. It is a shared “office for the creative self-employed” operating with the hypothesis “that community is conducive to productivity”.

Even those who work primarily alone benefit greatly from being in the presence of others. It might just be the reassurance of having others nearby, the competitive urge of hearing someone else’s keyboard, or the availability of another soul to help mold an idea.

I have worked without a designated office space, other than at home, for the last three years. Several times a week, I find that I have to get out and work in a coffee shop, just to have some sense of activity around me. It is good to be around others, but there are disadvantages as only certain tasks can really be done in that setting.

Today, a friend forwarded me a link to a new shared workspace that will be opening in Austin called LaunchPad Coworking. More and more, creatives are making a living as free-lancers and telecommuters. This seems like the right time for this kind of space. I get excited about the possibilities of having something like this available and I hope it works out for them.

Popularity: 20% [?]

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