The Writers Coin

I love to read and when I find myself in a creative rut, I usually reach for one of these books to help get me out of it.

A Moveable Feast

You get to enjoy Hemingway’s legendary sparse writing as he looks back to his days as a young, happy man in Paris. He goes to cafés, he writes, he talks about writing and about the city. It’s part biography, part writing clinic, part ode to Paris. And I was lucky enough to first read it as a young man in Paris myself. So every time I go back and read it I feel like I’m back walking the banks of the Seine thinking about everything that’s possible.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this was the book that got me turned on to writing. After I read it I felt like any topic of any kind could be made to sound interesting and exciting—that’s how good David Foster Wallace was. He writes about the most disconnected subjects you can imagine (tennis, TV, going on a cruise) and manages to make them all funny, interesting, and entertaining. No small feat.

The People of Paper

Talk about an experiment in storytelling. This novel is about a writer writing about a town that is trying to rebel against the writer. If the story itself sucked, than the experiment would be just that: an experiment. But the story is entertaining, the writing is solid, and the way he puts it all on paper is pretty awesome. Especially when one of his characters breaks through the page and into the writer’s room. Talk about a meta moment! Oh and the hardcover book is the most beautiful book I own (courtesy of the folks over at McSweeny’s).

On Writing

Whenever I feel like giving up the whole writing bit, I go back to this book. I remember reading it for the first time (also in Paris) and being shocked at how motivated it got me. I was never a huge Stephen King fan but this book is a must for anyone interested in writing. You absolutely have to own this book. It’s part biography and part writing advice, but it’s all good stuff. Even if you hate sci-fi and think his books are odd, this one isn’t. This one is worth several reads.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

My favorite book from my favorite writer (DFW again). You’d think it would be hard to pick a favorite from DFW, but this book of short stories is actually a pretty easy call for me. He does a lot of experimental stuff in this, and it all just absolutely kills. The one problem is that, after you finish, you’ll wonder what else there is to innovate on and if anyone will ever come along to match him. Makes his death even more depressing. He has the ability to find that bit of dialogue or voice that everyone can recognize and identify with.

Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

One of my favorite novels of all time. Diaz has managed to tell an epic story and to weave a whole bunch of background on his country, his people, and his culture. I’d love to do the same one day. Middlesex used to be at the top of my list, but this book came storming along and kicked its ass. Diaz takes no prisoners, makes no apologies, and tells his story the way he wants to tell it. I salute him.

What books have inspired you?

I haven’t been posting very consistently over the past few weeks. Or very much, for that matter. I have a good reason though: it’s Gary Vaynerchuk (of WineLibrary TV) and Adam Baker’s (of Man vs. Debt) fault.

You see, a month ago I read Adam’s fantastic post on how not to suck at blogging. In it, he posted this now-infamous video of Gary talking about passion, patience, and doing what you love:

It did what it’s done to hundreds of people: it got me fired up. But it also got me thinking.

A lot.

In the video he tells the audience to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and then “do that thing.” He talks about how, when he started Wine Library TV he became 1% unhappy. Which is pretty damn good if we’re being honest.

I’ll take 1% unhappiness in my life every day of the week.

But before you can give into all the energy and passion that Gary unleashed on that stage, you have to figure out the answer to that question.

And it’s hard.

So rather than keep pushing myself to post on this site, I’ve been trying to find the answer to that question instead of just falling into the rut of posting every day.

Maybe the answer lies within the confines of this site, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the answer lies at work. Or maybe not. One thing I do know is that I don’t want to write more and more posts on how to save X dollars by doing this or that tweak.

I’m done with that.

I’m interested in the bigger picture. Bigger things. I’ve graduated into the Ramit/JD school of personal finance. Or as JD calls it, “the third stage.”

Anyway, I’m curious to hear a couple of things from readers out there: have you figured out the answer to the question of what you want to do for the rest of your life? And two: what percent unhappy are you right now?

Everyone, at one point or another, goes through difficult times in their life.

Viktor Frankl was born in Austria in 1905, spent three years in a Nazi concentration camp, and eventually founded logotherapy. He led an incredible life, and I would never have heard of him if it wasn’t for his book, A Man’s Search for Meaning.

It was through this book that I learned some very important lessons about how to deal with adversity in life. Now, let’s make one thing very clear: nothing in my life (nor probably in your own) will ever compare to the horrors Frankl experienced in the Nazi camps. But as he tells us in his book, there’s something everyone can learn from his experiences.

The book is structured into two distinct parts.

In the first, he talks about his experiences in the camps, the things he saw, and what he and other prisoners felt throughout the experience. There was misery, there was laughter, there was pain, and there were even moments of peace.

The second is his introduction to logotherapy, which believes that the most important aspect of a man’s life is finding meaning in life. The second part sometimes gets a little technical, but Frankl interweaves some personal and professional (he was also a therapist) experiences that make everything crystal clear.

But one thing stood out for me in this book and really hit home for me: how he looks at his experiences in the camp and the meaning he derives from them. From his book, I learned three things about dealing with adversity:

Adversity is a Unique, Sacred Opportunity

In his book, Frankl talks about moments of adversity as opportunities. How often does someone get imprisoned in a concentration camp? Not very. Think of the worst possible thing that’s ever happened to you and ask yourself, “How rare was it?”

Instead of seeing these moments as terrible things that we must overcome, why not use them as tests? Have you ever wondered how strong you really are? How kind you could be? How generous you could be? These types of moments give us a chance to see what we’re really made of.

They test us and sometimes only through these tests do we really learn about ourselves and who we are.

The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up the cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.

One of the worst things that’s happened to me (and it’s really not that bad) was a serious jaw surgery I underwent some years ago. There was pain, stress, and a pinch of despair. But I was a really good patient. I also learned to listen (I couldn’t talk, which helped).

This type of procedure is very rare, and it showed me the kind of person I am capable of being when stripped of my chattery mouth and upbeat personality. What I saw was someone else entirely, but still someone I was “OK” with.

So the next time something “terrible” happens—be it a slip-up at work, a break up with a significant other, or some other event that shakes your universe—look at it as an opportunity to see what you’re made of. Of enduring with dignity and class.

As Frankl said, when all was stripped of the prisoners and they knew they were going to die, they went into the gas chambers with their heads held high.

The Power of Humor

You wouldn’t expect to hear a lot about humor in a book that talks about life in a concentration camp, would you? Well, Frankl singles it out because it was one of the main ways the prisoners dealt with the situation:

Humor was another of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well know that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.

If humor has a place in Nazi concentration camps, then it’s clear we can all use a little more of it in our everyday lives. So laugh a little at work: it’s good for you.

The Importance of Setting Goals

Personal-finance sites talk about the importance of setting goals all the time, and it makes sense if you really want to get things done. But did you know that setting goals can save your life? Frankl mentions certain prisoners that gave up—it entailed no longer setting goals. Goals to see family members, friends, etc. They simply stopped seeing the possibility of anything worthwhile happening in the future.

None of them knew when they would get out (which was understandable maddening), but these prisoners no longer cared about the future and they typically died a couple of days later.

The lesson here? Set goals—they’ll give you something to live for.

I may or may not have described Frankl, his book, and his philosophy very well, but I highly recommend his book. It’s a quick read and you won’t regret it.

For whatever reason, I always had it in my head that writing a short story required all this thinking, preparation, and process that meant it would take a week or two to churn one out.

This despite the fact that the only story I ever got paid for (it won an award) was written in two and a half hours and then edited a whole bunch afterwards.

National Novel Writing Month has already taught me this lesson: I can write a short story in no time. If word count is what we’re using to judge a short story, I can write one out in an hour if unleash the reins and just let go.

I’m in the middle of a month-long marathon but it’s amazing to see the ground I can cover in one day: 2,500 words is not too bad. That’s about the length of my “award-winning” short story. I knew running was a good analogy for writing.

The writer Haruki Murakami knows this all too well.

Gotta get back to the writing…I have a quota to make!