How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals? Last year, I read the amazing Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. The simple yet elegant idea behind the book is that if we live to around 80 years of age we get 4000 weeks give or take so why waste […]
Who was your most influential teacher? Why? My senior year art teacher had far more faith in me than I had ever experienced before. She pushed me out of my creative comfort zone and encouraged me to apply for art school. My parents wanted me to do something I could more immediately turn into a […]
What do you wish you could do more every day? Picture this – a rustic villa in the Provençal hills, gravel underfoot and a vine covered pergola overhead. Party lights loop between olive trees and above table laid with white linen and wine glasses, flowers and baskets of bread. Cicadas trill. It’s sunset and people […]
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike? We will be flying from Amsterdam to Budapest in August as that’s a long trip by train but the reverse journey will be the slow and scenic way. Travel then from Budapest to Paris will be done in daytime train trips with two […]
What activities do you lose yourself in? Writing. Always writing. I need to set alarms when I’m writing because I can easily lose all sense of time and place. I use specific music to send me into a deeply focused state and this allows me to get plenty of work done. The only trouble is […]
Are you superstitious? I’m not embarrassed to admit it either. Some things are practical. I won’t walk under a ladder mainly because something might fall on my head. Oh and don’t even get me started about people who put shoes on the table. It’s just yuck. But then things take a more esoteric turn. I […]
Where would you go on a shopping spree? I would start with Shakespeare and Co, the famous English language bookshop on the left bank of the River Seine. Then I would move to Sennelier, the famous art supply store a little further up the river. To finish my spree, rather than go to Chanel or […]
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Over my business, work, and writing careers, I have failed plenty of times. These failures have led me to today, writing a book on the place of apparent failure and feedback in helping us create our best work and by extension our […]
