“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” - This the quote of Steve Jobs. But he may be misquoted it from "Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" by Pablo Picasso who was rephrasing Igor Stravinsky.

But may the original one is T. S. ...

"Everybody is inspired by somebody."

Instead, chew on one thinker—writer, artist, activist, role model—you really love. Study everything there is to know about that person. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as yo...

"Fake it ’til you make it."

First, you have to figure out who to copy. Who to copy is easy. You copy your heroes—the people you love, the people you’re inspired by, the people you want to be. Do not copy from only one hero... copy from all ...

The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read.

Whenever you’re at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, 'What would make a better story?'

If you’re out of ideas -

• Take time to mess around. 
• Get lost. 
• Wander. 

You never know where it’s going to lead you.

If you have two or three real passions, don’t feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Don’t discard. Keep all your passions...

There’s only one not-so-secret formula that the author knows: Do good work and share it with people.

• Step 1: Wonder at something.
• Step 2: Invite others to wonder with you. You should wonder at the things nobody else is wonderin...

...The World is a Small Town.

"There’s only one rule I know of: You’ve got to be kind." —Kurt Vonnegut

The author recommends public fan letters. The Internet is really good for this. Write a blog post about someone’s work that y...

...It’s the Only Way to Get Work Done.

A day job puts you in the path of other human beings. The worst thing a day job does is take time away from you, but it makes up for that by giving you a daily routine in which you can schedule a regular time for your creative purs...

In this age of information abundance and overload, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s really important to them.

"Creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to lea...