A Sense of Urgency

ByHeather
ur•gen•cy 1. importance requiring swift action 2. an earnest and persistent quality; insistence

The difference between a productive day and a non-productive day is a sense of urgency. Today was a good day.

 

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What is the purpose of an economy anyway?

What is the purpose of an economy anyway?

ByHeather

I heard a reporter on a recent Economist podcast say that, in light of the growing UK economy, creating jobs is a good thing.

It seems to me that creating jobs is not only a good thing, creating jobs is the thing. What other purpose is there for an economy?

Here’s what I mean. An ‘economy’ is kind of a meta-thing that emerges whenever two or more people get together and decide that working together to meet everybody’s needs is more efficient than everyone trying to each meet 100% of their own needs (like, say, some kind of off-the-grid survivalist). Economies emerge in all kinds of places: prison economies, school-yard economies, national economies, global economies.

Steinbeck on Writing

ByHeather

I think there is only one book to a man. It is true that a man may change or be so warped that he becomes another man and has another book but I do not think that it is so with me.

— John Steinbeck, Journals of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

East of Eden was the first book that I read by Steinbeck. It was moving and well written and rich with characters. Then I discovered Journals of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters and suddenly I felt I had been given a back stage pass to the mind of a writer.

Steinbeck had already written Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939) when he set out to write East of Eden (1951). In the intervening years he lived through two divorces and served as a war correspondent. Despite the critical success of his earlier works, his standing as a major novelist had faded. As today’s quote reveals, Steinbeck also felt that he had not yet told the one story that was within him. His editor, Pascal Covici, did all that he could to encourage Steinbeck. Covici sent Steinbeck a number of notebooks and instructed Steinbeck to use them to write.

Reading

ByHeather

Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they are written.

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I have always been a deliberate reader. When I stumbled across this quote while reading Walden so many years ago, it simply gave me permission to enjoy the pace at which I read. Good writing is more than just conveying ideas or recounting a story. Good writing creates a mood, and images, and evokes emotions — and these cannot be digested while speed reading.

One of my favorite writers is Pat Conroy, and my favorite book of his is Prince of Tides. When I read this poetic prose I am drawn in to the rich and colorful images Conroy is able to create. Every sentence feels like a sculpture carefully crafted.

D•R•Horton

ByHeather

We went to our first HOA meeting this week for our new home in Carillon Forest. It was great to meet some of our new neighbors and we learned a lot. Mostly we learned that there are still lots of requests pending with the original developer who built all the houses in the neighborhood a few years back. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be responding to our requests.

It occurred to me that buying a house from DR Horton is like buying a band instrument from Professor Harold Hill. The Music Man comes to town, sells you a shiny new band instrument, and then moves on. Once he’s gone, he’s gone!

Don’t make them think

ByHeather

If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.

— Don Marquis

I lived in Denver in the late ’80s. At one point I met an acquaintance who invited me to attend his monthly book club. I was in a heavy reading phase and was excited about the prospect of connecting with fellow book lovers. I was encouraged to bring a book and plan on sharing a favorite passage.

The book I happened to be reading at the time was The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and the passage I picked to read turned out to be pretty heavy.

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