During the final season (ongoing!) of the Showtime series Dexter, former police lieutenant Deb Morgan goes to work for a private eye and former cop named Jacob Elway. Elway’s dad, a rich oilman, did not support his choice to become a police detective; he waited until his dad died and invested the inheritance to start a private investigations firm.

Now, right off the bat you might assume I sympathize with this character because he’s a PI, but No.

Okay, Yes. But that’s not the primary reason.

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It’s an awesome font. Honestly, when I first saw it, I was in love.

It’s a gritty font, with elegant curves that seduce your eyes and sharp, dagger-like accents that threaten to stab your brain. It’s gorgeous and dangerous.

But, it’s also a very distinctive font, which limits its usage. It’s not like Trajan (which is obviously the movie font) or Arial (which is for signs) both of which are generic enough to be repeatedly used without the general public catching on. Continue reading →

“I wish I could do what you do!”

This is something most of us have heard from someone, at some point. Our individual gift shines through—whether it’s writing, or slam-dunking, or repairing a car, or finding the discrepancy in a financial report, or singing, or convincing a salesperson to give up a good deal—and the envious praise follows.

As a writer, however, when people tell me that they are impressed at my storytelling or wish they could do what I do, I am often amused by the glamor surrounding the construction of narratives. The irony is that writers don’t do anything other people don’t do; writers just do it consciously.

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Celebrated American author Raymond Chandler once said: “The faster I write the better my output. If I am going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.”

Some have interpreted this to mean you should write without thinking, also known as silencing the so-called “inner editor.”  This is a meme borrowed from the cultural contagion known as pop psychology, where the primary obstacle to success is believed to be neither talent nor resources, but lack of confidence.

Another interpretation is that Chandler was talking about writing for speed or word-count, just getting the story down on paper no matter what.

I believe both of these interpretations, and the philosophies behind them, are missing the point. If you’re intentionally blocking your inner editor, or racing to finish X number of words by sundown, you’re still pushing, not pulling.

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