{ Show Your Work

Library

Title: Show Your Work
Author: & Austin Kleon
Reference:
Tags:
Status: #complete
Date finished reading: October 23, 2021
rating: 4/5
ISBN:
Publish Date:
Review Date:

Extracted Annotations (2021-08-02)

"instead of maintaining absolute secrecy and hoarding their work, (people I look up to) are open about what they're working on, and they're consistently posting bits and pieces of their work, their ideas, and what they're learning online" (Kleon 2015:152)

the "lone genius" myth:

"the "lone genius" myth: An individual with superhuman talents appears out of nowhere at certain points in history, free of influences or precedent, with a direct connection to God or The Muse." (Kleon 2015:155)

"scenius."

"Brian Eno refers to as "scenius." Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an "ecology of talent."" (Kleon 2015:156)

"If we forget about genius and think more about how we can nurture and contribute to a scenius, we can" (Kleon 2015:157)

"stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others." (Kleon 2015:157)

amateur

"amateur—the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love (in French, the word means "lover"), regardless of the potential for fame, money, or career" (Kleon 2015:160)

Because they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results.

"Raw enthusiasm is contagious." (Kleon 2015:162)

"The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others." (Kleon 2015:163)

Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.

"if your work isn't online, it doesn't exist" (Kleon 2015:166)

"If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share." (Kleon 2015:166)

Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards.

art work

"artwork, the finished piece, framed and hung on a gallery wall, art work, all the day-to-day stuff that goes on behind the scenes in her studio: looking for inspiration, getting an idea, applying oil to a canvas, etc." (Kleon 2015:171)

It Will Be Exhilarating.

"It Will Be Exhilarating. "By putting things out there, consistently, you can form a relationship with your customers. It allows them to see the person behind the products."" (Kleon 2015:174)

"In fact, sharing your process might actually be most valuable if the products of your work aren't easily shared, if you're still in the apprentice stage of your work, if you can't just slap up a portfolio and call it a day, or if your process doesn't necessarily lead to tangible finished products." (Kleon 2015:177)

"You have to turn the invisible into something other people can see." (Kleon 2015:177)

""You have to make stuff,"" (Kleon 2015:177)

"You have to make stuff,"

"No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers."" (Kleon 2015:177)

"Theodore Sturgeon once said that 90 percent of everything is crap" (Kleon 2015:184)

Theodore Sturgeon

"People often ask me, "How do you find the time for all this?" And I answer, "I look for it."" (Kleon 2015:185)

"I look for it."

One day at a time. It sounds so simple. It actually is simple but it isn't easy: It requires incredible support and fastidious structuring." —Russell Brand

"SO WHAT?"

"I had a professor in college who returned our graded essays, walked up to the chalkboard, and wrote in huge letters: "SO WHAT?" She threw the piece of chalk down and said, "Ask yourself that every time you turn in a piece of writing." It's a lesson I never forgot." (Kleon 2015:187)

Ask yourself that every time you turn in a piece of writing."

Ask yourself, "Is this helpful? Is it entertaining? Is it something I'd be comfortable with my boss or my mother seeing?" There's nothing wrong with saving things for later.

"Flow is the feed. It's the posts and the tweets. It's the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people you exist.

Stock is the durable stuff. It's the content you produce that's as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today.

""Stock and flow" is an economic concept that writer Robin Sloan has adapted into a metaphor for media: "Flow is the feed. It's the posts and the tweets. It's the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people you exist. Stock is the durable stuff. It's the content you produce that's as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It's what people discover via search. It's what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time." Sloan says the magic formula is to maintain your flow while working on your stock in the background." (Kleon 2015:190)

"a lot of the ideas in this book started out as tweets, which then became blog posts, which then became book chapters. Small things, over time, can get big." (Kleon 2015:192)

"Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine." (Kleon 2015:194)

"Over the years, you will be tempted to abandon it for the newest, shiniest social network. Don't give in. Don't let it fall into neglect. Think about it in the long term." (Kleon 2015:194)

"Stick with it, maintain it, and let it change with you over time." (Kleon 2015:194)

Stick with it, maintain it, and let it change with you over time.

"Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you." —Paul Arden" (Kleon 2015:197)

The reading feeds the writing, which feeds the reading.

"A lot of the writers I know see the act of reading and the act of writing as existing on opposite ends of the same spectrum: The reading feeds the writing, which feeds the reading. "I'm basically a curator," says the writer and former bookseller Jonathan Lethem." (Kleon 2015:199)

Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who

you are and what you do—sometimes even more than your own work.

"All it takes to uncover hidden gems is a clear eye, an open mind, and a willingness to search for inspiration in places other people aren't willing or able to go." (Kleon 2015:202)

"if you fail to properly attribute work that you share, you not only rob the person who made it, you rob all the people you've shared it with." (Kleon 2015:205)

"Attribution is all about providing context for what you're sharing: what the work is, who made it, how they made it, when and where it was made, why you're sharing it, why people should care about it, and where people can see some more work like it." (Kleon 2015:205)

what the work is, who made it, how they made it, when and where it was made, why you're sharing it, why people should care about it, and where people can see some more work like it.

"Attribution without a link online borders on useless: 99.9 percent of people are not going to bother Googling someone's name." (Kleon 2015:206)

question:

The answer:

"All of this raises a question: What if you want to share something and you don't know where it came from or who made it? The answer: Don't share things you can't properly credit. Find the right credit, or don't share." (Kleon 2015:206)

Find the right credit, or don't share.

"When shown an object, or given a food, or shown a face, people's assessment of it—how much they like it, how valuable it is—is deeply affected by what you tell them about it."" (Kleon 2015:210)

"Every email you send, every text, every conversation, every blog comment, every tweet, every photo, every video—they're all bits and pieces of a multimedia narrative you're constantly constructing." (Kleon 2015:212)

"If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller." (Kleon 2015:212)

"The most important part of a story is its structure. A good story structure is tidy, sturdy, and logical. Unfortunately, most of life is messy, uncertain, and illogical." (Kleon 2015:214)

""Once upon a time, there was _____. Every day, _____. One day, _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____." Pick your favorite story and try to fill in the blanks." (Kleon 2015:214)

"Once upon a time, there was _____. Every day, _____. One day, _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____." Pick your favorite story and try to fill in the blanks.

"Like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, this story shape effectively turns your listener into the hero who gets to decide how it ends." (Kleon 2015:216)

"Tell the truth and tell it with dignity and self-respect. If you're a student, say you're a student. If you work a day job, say you work a day job. (For years, I said, "By day I'm a web designer, and by night I write poetry.") If you have a weird hybrid job, say something like, "I'm a writer who draws." (I stole that bio from the cartoonist Saul Steinberg.) If you're unemployed, say so, and mention what kind of work you're looking for. If you're employed, but you don't feel good about your job title, ask yourself why that is. Maybe you're in the wrong line of work, or maybe you're not doing the work you're supposed to be doing. (There were many years where answering, "I'm a writer," felt wrong, because I wasn't actually writing.) Remember what the author George Orwell wrote: "Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful."" (Kleon 2015:221)

"Have empathy for your audience. Anticipate blank stares. Be ready for more questions. Answer patiently and politely." (Kleon 2015:221)

"The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. Share your reading list. Point to helpful reference materials." (Kleon 2015:227)

As blogger Kathy Sierra says, "Make people better at something they want to be better at."

"Teaching people doesn't subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you are, in effect, generating more interest in your work." (Kleon 2015:227)

"the forward-thinking artists of today aren't just looking for fans or passive consumers of their work, they're looking for potential collaborators, or co-conspirators." (Kleon 2015:232)

"If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community." (Kleon 2015:232)

"The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If" (Kleon 2015:232)

"you want to get, you have to give. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice." (Kleon 2015:233)

"to be "interest-ing" is to be curious and attentive, and to practice "the continual projection of interest." To put it more simply: If you want to be interesting, you have to be interested." (Kleon 2015:234)

"It is actually true that life is all about "who you know." But who you know is largely dependent on who you are and what you do, and the people you know can't do anything for you if you're not doing good work." (Kleon 2015:235)

""being good at things is the only thing that earns you clout or connections."" (Kleon 2015:235)

It's that simple.

"Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It's that simple." (Kleon 2015:236)

And don't ever ever ask people to follow you. "Follow me back?" is the saddest question on the Internet.

"Knuckleballers don't keep secrets. It's as if we have a greater mission

"With his fellow knuckleballers, however, things are different: "Knuckleballers don't keep secrets. It's as if we have a greater mission" (Kleon 2015:240)

beyond our own fortunes. And that mission is to pass it on, to keep the pitch alive."

As you put yourself and your work out there, you will run into your fellow knuckleballers.

"Here's how to take punches:" (Kleon 2015:247)

"The more people come across your work, the more criticism you'll face" (Kleon 2015:247)

"Relax and breathe." (Kleon 2015:247)

"Strengthen your neck." (Kleon 2015:248)

Put out a lot of work.

"Roll with the punches." (Kleon 2015:248)

"Protect your vulnerable areas." (Kleon 2015:249)

"Keep your balance." (Kleon 2015:249)

You have to remember that your work is something you do, not who you are.

""An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint," said artist Ben Shahn. "A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint."" (Kleon 2015:254)

We all have to get over our "starving artist" romanticism and the idea that touching money inherently corrupts creativity.

They're the people who don't want things to ever change.

"The people who holler "Sellout!" are all hollering "No!" They're the people who don't want things to ever change." (Kleon 2015:263)

"The biggest problem of success is that the world conspires to stop you doing the thing that you do, because you are successful," writes author Neil Gaiman." (Kleon 2015:265)

"You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done." (Kleon 2015:266)

"A successful or failed project is no guarantee of another success or failure. Whether you've just won big or lost big, you still have to face the question "What's next?"" (Kleon 2015:272)

you still have to face the question "What's next?"

Go away so you can come back

"Commute" (Kleon 2015:277)

"Exercise" (Kleon 2015:277)

"Nature" (Kleon 2015:277)

""If you never go to work, you never get to leave work."" (Kleon 2015:277)