We talked about writing full time, being a dad, what tools I use, and how awesome you guys are. One question Glenn didn’t ask me is if I think he should bring back The Glenn Wolsey Show. Yes, he should.

Speaking of Seth Godin and writing:

The biggest takeaway for anyone seeking to write is this: don’t go looking for the way other authors do their work. You won’t find many who are consistent enough to copy, and there are enough variations in approach that it’s obvious that it’s not like hitting home runs or swinging a golf club. There isn’t a standard approach, there’s only what works for you (and what doesn’t). […]

The process advice that makes sense to me is to write. Constantly. At length. Often. Don’t publish everything you write, but the more you write, the more you have to choose from.

Seth Godin:

If you run a media company (and you do—you publish regularly on all sorts of social media, don’t you?) then it’s worth two minutes to consider some basic groundrules, listed here for you to embrace or reject.

One of the best bits of advice for writing this site I stole from this Macworld podcast where John Gruber answers a question about why Daring Fireball is comment free:

I wanted to write a site for someone it’s meant for. That reader I write for is a second version of me. I’m writing for him. He’s interested in the exact same things I’m interested in; he reads the exact same websites I read.

Writing for the second version of me was such a great way to get momentum to my publishing routine — it helped me to find my voice, and it continues to serve as the perfect litmus test for if I should or shouldn’t link to something, or if I’m going to spend time writing a review of an app or gadget.

But writing for the second version of me doesn’t answer every question that comes up in the day-to-day of writing and publishing. Questions like: What should I do when something is interesting to me but I don’t have anything to add to the conversation about it? Or: How often should I mention that this site is primarily funded by paying members?

Some questions you have answer ahead of time and then do your best to be consistent about. Because they’re not questions of style or schedule or voice, they’re questions about principles and values.

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My thanks to HostGator for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Will Peng:

I think the best designers have the greatest empathy for the people they connect with.

I love this attitude. Will’s article reminds me of my own change in attitude as I learned the ropes of doing freelance design work some years ago.

(Thanks, Chris!)

Nice update to the Backblaze app that runs on your Mac (or Windows) machine. It take advantage of your computer’s SSD, assuming you’ve got one, to increase indexing and backup performance. Thing is it’s a manual download and install — you have to grab the Disk Image from here and run the installer yourself.

David Barnard:

Many have touted iOS 7 as Apple’s break from skeuomorphism, and that’s true if we apply its strictest definition, but in iOS 7 Apple chose to double down on physicality and the use of real world metaphors. Creating a physics engine for the user interface is most certainly not digital authenticity.

Chris Bowler wrote a nice overview of the main differences between Typekit and H&FJ’s Cloud.tyography web font service.

I’ve been using Typekit for quite a while to serve up Warnock Pro and Proxima Nova here, and Proxima Nova Condensed and Chaparral Pro on Tools & Toys.

Among my pals on the web, so far Ben Brooks is the only one I know of who has switched from Typekit to Cloud.typography.

Typekit’s pricing is very affordable and the service has been fast and reliable over the years. But Cloud.typography’s Screensmart fonts are a brilliant innovation. And I have a new website project in the pen-and-paper stages right now, which I’m already imagining in Whitney.

As a nerdy sidebar, I use a dns-prefetch link at the very top of my site’s header to help speed up the process of the user’s browser having to downloading the typefaces from Typekit’s servers:

<link rel="dns-prefetch" href="http://use.typekit.com">

 

Seth Godin:

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth not being embarrassed about. And if it’s not worth doing, don’t do it.

John Carey wrote an excellent post which continues the conversation from my Flickr and Instagram article:

I can not stress how important it is not to let the pressure of posting a photo only to have no one pay it any attention stop you from enjoying what you do.

Agreed. John brings some excellent and thoughtful perspective to this whole conversation, and I love it.

It’s great to hear John’s thoughts on the current state of social networks, faves, likes, comments, page views, and how it all relates to the art and craft of photography. His photographs have been a very positive influence on my own work as I’ve been learning what my own photographic “style” and “voice” are over the past several months shooting with the E-PL5.

I fear my article last Friday came across as to negative and/or self-centered. And for that I am bummed. I am loving shooting with my Olympus, editing in Lightroom, and then seeing the finished product. Photography has become a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby for me over the past several months.

My intent isn’t to communicate that I’m sad as a photographer because I don’t see enough activity on my Flickr shots. Nor do I want to communicate that I dislike Flickr.

The point I am hoping to communicate is that I don’t feel Flickr to be the ideal “final resting place” for my best and favorite photos. The network is great, and I will continue to use it — but I am not satisfied with it alone.