The Blog of Ian Claudius

A scathing indictment of consumerism. Now available on this premium-quality limited-edition designer t-shirt from The Gap:

The late Pimp C on talkers:

Where the rocks at?

Where the Glocks at?

In yo mind and on the mic

The only place it’s at

Yeah, I miss UGK too.

Make big promises; overdeliver.

If you can define great marketing in fewer words than that, you win.

Seth defines great marketing very well in that post. That’s not the surprise–in looking for such a definition, smart marketers would sooner turn to him than Webster. Here’s the surprise…I win:

Promise big; overdeliver.

Of course, I’m just joking and being pedantic, but it did get me thinking about that sweet spot of editing, when your writing is maximally terse while your tone and message are wholly preserved.

To paraphrase Marcus Aurelius, “knowledge holds its ground and illuminates what receives it, without striking at obstacles with fury.” (I don’t have the book on me, but I think that’s close.) A strong message will shine beyond most obstacles of syntax. But each of these still casts a shadow, and it’s the job of editing to knock them down, so more people can see. Content + Community.

This will probably become a long series of posts, so I’m going to begin simply, with a quote and question to think about:

…someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours–a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God–and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly–not miserably–knowing how to die.

–Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Now for the question:

Is knowing how to die any different from knowing how to live?

Here’s the short:

“The problem that many of us face is that we have great dreams and ambitions. Caught up in the emotions of our dreams and the vastness of our desires, we find it very difficult to focus on the small, tedious steps usually necessary to attain them. We tend to think in terms of giant leaps toward our goals. But in the social world as in nature, anything of size and stability grows slowly…Too often the magnitude of our desires overwhelms us; taking that small first step makes them seem realizable. There is nothing more therapeutic than action.”

–Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War

…the shorter:

“Don’t aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”

–Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

…and the shortest:

“If you want the prize, focus on the target.”