Henry Miller's Commandments on Writing

Work Schedule, 1932-1933

-Henry Miller Miscellanea

COMMANDMENTS

1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.

2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to 'Black Spring.'

3. Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.

4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!

5. When you can't create you can work.

6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.

7. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.

8. Don't be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.

9. Discard the Program when you feel like it—but go back to it next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.

10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.

11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

MORNINGS: 

If groggy, type notes and allocate, as stimulus.

If in fine fettle, write.

EVENINGS:

See friends. Read in cafes.

Explore unfamiliar sections—on foot if wet, on bicycle if dry.

Write, if in mood, but only on Minor program.

Paint if empty or tired.

Make Notes. Make Charts, Plans. Make corrections of MS.

Note: Allow sufficient time during daylight to make an occasional visit to museums or an occasional sketch or an occasional bike ride. Sketch in cafes and trains and streets. Cut the movies! Library for references once a week.

Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

RIP Barney Rosset

He was called a sexist, a pervert, a corrupter of youth, the Old Smut Publisher. He received death threats. He was sued countless times. He was the son of a rich, conservative banker. He was the champion of Free Speech. In the end, he was a publisher of books. Because of him we can say what we want, write what we want and print what we want. Without Barney Rosset these United States would not look the same. Thank you, sir.

All Dead Mormons

Here's a fantastic website for converting dead Mormons into homosexuals. Of course, you can't convert dead Mormons who died in the Holocaust because they aren't real Mormons. Fantastic!

Arkitypo 3-D Alphabet from Johnson Banks

Here's a rather interesting and cool project from Johnson Banks Design in London. Although not nearly as cool as this, one of our anonymous benefactors has been playing around with 3-D printing in order to fill out our block type sets. Check back in the future as we may start digitally carving our own block type sets and have them for sale.

Arkitypo: the final alphabet

The Arkitypo project came about when one of our clients, Ravensbourne, asked if we were interested in developing a research project to test and showcase the in-house 3d prototyping skills and technology at their site in Greenwich.

We suggested they do something typographic – just the briefest period of research revealed very few examples of prototyping merged with graphic design. So we set ourselves the brief to develop a 3d alphabet of alphabets. Each letterform is different, each in turn interprets its own alphabet.

For each letter we carried out extensive research, made drawings, built maquettes and did simple 3d visuals on our machines, before handing the ideas over to Ravensbourne’s team. Continue reading here.

Invention of Printing - Gutenberg Taking the First Proof

2012 Curious Calendar

Introducing the amazing, astounding, astronomical

2012 Curious Calendar!

Just in time for the end of the world!

Liberating "Holiday Free" design. No longer shall you be at the mercy of your calendar, celebrating holidays you don't even believe in. Now, with the patented "Holiday Free" design you can choose to write in the holidays and events you want to remember.

Never again will you have to suffer the weight of some boring Canadian holiday (Boxing Day) or celebrate the birth of some bloody worthless monarch/tyrant/president.

The 2012 Curious Calendar comes pre-packaged with unique software to allow for ease-of-use perusal of all 365+ days of the year at any time.*

*Offer good during daylight hours (not including eclipses) or in properly illuminated rooms with candles or incandescent bulbs.**
**Not included in the 2012 Curious Calendar.