• Had a lovely time in [[München]] with old and new friends!
  • Travel back took 4h, it was lovely.
  • I have tomorrow off at work; I have five months of vacation saved up. I would usually take the whole week off (there's a number of things I've been waiting to have the time for and I feel some vacation at this point is acceptable), but I want to spend time with my coworkers to try to support them (support each other) as we face what might be the last week all together (they [[lay off]] list is expected to be finally announced, after a month and a half of uncertainty.
• [[Flancia]]
  • What I intend to write this year:
    • [[Flancia 2023]]
      • [[Revolution]].
      • [[Bargalló]] [[Carlas Sala]]
    • [[Agora 2023]]
      • [[Building Bridges]]
        • with Markdown and Git
      • [[Beyond Markdown and Git]]
• [[ocell]]

• When someone gets a [[book]], what do they want to get out of it? [[Rob Fitzpatrick]] suggests that recommendability creates monopolies.
  • What does the [[reader]] already [[know]] and [[want]]? collapsed:: true
    • Readers like books where they already want what the writer wants them to want, so there is often no need to try to get them to want what you want them to want.
    • If they already know the fundamentals of what you want to give them, there is no reason to go over the fundamentals.
  • [[Focus]] the book by cutting out most [[people]] and concentrating on a few (potentially a thousand) people.
  • To [[sell]], a book must promise what its intended readers would want. It must give most people who read it what they want out of it, and some of what they want is given on every page. collapsed:: true
    • Pick a [[promise]] that has a crisis associated with it, so what the [[book]] gives can immediately help with that crisis. collapsed:: true
      • Choose a promise that will age well. [[time]]
    • Which kind of [[reader]] likes to help others get useful things? Target them.
    • Solve a high-[[pain]] [[problem]] for a few hundred people who tell you about it again and again.
    • [[Make]] something that someone would tell someone else is the solution to the problem they are facing now.
  • A Table of Contents works as a way to put what people will get out of those chapters. It is also a skeleton for your [[book]]. collapsed:: true
    • What will the [[reader]] get out of this? What will they learn from this chapter or section?
    • Imagine the table of contents being used as a field reference- is it [[clear]] enough for that?
    • By making the conversation about the reader's life, you can make the book about a [[reader]]'s life. collapsed:: true
      • Remember: [[people]] [[care]] about characters, and in how-to nonfiction, they are the [[character]].
  • What on this page would make a [[reader]] react with [[surprise]] at finding something they could use?
  • The [[reader]] should find something they will immediately want to [[play]] with on every page.
  • Check to see how long it is between every bit a [[reader]] would get to [[play]] with. You can do this by looking at how many words there are between these 'playpoints'- people read at about 250 words per minute. collapsed:: true
    • What is the word count per [[learning]] outcome?
    • How many words are there before the first thing a reader can play with? How many [[words]] are there between each tidbit they can play with?
  • Cutting aggressively helps with giving more of what the reader wants per page.
  • Give more of what readers want at the start, because that's when they're most likely to stop reading. collapsed:: true
    • Remove introductions and put anything they can [[play]] with right at the start.
    • Is it possible to put everything readers would [[want]] most from the [[book]] in a [[Twitter]] thread? If it is, start the book with that Twitter thread.
  • Where did the early [[reader]] get [[bored]]? What don't they say anything about? Did they apply anything in the book to their [[life]]? Where did they disagree? Where did the advice not match their experience?
  • "Their disinterest IS the data."

• Monday, 03/06/2023 ** 08:15 blog post idea: web diagrams

• survey of current work
• how do you decide which technologies to use? (svg, divs, keyframes, etc)
• animation strategies
• adapting to screen sizes ** 10:02 arena
• integrate and embed blocks in blog posts, articles, etc easily
• new interface that allows:
  • browsing/organizing from terminal
  • exploring and creating hierarchies for channels like folders (i.e. though this could be used for other things, it belongs to web); most of the time I want just a single top-level component rather than multiple
• automatically include arena content in a post with a note corresponding to the name of a channel? easy way to link the two? how? ** 12:27 photography plan *** Goals
• position: part-time commercial photographer. send me on assignment to take photos of buildings, of your products. fly me out to buildings, to document exhibitions, to meet and take photos of great people. bring me on tour.
• the ability to take beautiful photos of friends and family whenever i can. i'm sick of the phone snapshots. i want to remember the times i spend with friends with wonderful impromptu snapshots that let me capture their character, but not let the camera get in the way of enjoying my time spent with others.
• 'starving artist' money. if i need to sustain myself, i should be able to pick up some more photo work on demand and live off of 2k/month or something with my photos.
• not a distraction. the vast majority of my time has to be spent on taking the photos and doing the work, not paperwork, llcs, fulfilling orders and other bs. *** Non-Goals
• full-time work. i'll always want a software, product, or other innovation-related job to be my main gig.
• stopping photos in free time. the practice of taking photos every day should continue.
• lots of business infrastructure. i don't want to become a social media influencer, photo shop or other things. that's the responsibility of other people. i want to keep the administrivia out of the way so that i can spend my time doing things i enjoy. *** Actions
• Showcase my consistent style on social media. Show that I have a distinct personal style that I can apply to a variety of circumstances, environments, and genres - from studio portraiture to product photography to landscapes and architecture work. Make sure people can recognize the style and point it back to you, but also that someone could hire you for anything.
• Personal website ++ portfolio. I need a clear way to showcase my work in a way that feels professional.
• Cold email lots of industry photographers asking for advice. We don't know what the goalposts for hiring are until we've reached out and found them out.
• Actively find and enter photo competitions. This will get you noticed by other people - particularly those who care about photography.
• WRITE! If nobody hires you, do your own photojournalism work. Compose essays and put photos together about places to find and follow through with themes. Use collections of 5-10 photos to showcase ideas, developments, and potential exhibitions. ** 13:59 reputation it's important to me that my name is associated with diligence where it matters.

How do I accomplish this?

• Track everything. Everything goes on the calendar or is written down in some system.
• Keep everything and everyone in mind. Everything and everyone is followed up with quickly and consistently.
• Budget time. Dedicate parts of the day to specific tasks and accomplish within those parameters whenever possible. Over-estimate time committments and fill the flex time with five-minute tasks.
• Release consistently. Publish publicly every day in some form, whether through a tweet, Instagram post, tiktok, newsletter, or piece of writing. Prefer 'pushing' to 'polling'; make sure publications are sent directly to others rather than requiring people to poll a site to receive them. This way, other people become accustomed to receiving information and can hold you accountable when you don't stick to a schedule.
• Make today's work an upgrade over yesterday's; this isn't always possible, but strive to do this whenever possible.
• Develop a unique and consistent style. People new to my work should be able to understand where more of my work fits into the 'puzzle'. If you're familiar with my work, you should be able to recognize instantly whether some content is 1. consistent with my interests and 2. whether I have made it.