Top Videos

Open Thread

Sort by Crooks and Liars (Free subscription) - 05/02/2008

This excellent video on “The Cost of War” is from Eric Massa , one of our Blue America congressional candidates (NY-29). [h/t Howie] Open Thread below…

Ira Glass on Getting Creative Work Done [Video]

Sort by Lifehacker (Free subscription) - 07/08/2008

Ira Glass, host of National Public Radio's This American Life , knows a thing or two about turning the creative process into a polished, finished product—but he also remembers turning out work he didn't necessarily want to put his stamp on. This video, part of an interview series on story telling, features some great advice about working through those first few attempts—or even years—where your product...

A good, concise pep talk from Ira Glass, about sticking...

Sort by kottke (Free subscription) - 05/29/2008

A good, concise pep talk from Ira Glass, about sticking with your creative endeavors. He's talking specifically about story telling, but it really goes for anything you want to pursue seriously. Except math. If you're still not good at math at 28, just give up already. (via Not Cot ) ( link )

Ira Glass on the Creative Process

Sort by core77.com (Free subscription) - 07/09/2008

Ira Glass, host of This American Life , may be the golden child of radio, but his musings on the creative process apply to all disciplines. Always an inspiration, his thoughts on creative drive, the power of failing and the need for tenacity make any struggling creative feel right at home. Greatest sound bite? "Keep working...You will be fierce. You will be a warrior." Sigh. Now back to those renderings....

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Sort by The mental_floss Blogs (Free subscription) - 05/28/2008

Ira Glass, host of PRI’s This American Life , is a master storyteller. But it's taken him a many years to achieve that status. Today I came across a series of four videos of Glass explaining storytelling and his own past in broadcasting. He gives simple advice for storytellers of all kinds, and he even plays clips of his old (and pretty embarrassing) NPR reporting. If you're looking to develop your...

Getting Good

Sort by The Frontal Cortex (Free subscription) - 05/30/2008

Before I became a writer, I assumed that some people (Nabakov, Updike, Bellow, etc.) were natural writers. They were born speaking in pithy prose, with taut sentences and interesting verb choice. But then, after reading all the usual Bellow masterpieces, I started reading his early novels. And I realized that even Bellow had to learn how to write. Nabakov juvenalia is similarly flawed. (Early Updike...

Closing the Gap Between Dreams and Reality

Sort by Get Rich Slowly (Free subscription) - 06/02/2008

While sorting through reader e-mail yesterday morning, I began to detect a subtle recurring theme. People were writing because they had a goal in mind, but their present circumstances seemed to be far from their intended destination. These two points were so far apart, in fact, that my correspondents were afraid to begin moving. Because [...]

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Sort by Between Two Worlds (Free subscription) - 03/07/2009

A masterful storyteller (host of NPR/Showtime's This American Life ) gives some helpful advice on storytelling for broadcast (which has, of course, implications for other forms of telling stories): On the basics . . . On finding great stories . . . On good taste . . . On two common pitfalls: Sponsor:

Ira Glass on Why Creative Excellence Takes Time

Sort by Open Culture (Free subscription) - 05/30/2008

Ira Glass, host of the beloved radio show This American Life, offers a helpful reminder that excellence doesn’t come automatically. (See video below.) It takes work, years of it. And he revisits some of his early radio work in order to prove it. The Glass video has been added to our YouTube playlist. (Thanks to Kottke.org [...]

Ira Glass on Working Through the Suck

Sort by 43 Folders (Free subscription) - 07/07/2008

YouTube - Ira Glass on Storytelling #3 Video featuring terrific advice from This American Life ’s Ira Glass on having the tenacity to get better at the creative work you’re passionate about — even through the times when you know what you’re making isn’t as good as you’d like. I admire Ira’s courageousness in using himself as an example of how to do it wrong . (Also, now that...

A few words about writing.

Sort by finslippy (Free subscription) - 09/01/2008

I've been thinking a lot lately about the creative process. Partly because Scott has started this amazing project, after years of talking about it but not doing much of anything. The one thing harder than starting is starting after year of talking about starting. Talking can kill the urge to create. So I'm sort of dying of pride, over here, while my husband works and works and keeps working, like he's...

RGMP 5: Listen to podcasts

Sort by Teaching Online Journalism (Free subscription) - 02/15/2009

This is the fifth post in a series titled “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency.” In the fourth post , I explained how you can get started with editing audio for use online. Today I’m going to encourage you to invest some time in hearing good audio stories — because while journalism is basically the same across all presentation and delivery platforms, the way we tell the story needs to be appropriate...

For creative nonfiction writers

Sort by this woman's work (Free subscription) - 06/23/2008

From Ira Glass: © Dawn for this woman's work, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Writing. Related posts You know it, I know it — Jenna Rocks!!!! (1) Writing is a logic problem (4) Writing for love and money (7) Purpleaster’s frustrations (5) Power of the [...]

Ira Glass - great videos on storytelling

Sort by Common Sense Journalism (Free subscription) - 01/20/2008

Discovered on You Tube a great set of videos in which Ira Glass (" This American Life ") discusses the art -- and the hard work -- of storytelling. If you are a beginner, start with video 3 . You need both the advice, and the reassurance, that things will be OK, but that you have to work at it and recognize the disconnect between your skills and ideals. In video 1, he talks about the power of the anecdote...

I most certainly have sucked (still do sometimes).

Sort by the humid haney rant (Free subscription) - 07/08/2008