Advice for the Creative from Hugh MacLeod: “IGNORE EVERYBODY”

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | February 27, 2010

BOOK REVIEW:  This book provides a short, entertaining and enlightening read that will make you laugh out loud.

If you are the creative type, you probably don’t have to ask for advice. It comes unsolicited.

If you are the creative type, you probably don’t get much advice you can use. Nobody knows enough about what’s in your head but you anyway.

So here’s a little book by cartoonist Hugh McLeod with advice you probably can use, starting with the title: Ignore Everybody. If you had been an early fan of his blog “gapingvoid“, you could have long ago read the whole book for free, one post at a time.  I paid $14.37 to read it on my Kindle — a premium of $3.38 over the standard price.  It was worth it.

Why ignore everybody?  Because, says Hugh, they can’t help you. Initially, you don’t know if your idea is any good and neither do they.  Moreover, they can’t even tell you whether your idea has commercial value. If they think they know, they’re probably wrong.

In fact, says Hugh McLeod, if your idea is a good one,  it means that you will need them less in the future. Expect others to heap scorn on your idea.  “Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, ” he says. “That is why good ideas are always initially resisted.”

This is just the first of 40 nuggets — keys to creativity  — set forth in the book.  Hugh says these insights, hard won over a lifetime, were never available to him as youngster, so he’s passing along the experience to others.

Among his recommendations, while waiting to be discovered: blog.  He argues that aspiring authors in search of a publisher should simply post their whole book on line and wait.  That’s what he did. When the time comes, you won’t have been in the servile position of pleading for somebody to print your wisdom.  Its already out there on the internet and its market appeal has been proven by the blog traffic.  And the best part of all is that the publisher is coming to you.

Ignore Everybody is a short, entertaining and  enlightening read. The cartoons are zany and will have you laughing out loud.

CLT

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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