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Charles Bukowski is my favourite author.

His writing has this beautiful rawness to it. If you’ve never read Post Office or Women, do yourself a favour and grab both at your local library or bookstore.

If you blog, there are two lessons you can learn from Bukowksi:

1) You have to bide your time. Bukowski worked shit jobs – notably at the post office – for decades. He didn’t become a full-time writer until he was 49. Do you think that your blog is going to make you rich/have a bazillion readers or save next quarter’s earnings in a short span of time? If so, stop smoking such good shit. Blogs take time and effort to develop a voice, grow an audience, and payoff for businesses. Some patience a la Bukowksi might do you well.

2) Don’t try. When asked about the creative process, Bukowski said “Don’t try…You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it.” My best ideas come to me – almost fully formed – like thunderbolts. They come at the strangest times, in unexpected places. When I “try” to create/post/design something new it always sucks. Maybe it’s different for you, but I am pretty sure your best posts come to you on their terms, not when you force it.

What do you think?

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