✍️ 💭 6 writing rules that helped me crank out 7 books
Plus . . . how to make scientifically optimized pasta and why prospective romantic partners don't think you're hot
1. VIDEO. 🔥 How to beat the blank page: 6 essential tips for writing more and better
I’ve spent the last two decades wrestling with words—for speeches, for books, and for my own sanity. In this new video, I reveal the 6 habits and practices that have kept me (mostly) sane and (sometimes) successful. If you’re stuck, these lessons might help.
2. PINK RECOMMENDS. Pasta, podcasts, and peculiar findings 🎧🍜🔎
📬 READ: WonderTools by Jeremy Caplan is consistently one of the most useful email newsletters in my inbox. Every issue includes at least one web site, resource, app, or recommendation that I end up integrating into my life.
📊 COUNT: Another smart newsletter is Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche by Steven Stewart-Williams, the source of our Chart of the Month. On the dating site OKCupid, straight men and straight women swipe through photos of the opposite sex and rate their attractiveness. The results are, uh, telling. Men rate 60 percent of women at least somewhat attractive. But women are much more selective. They rate 80 percent of men below the midpoint of attractiveness.
🍝 TRY: Want tastier, less lumpy pasta sauce? Then hang on to your April issue of the journal Physics of Fluids. A group of Italian physicists recently discovered the scientific secrets of perfect cacio e pepe and published the optimized recipe on page 6 of the paper.
🎭 LISTEN: Last month, the Freakonomics podcast dropped a three-part series that asks: How is Live Theater Still Alive? If you’re interested in the performing arts or in business models — or, like me, you’re obsessed by both — these episodes are worth your time. (Apple | Spotify)
3. FINAL THOUGHTS. What parents regret most 🧠💔
A few years ago, I wrote a book about regrets. Twenty-eight years ago, Mrs. Pink Report and I became parents for the first time. So, I was intrigued by this CNBC article about parental regrets — and made a short video about it.
You can watch that video — a mere 39 seconds long — below.