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5 Quick Lessons a Writer Can Learn from Rick Rubin

Chris Mielke, PMP
4 min readFeb 29, 2024

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Let a master of music teach you a few things

Photo by Oscar Chevillard on Unsplash

I don’t know Rick Rubin personally — he’s a pretty famous guy and you can read about his endeavors on Wikipedia.

But his book hits me as an aspiring writer on so many levels.

It’s called “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” and I was skeptical of what an impact it could have on a writer.

It turned out to be eye opening and these were the 5 tidbits I picked up from reading the book with some key quotes that writers may enjoy.

How to access that dark place

Every writer wants to get down to that depth inside them where you can unlock pure primal emotion. One exercise mentioned in the book is beating the crap out of a pillow for five minutes (you need to time yourself) and then sit down and write five pages. It doesn’t have to have a subject or a theme or any structure.

The best artists tend to be the ones with the most sensitive antennae to draw in the energy resonating at a particular moment. Many great artists first develop sensitive antennae not to create art but to protect themselves. They have to protect themselves because everything hurts more. They feel everything more deeply. — Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

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Chris Mielke, PMP
Chris Mielke, PMP

Written by Chris Mielke, PMP

I write about technology and project management.. More of my writing: https://substack.com/@chrismielke

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