I listen to a lot of podcasts at the gym but realise it goes in one ear and comes out the next, so from now on I’ll be sharing notes on whatever I listen to - starting with:

Your Obvious Idea Is Your Best Idea by Anna Howard (Wild Geese)

• To no surprise, artists get really offended when their work is called “not original”, even if it is amazing and valuable. Funnily enough, they may actually prefer to be original instead of great or effective or meaningful or having influence.

• There is a bit of a paradox that comes with “share your ideas regardless of how unoriginal they are” versus “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it”

• Everyone has a silent thread between everything they like, that most people struggle to put into words. What you like might not be very special but the way your thread interweaves and interacts is special — which is why finding someone who runs a similar thread is such a divine feeling.

• Restating and reframing ideas that have been said before is associated with “social reproductive care”, referring to economically undervalued acts like cooking, teacher, caring for children, etc. which may be why some artists take particular offence, even though these tasks are the backbone of being human (also see: patriarchy)

• There is a paradox between letting your ideas breathe… and killing your darlings. I’ve been wanting to collect these paradoxical bits of advice. They are frustratingly interesting.

• Anna says if you have trouble pinpointing what you like and find interesting, you should probably take more notes, which helps you understand and process and fold your ideas into what you’re hearing. Well fuck, it’s almost as if she can see me typing this. I’ll take this as a sign to keep doing this whether it’s in a notes app, notebook, or database system I haven’t quite figured out.