Inneresting 06
issue 06
October 24, 2018
Selling out.
Joshua Schachter sold his bookmarking site Del.icio.us to Yahoo! in 2005 for what was reported as $30 million (but was apparently quite a bit less). He then had to stay with the company for a year and a half, and was generally miserable, with all of the responsibility of running his company but without the autonomy.
“You can be rich or you can be king,” says Schachter of his decision. That’s too simple of course; you can be a rich king. You can also choose neither option.
He’s correct in that you often have to choose between maximizing your present worth (quitting and cashing out) at the cost of your future worth (retaining control and waiting for it to grow).
This rich-or-king choice is known as the Founder’s Dilemma. A more generalized case might be called the Forester’s Dilemma: Chop a tree down now versus waiting for it to grow taller.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I decide what to write after the third Arlo Finch book. Some of the options include:
Another kids' book
A proper adult novel
A new book series
An Arlo Finch adaptation
A movie to direct
A studio rewrite or adaptation
A new stage musical
A pilot
To really make a decision, I’d want to chart possible projects on three axes:
Money vs. Control
Rewarding Now vs. Rewarding Later
Risky vs. Safe
Which would look kind of like this, but in three dimensions, and I’m not that clever of an artist.
Realistically, the next project I write will be the one that seems most ready-to-go when the time comes. I wish I could say I have a better system for planning and prioritizing, but I honestly don’t. I just go with what seems most compelling at the moment.
Here are some other things I found interesting this week:
Sad but true. This obituary of a daughter lost to drug addiction is cathartic, in part because it acknowledges the reality that life is a struggle and we all do the best we can. It reminded me of my abortion story from a few months ago.
Do your f’ing job. This Michigan pharmacist who refused to give a woman her prescription over moral objections shouldn’t have just been fired. He should lose his license.
Sometimes mismatched is the perfect match. I loved this NY Times wedding profile. What the article couldn’t say, but the photos reveal, is how much taller the bride is than the groom. Given all their other differences, I don’t know why I found their height disparity so intriguing. Humans are probably hard-wired to expect couples to be similarly-statured, or for the man to be taller.
Meet myselves. Oobah Butler had already made a name for himself by setting up a top-rated restaurant that didn’t actually exist. So journalists should have been wary that he might pull another stunt by sending fake versions of himself out to do press. I get a little tired of this publicity-as-performance-art, but he does it very well.
Speaking of fake restaurants. In Sweden, I became fascinated by the O’Learys chain of Boston sports bars.
My god, the beige! McMansion Hell is always a delight, but I especially love this look at a house in Ohio County, West Virginia.
Illegal use of display font at text size. This Typographic Ticket Book is a fun idea but actually using it would be a major dick move.
Black it all out. The first time I saw someone wearing an eye mask was Steven on the Vegas season of The Real World. This hot divorcé knew what he was doing when it came to sleeping. When you’re traveling, eye masks will preserve your sanity, letting you sleep even when the room isn’t dark. But you can’t just use the cheap ones they give you on the plane. They press against your eyes and dig into your skin. So bring your own. My favorite brand doesn’t seem to be available online, but these ones on Amazon seem pretty close.
Seriously, it’s worth trying an eye mask. Just putting it on signals to your body that it’s time to sleep.
And that's all this week. As always, you can email me at ask@johnaugust.com
See you next Wednesday!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Texas Book Festival in Austin NEW!
Saturday, October 27
Fantasy Meets Reality panel at 10:30 am
Booksigning at 11:30AM in Children's Signing Tent
Austin Film Festival
Friday, October 26
The Creative Career at 3:15pm
Scriptnotes Live! at 10pm
Saturday, October 27
Three Page Challenge at 4:30pm
Boulder, Colorado
October 29
Arlo Finch reading and signing
Boulder Book Store at 6:30pm
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