I'm not sure about you, but I think being called "human spam" would probably be one of the most interesting yet insulting insults I could receive. When you think of spam, you think of the pesky, annoying, and unwanted junk that fills your inbox (or that nasty ham stuff that comes in a can). No one wants to be human spam.

Are we all electrified when we write for an audience?

In Clive Thompson's Smarter Than You Think, this was certainly the case for Dorothy Burt's students who were not only "electrified" to be writing for an audience who wasn't required or paid to read their work, but more critical of their work and the work of others. When they received comments on their work, it sank in that another person was being affected by their writing - and this lit a spark. An audience to hold you to a higher standard causes you to hold yourself to a higher standard. An audience raises the bar.

Let me get started by saying that I am not a creative person. I have an analytical mind. I'm totally a left-brained person and sometimes that makes it difficult to find the deeper meaning in things because I tend to take them at face value. So I can totally get behind Kleon's idea that "our work doesn't speak for itself". I've been to art museums, and when I look at a piece often my first assessment is "Oh, that's neat-looking" or "People actually paid money for this thing?" (but hey, I guess it's like Kleon said- one's man's trash is another man's treasure).

Before reading chapters 2-4 in Guy Kawasaki's APE: How to Publish a Book, I'll admit I was pretty ignorant to the publishing processes, both traditional and self-publishing. I liked how realistic he was in outlining the pros and cons of the two different types of publishing, he creates pretty helpful general guidelines for a reader that might be interested in getting their work out there. It was kind of a summed up "Publishing for Dummies" which was good for someone like me, who has zero clue about how any of that works, but can appreciate a good book. He also totally made me want to go purchase a new Kindle, iPad, Tablet, or whatever else they've come up with lately. He definitely knows how to market a product.

I am an amateur sommelier. By amateur, I absolutely mean amateur in one of the ways Austin Kleon laid out, "the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love". (15) I've always enjoyed wine, an interest I think that stemmed from the exploration of a middle school friend's parent's impressive wine cellar; while many others were playing Guitar Hero we were reading the labels of some of the finest wines I will probably ever lay my eyes on (it was strictly observational, I assure you). What was an odd interest for a 13 year old developed into an affinity for many different kinds of wine, and a curiosity about their origins and the distinctive flavors you could extract from a single sip.