Dexterity Founder and CEO, Matt West, sits down with Tim Stoddart to discuss book publishing, writing, and the spread of ideas ?
This week, our founder had the great honor to be a guest on the podcast of entrepreneur and owner of Stodzy Inc, Tim Stoddart. They had a great and wide-ranging conversation on the writer’s life, the beautiful struggle in creating art, and the evolving landscape in books and publishing. Mostly, though, they talked about a core passion of Dexterity’s: the power of ideas to spread and make a difference.
If you’re struggling with the writer’s life, Matt has some advice for writers to motivate themselves, practice discipline in the art of writing, and sharpen their skills through some additional reading. Yes, you heard that right—to be a great writer, you must also be a great reader.
Read on for a few snippets, and listen to the podcast below.
There are two books that have really stood out to me over time that I recommend over and over again.
Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies – By Sol Stein
“One of the best books, if not the best book I’ve ever read, on the mechanics of craft. A lot of what he covers applies to fiction – one of the best chapters on writing dialogue that I’ve ever read. He has a fabulous section on how you draw a character in the book – painting a picture, but leaving enough to the reader’s imagination for them to fill in the blanks.” –Matt West
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – By Anne Lamott
“Lamott has written one of the great books—a coming to faith experience written for people not of that faith background.”
“She wrote this book about the writer’s life – there’s a scene that I love that she writes about storming her New York editor’s apartment – just raving upset because of the markup on her manuscript…and her editor finally stopped her and said ‘Anne, then write that.’”
“This is your comfort food for the writer’s journey.” –Matt West
Listen to the podcast below!
