The nature of motivation

May 30th 2010 at 7:36 pm

I’ve just read Dan Pink’s book about motivation, called Drive, and I’ve been talking about it to creative types a great deal, as we’ve all faced the very real dilemma around the fact that when creative works becomes directly linked to pay, a very real crisis happens. Learning to navigate that is crucial to making [...]

Winding my way home

May 28th 2010 at 3:49 pm

Flying out of Barbados this morning nice and early, the view out the window:

And a few hours later, I was treated to the most beautiful views of the Bahamas outside the window:

Harrison’s Cave

May 27th 2010 at 2:07 pm

I just got back from Harrison’s Cave here in Barbados. I tend not to be the ‘activities’ type, and avoid places where buses of tourists are being taken. But some things are just meant to be seen, and when a handful of Bajans told me I had to go see the caves, I had to [...]

View From My Hotel Room

May 27th 2010 at 10:18 am

Oh yeah, I posted this on twitter, but here’s the view from my hotel room.

Monkey In The Forest

May 27th 2010 at 10:15 am

Visited the Barbados nature reserve and saw the Barbados green monkeys yesterday. The pictures aren’t too good, and the monkeys too quick, so I switched to video. I don’t have the bandwidth to upload the videos here.

The resort’s tour guides, who may have had a sense of humor or may just have been using a [...]

Book Exchanges

May 26th 2010 at 3:59 pm

When I was younger, I used to read books from little shelves set up in random places with signs like this one I found in the business room of the hotel I’m in near Speightstown:

PW attack piece on JA Konrath

May 25th 2010 at 12:48 pm

I just read this piece at Publishers Weekly about JA Konrath’s new deal with Amazon. It is, quite simply, an attack piece. And a vicious one at that.
Okay, I’ve hardly been nice to JA in my comments section during the Macmillan debate. I was getting piled on by shitload of people and was not at [...]

Barbados!

May 25th 2010 at 12:40 am

I’d take a picture, but it’s midnight and nothing would show up. But I’m in Barbados. Up near St. Peters, for the Caribbean Studies Conference. There was a big mix up with my room, but it looks like its been found.
Meanwhile, it’s pretty amazing to be here. Everyone sounds ‘right.’ The air smells familiar, comfortable. [...]

Miami layover

May 24th 2010 at 1:18 pm

I’m chilling in the Miami airport right now, on my way down to Barbados for the Caribbean Studies Association Conference. My only complaint is an eight hour layover, I arrived in Miami at 10am, and my flight to Barbados leaves at 6:00pm. I’d originally considered leaving the airport, finding a nice coffeeshop or coworking facility, [...]

The End Is Nigh…

May 21st 2010 at 2:19 pm

…or not so much, according to this NY Times review of The Rational Optomist.
If you’re not ready to trust an optimist, if you still fear a reckoning is at hand, you might consider the words of Thomas B. Macaulay, a British poet, historian and politician who criticized doomsayers of the mid-1800s.
“We cannot absolutely prove,” he [...]