June 16th, 2010
Marc Ambinder, politics editor of The Atlantic, explains that there exists a general perception among theorists and policy planners in the Pentagon’s policy shop that General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy has failed to sustain Hamid Karzai’s government in critical areas and is therefore destined to ultimately fail.
“This is not how the war is supposed to be going. . .”
So, why isn’t the war going as planned? Maybe we should assess the counterinsurgency effort from President Karzai’s perspective and focus less on our Americo-centric point of view.
What is President Karzai’s counterinsurgency strategy?
President Karzai’s “clear-hold-build-consolidate” approach to counterinsurgency is mostly political. Politics in counterinsurgency is about the distribution of power and political strategy all about influencing the will and actions of both your allies and adversaries.
Afghanistan is a place where you fear your friends as much as you fear your enemies. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Agora | 8 Comments »
June 16th, 2010
Is the first draft the hardest? Is it different from a third draft, or a twelfth? Does a first draft possess unique challenges that we have to attack in a one-of-a-kind way?
Yes, yes and yes.
Leonardo DaVinci's "The Last Supper"
First drafts are killers
A first draft is different from (and more difficult than) all subsequent drafts because in a first draft we’re filling the blank page. And we know what that means: Resistance.
Here’s my mantra for first drafts. Cover the canvas.
What that means is get something done from A to Z, no matter how imperfect. A first draft doesn’t have to be great; it doesn’t have to be pretty. It can have gaping holes; it can leave every “t” uncrossed and every “i” undotted. Momentum is everything in a first draft. Get it done. Cover the canvas.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Writing Wednesdays | 23 Comments »
June 11th, 2010
I met Mark Safranski last year, just after launching “It’s the Tribes, Stupid.” Soon after the videos launched, he wrote a post for his blog “Zenpundit.” Though he didn’t agree with everything I said, he showed respect for the effort. That’s one sign of a professional. He might not always agree with you, but he’ll respect the effort, and avoid personal attacks. In addition to setting a high standard for blogging at ZenPundit, Mark holds an MA in diplomatic history and an MS.Ed in administration, is a teacher, educational consultant and was an adviser to a privately held internet platform company, Conversationbase, LLC. He was the editor of The John Boyd Roundtable: Debating Science, Strategy, and War, and a contributing author to Threats in the Age of Obama , published by Nimble Books. Zenpundit has been favorably cited byWIRED magazine, The Office of the Secretary of Defense, by bestselling author Thomas P.M. Barnett in his most recent books, Blueprint for Action and Great Powers, and has had articles appearing in HNN, Small Wars Journal , Pajamas Media, at The Atlantic Council and at numerous blogs across the political spectrum. He also is the father of two, and lives with his wife Lisa in the Chicago area. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in The Creative Process | 1 Comment »
June 9th, 2010
I’m reading a terrific book by David Mamet called Three Uses of the Knife. It’s not a play or a novel, it’s a treatise on the subject of drama. There’s some great stuff in it, particularly in the section Mamet calls “Second Act Problems,” that we as writers, artists, entrepreneurs (and just plain human beings) can profit from.
David Mamet at the premiere of "Redbelt"
All writers know: Act One is easy. You come up with some crazy idea and heave it against the wall. Act Three isn’t that hard either. We’ve figured out where we’re going; we just tromp on the accelerator and go there.
Ah, but Act Two …
A joke from the Algonquin Round Table [Mamet writes]: A couple of guys are sitting around talking. One says, “How’s the play going?” The other says, “I’m having second act problems.” Everybody laughs. “Of course you’re having second act problems!”
What makes Act Two so hard is it’s too much like real life … Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Writing Wednesdays | 23 Comments »
June 4th, 2010
“The Story of a Reluctant Entrepreneur” was my introduction to Mark McGuinness. Read it. Mark wears a number of hats—and wears them all well. He is a poet, an entrepreneur, a creative coach and trainer, and the author of Wishful Thinking and Lateral Action. You can also find his work at http://www.markmcguinness.com/ and Magma Poetry.
SP: Mark, your site (which is terrific and tremendously helpful to many, many people including me) is called Lateral Action. What exactly is “lateral action?” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in The Creative Process | 1 Comment »
