Movement, Gardens, and Markdown
A Career on Art, Nurturing Ideas, Introduction to Creative Writing with AI, Converting Markdown to Rich Text, and an AI Tool for Video Production
Hey guys, here’s some things that stood out from my previous week:
On Skillshare
I’m excited to share my latest Skillshare class on creative writing! This beginner-level course focuses on using AI as a brainstorming partner for short story writing. While it might not be advanced enough for some of you AI power-users, I designed it specifically for less technical people interested in exploring AI as a writing tool.
The class introduces both creative writing basics and AI prompting for collaboration. I walk through my personal process and demonstrate how I use Superwhisper for writing assistance. Took me a few weeks to get done with this one and happy to have it finally up online!
On Art and Creativity
Last week, I listened to a commencement speech by Mr. Gaiman that impressed me. His insights about art and career really connected connected with me. Some of my favorite highlights:
“I decided that I’d do my best in the future not to write books just for the money. If I created work I was proud of and didn’t get the money, at least I’d have the work.”
“Sometimes life is hard. Things go wrong in life and in love, in business and in friendship, in health and in all other ways life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do: make good art.”
“The moment you feel that you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and mind, showing too much of yourself - that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.”
“People keep working in a freelance world because their work is good, they’re easy to get along with, and they deliver work on time. You don’t even need all three; two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. People will forgive the lateness of your work if it’s good and they like you. And if you’re on time and pleasant to work with, you don’t have to be as good as everyone else.”
On Ideas
I’ve been exploring Mo Willems' work with kids and his perspectives on creativity. In this interview, he shares a beautiful metaphor about ideas and inspiration. He sees ideas not as ‘sudden epiphanies’ but as ‘seeds’ that need nurturing and patience.
I’ve always thought creativity and inspiration are not about waiting for things to happen, but about active engagement. That’s why I personally find creativity so connected to both productivity and personal knowledge management. It requires us to stay open—yes—but also to keep showing up each day, capturing big or small ideas equally and giving them space to unfold.
Here’s what Willems says about this process:
People tend to think that ideas are things like diamonds. And then you go out and you get them and you grab them and you bring them back. But that’s not what ideas are. Ideas are things that grow.
And so the way to make a book or a story is to have the tiniest inkling of an idea and then to plant it and you plant it in a notebook and in that notebook you move it around and you see what it needs, what sort of nutrients will help it. And you draw and you draw it over time and slowly, some of those seeds will grow and die. And then some of those seeds will become invasive and they’ll just sort of choke up your whole garden of ideas and that’s not fun.
And then every now and then, one idea sort of grows up and gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and starts to bear fruit and become a tree and get so big that you can cut it down and burn it for profit, which is called writing or making a book. So every day I am planting little seeds in my notebook.
On AI and Cinema
A few days ago I found out about Higgsfield AI, a tool that that can generate “cinematic” camera movement on static video footage. I actually first saw this on X, applied to some clips from Tarkovksy’s films. The results look pretty incredible - smooth, dynamic camera movements that transform static scenes. However, I’m a bit conflicted. Tarkovsky, a cinema master, likely would absolutely opposed this. In his work, every visual element serves a deliberate artistic purpose. Camera movement isn’t just about technical capability, but about intentionallity, storytelling, meaning, and emotional resonance.
As with most other AI tools available, I think if used thoughtfully, this technology offers fascinating possibilities for video production. I don’t know if I’ll ever need this, but I’m bookmarking it just in case.
On Markdown
For about half a year now, I’ve been using IA Writer to draft things that will go up online, scripts that I plan to shoot, email responses that I need to proofread before sending, GitHub README files and other temporary texts. I love Bear for its organization and minimalist approach—I’ve been using it daily as a scratchpad, my second brain, and long-term note storage—, but I find IA Writer’s clean interface very appealing and simpler than Bear’s. I plan to introduce another note-taking/documents app into my workflow (more on this later), but I don’t want to segregate or separate my writing between so many different apps, so I’m thinking of transitioning back to Bear for the writing I had previously moved to IA Writer. I am still unsure about this, but right now I’m in the exploration phase.
Now, during this adjustment to my writing systems, I was searching for a way to copy Markdown as rich text so I easily paste into my browser. Bear has this feature natively, but it doesn’t work well. That’s actually one more feature that works better in IA Writer. After exploring options, I found this Alfred workflow, which seems to be the most-used option for Alfred users. Surprisingly it didn’t work for me. However, this Keyboard Maestro macro works perfectly. I’m sharing this in case anyone else encounters similar challenges.
On Cinema
Wild Things (1998). I saw Sean Baker share his enthusiasm for this film and took it as a personal recommendation. I was super surprised! I mean, this film definitely has that 90’s vibe and was very close to going the wrong way, but the whole narrative took so many unexpected turns that I really enjoyed the ride. Synopsis: When teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan and troubled bad girl Suzie Toller accuse guidance counselor Sam Lombardo of rape, he’s suspended by the school, rejected by the town, and fighting to get his life back. One cop suspects conspiracy, but nothing is what it seems…
Run Lola Run (1998). Another film from the 90’s that I had heard about but never watched. I loved almost everything about it, from its experimental structure and cinematography to the tone and rhythm. I’d say the ending was a bit ordinary, but everything else made up for it. Synopsis: Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola’s run.
Bring Them Down (2025). A film about that talks about emotions such as anger and revenge. I loved how it portrays the human condition. Great cinema, great acting, great storytelling. Quite a gem of a film, really. Synopsis: When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael and Jack suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly violent and devastating turns, leaving both families permanently altered.
If you liked this you may also enjoy some content I have up on my YT Channel! I don’t hang around social media a lot, but when I do I’m on IG or Twitter. You can also check out some of my online classes, listen to my music, or in case you haven’t already, subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Thank you for reading!
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Alfred workflow and KM maestro