Lucy Gannon on why you should overcome your doubts and begin. ‘Scene 1…’ — ‘I think new screenwriters are too worried it has all been said before. Sure it has, but not by you.’ — David Lynch My first play was on the shortlist for the Richard Burton Drama Award. We were not theatregoers, my husband and me, so when we were invited to…

The moment I was told to let go of hope was the same moment I defiantly lashed myself to it, as if to the mast of a raft in a storm. In defiance of defeat, I was keeping myself tied fast to hope when those I looked to for it…

Interesting isn’t a personality type, it’s a set of habits and a way of seeing the world. Russell Davies shares more in this excerpt from Do Interesting. I’ve been circling the idea of ‘interestingness’ for the last 30 years. Some years ago, I was invited to go to the University of Oregon and teach the advertising students something. Since they were all…

In an extract from his new book, Do Start, Dan Kieran tells us — from first-hand experience as co-founder and former CEO of publishing platform Unbound — how to know when your work is done. When I was making the decision to leave Unbound, I came across the Jungian idea…

Angelo Morgan-Somers explains Bitcoin and what makes it so significant — The world in the 2000s was unstable. The supply of US dollars was increasing. Mortgage-backed securities became the backbone of the economy, and, well … 2008 showed us how that went. By early 2009, headlines from newspapers such as The Times’s from 3 January, ‘Chancellor on brink of second bailout…

The simple yet highly-effective way to cope with the unplanned and the unexpected. Life, basically. — When I wrote Do Improvise back in 2012, I knew some people would find it an interesting and useful book. I had a hunch that a few might become enthusiasts, even fans — and happily for me, I was right. But I never dreamed that some would carve these ideas…

It’s Spring, and time to start sowing seeds. Pioneering farmer Alice Holden shares tips and advice — Not long ago my Uncle Roger, also a grower, said to me, ‘Seeds want to grow.’ Simple as it sounds, his comment struck me. A seed is a package of life that is well equipped to survive. It is merely waiting, lying dormant until the necessary conditions combine. …

Why we need to be less British when it comes to negotiation. — In business, like they say, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. — Jay Z, Decoded There is a perceived British tendency to politely sit back and let others come to you with their best offer when it comes to negotiation. …

Tamsin Omond on the collective action and community engagement needed to tackle climate change — ‘People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end.’ — Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark I spent my twenties scared of climate disaster and busy organising. In my…