Benjamin Spall: Tightening The Gap

I say I’m a writer, then depending on how comfortable I am with the person assuming I’m unemployed, I’ll either mention my book (unemployed), or my copywriting work (employed).

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. The former has been on my bookshelf a couple years, it was my wife’s grandparents copy. The latter is somewhat embarrassing because I interviewed Marie for my own book and I’m only now getting around to reading hers. (It’s worth the hype.)

I remember in my first week of middle school we were all brought into the school library for the first time. In hindsight, it was a relatively small library, but my first school didn’t have any library to speak of, so for me, at the time it was exceptionally exciting. (I would later serve as a student librarian; because of course.)

After being given a tour of the space and the rules of the road, we were given a half-hour or so to look around the library by ourselves and take out our first book. Well, I’ll tell you. We all made a beeline for the D section, and by the time our half-hour was up I don’t think a single Roald Dahl book remained on the shelf. I can’t remember what book of his I checked out that day, but I devoured the rest of his work throughout my early childhood.

My co-author Michael and I were four years into publishing interviews on the My Morning Routine website before we were contacted by Penguin Random House about the potential of writing a book, so you could say we had been unconsciously researching the book up to that point.

Once our proposal was accepted we had two jobs to do: contact and interview a bunch of new people to include in the book, and read through and look for patterns in all our previous interviews. The time it took to write the book paled in comparison to the time we put into figuring out who and what should be in it, and how it should be arranged.

On a recent trip back to the UK I picked up a copy of Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. I’d been planning on it; I much prefer the UK cover. I’d actually been recommending the book to people for months before buying it, though I’d read his research through other means.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott is a masterpiece and a must-read for all aspiring writers. It took me several years after hearing about the book to actually read it which, as is often the case, was a mistake.

I’d also recommend spending time reading a lot, writing a lot, and figuring out what you like. This American Life host Ira Glass talks about ‘the gap’ which is essentially the gap between our taste (which, as Glass notes, is “killer”) and our talent. The way to close this gap, or at least tighten it, is to do a lot of work, while also being aware of the direction you want to go in.

The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln by Wayne Whipple. Originally published in 1915, this is a 1934 edition that I recently picked up for a couple dollars at an apple pie-come-thrift store (really) outside of Sonora, California. Inside the cover, the first owner inscribed her name and address, and added: “Given to me by Uncle Jim for Xmas – 1935.”

The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen. I still think about it at least once a week.

Read and write a whole lot (not just one or the other). Don’t do it for the money.

My sister-in-law recently gifted me Pets at the White House: 50 Years of Presidents and Their Pets by Jennifer B. Pickens. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it’s great.

Overview: A New Perspective of Earth by Benjamin Grant is a great coffee table book that literally showcases humanity from above, though I know that isn’t what you mean. I’m just stalling. Maybe Aesop’s Fables?

Deep Work by Cal Newport, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and anything by Rich Cohen and Edward Rutherfurd.

Until I started reading it a couple weeks ago I would have said Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Now I’ve started reading it my suspicions about its quality have been confirmed. The moment I put it down I can’t wait to pick it back up again.