Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane You can really tell when a business doesn’t care about its customer experience, and it goes far beyond poor customer service. Let me explain. During the summers, I spend 5–10 hours per week on a treadmill, and this year I’m training for a half-marathon. I’m using a training program available through iFIT, a subscription-based business...
16 days ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane How does one celebrate an unwanted milestone? My mother will soon (fate willing) turn 90 years old, and since none of her other nine siblings reached that age, she still doesn’t expect to make it. Nor does she feel like celebrating. She prefers her quiet routine at home, in a predictable and low-risk environment, with few surprises....
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane I don’t think I approach my romantic relationships like a business, but evidence may suggest something to the contrary. My first marriage was to a Czech citizen attending grad school in the US. After living together for five years, we both became frustrated with his limited and low-paid work options on a student visa. So I suggested...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane Last weekend I was on a conference panel about the intersection of AI and writing/publishing at the Midwest Writers Workshop. I mentioned that I use the paid version of ChatGPT, which allows me to block it from training on materials I upload. (If you use the free version of ChatGPT, it is allowed to train on whatever you input.)...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane Early in my career I was interviewed for a prestigious position at a literary journal. The hiring manager was experienced and exuded cosmopolitanism, while I had spent most of my life living in rural Indiana. The interview questions seemed laser focused on establishing how much of Indiana resided in me. Had I ever traveled abroad?...
3 months ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane In the entirety of my career, I’m not sure I’ve ever observed the level of anxiety and fear that now surrounds AI among writers. So I spend considerable time each week reading about AI news and sorting through vastly different perspectives. I want to be prepared to answer questions from writers on the issue—to the extent that is even...
3 months ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane At this point in my career, it’s safe to say my medium of choice is the email newsletter. So it was a delight recently to have a conversation with someone else who’s focused on email. A week ago, I talked with Isaac Saul about the business of his paid newsletter, Tangle, which covers politics and current events. I’ve been a subscriber...
4 months ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane The best quality books are not the ones that typically sell. The most talented writers are not always well known. The worthiest information rarely spreads the farthest. Or: The cream does not necessarily rise to the top. This is a message I repeat across my classes and writings, not to discourage people, but to reassure. It applies to...
5 months ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane One of the best literature classes I ever took was called Shadow Literature. It focused on texts that subtly expressed the Jungian theory of the shadow self, or the parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable (whether emotions, thoughts, or personality traits). While the shadow self isn’t inherently negative, it’s what we repress or...
5 months ago • 5 min read