What is something you could talk about for hours?

I've probably studied nothing as much as I've studied writing. I started writing every day around 1990. Which meant, back then, I would probably read a book every day or two (as part of the learning), and then my goal was to write 3,000 words a day. That was a lot for me then and too much for me now.

Everything I wrote was horrible back then (4 novels, a novella, dozens of short stories) but it was a trial by fire learning experience and helped me very much later on. I love all aspects of writing, writers, and talking about it. Some of my favorite podcasts are with Chuck Pahlaniuk ("Fight Club"), and Stephen Pressfield ("The War of Art") because when they come on we talk about writing.

Obviously I can talk about it for hours because I am neck deep in my "comeback". Proving that a 54 year old can come back to tournament play after 25 years and get back to his old heights or even better. So I study the game quite a bit and I follow all events in the game. I am obsessed at the moment.

I always wanted to make a book, "How to Win at Every Game". Among games I've studied at a fairly high level (by study I mean, read lots of books, play against strong players, get coached, etc): poker, backgammon, checkers, Go, etc.

I've done this for many years. I was a daytrader, a hedge fund manager, and a writer of books about investing. I made it a point to try and master every style of investing so I would be able to comment and write about it. Intertwined with investing is the economy. Knowing a detailed history of the economy and economic theory is useful for analyzing current media trends in discussing the economy.

So this is a category I can talk about for hours although, perhaps not my favorite category.

I break apart crypto from investing because it's more than just a speculation but a new system that is going to change the financial world.

How to learn how to learn. This is a very complicated topic that nobody knows real answers but there are strong and famous opinions out there. Everything from "the 10,000 hour rule" to the book, "Mindset" by Carol Dweck and "Grit" by Angela Duckworth. I'll throw into this my own book, "Skip the Line" which gives the specific techniques I use.

I'v e thought a lot about this because I'm always getting obsessed with new things and trying to master those subjects as quickly as possible, with varying results.

I've done so many podcasts on negotiation (Robert Cialdini, Christopher Voss, Rich Cohen, Bill Beteet, and many many more), and I've done so many negotiations buying or selling companies, investments, etc that I feel i've become a mini-expert on it. Much to my gratification, my kids always call me for advice when negotiating with their landlords. I love the topic and there are many nuances.

Having been a fan of standup comedy since the 90s and then doing it actively almost every day for about 6 years before (and during) Covid and having watched almost every special out there, I love talking about the nuances of comedy. See my earlier list where I recommend 10 different comediands and give clips.

There are so many microskills in comedy it's interesting to study each one.

When I was growing up there were many 'TV snobs' out there. People who would say, "I don't even have a TV".

For better or worse, most of the best writers out there write for TV now. Not books, not movies...TV.

The best TV shows these days are great works of literature and story-telling. I love talking about what shows I think are best and why, what the various eras of TV are, etc. Having worked at HBO for awhile I immersed myself in the history of TV and have been following it ever since.

The process of creativity is an infinitely deep pool to wade into. The "10 ideas a day" practice I started in 2002 was a way to keep my creativity muscle exercised even as I was deeply depressed at that time. It's what lifted me out of depression. There are many books out there on the process of creativity but just "10 ideas a day" has helped me through every dark period in my life and is the genesis of this website.