Poignancy, Pathos, Triumph: How Beauty Feels

It's so important for writers to seek out and learn from other art forms: architecture, painting, music. In a recent TED talk, designer Richard Seymour explores the feeling of aesthetic beauty; he begins with a story about a watchmaker. A customer has brought in a watch to be cleaned, and when the watchmaker opens it, he discovers words etched into one of the watch's interior wheels. "Why on earth would the designer have bothered to put these words in a place nobody would ever see?" the customer asks.

"God sees it," replies the watchmaker.

Why Are Writers So Scary?: Elizabeth Gilbert and Creativity

I watched this video quite a while ago, but it stuck with me. Gilbert's opening raises an interesting question: Why does writing seem, to so many, like such a scary profession? What makes people so uncomfortable with what we do? Whatever your opinion of Eat, Pray, Love (me? I liked it), listening to Gilbert tease out her creative passions during this 20-minute TED talk is inspirational.