My home office and workshop are on an overlook on the only deep river gorge on the entire length of the Mississippi River. William Gurstelle More Quotes by William Gurstelle More Quotes From William Gurstelle I'm a writer and I also do a lot of professional speaking on risk taking and creativity as well. William Gurstelle wells creativity risk I'd love to get ideas on overcoming jet lag. William Gurstelle lag overcoming ideas I started a funny book from the 1930s called The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is a comic genius. William Gurstelle comic genius book In my workshop, I like to have the TV on for background noise, but I only put on shows that you don't really need to watch in serial order; stuff you can glance up every once in a while and still know what's going on; for example, Cops reruns, Jeopardy!, and Forensic Files. William Gurstelle background-noise example order Yeah, it's a weird little niche, but by God, it's my niche. William Gurstelle niche yeah littles I work with a lot of different editors at different publishers and magazines and so on, and having a system of shared folders makes keeping track of things a snap. William Gurstelle track editors different In my home office, I built a custom sit-stand desk to which I connected a big, kidney shaped glass top which I got for cheap at Ikea. Kidney-shaped desk tops are, I think, the most efficient of all possible desk shapes. William Gurstelle glasses home thinking When I write, I love finding connections between ideas. When the connections are plentiful and strong, then I know it's a pretty good subject to write about. William Gurstelle strong writing ideas Some things are better than other things: Google, Gmail, my vintage Montgomery Wards socket set (30+ years, still going strong), my Estwing framing hammer, and my Dremel rotary tool. William Gurstelle vintage strong years I have a large standalone workshop on the back of my property where I prototype and build stuff. It's bright, roomy, and has a giant door so it's easy to bring projects in or out. William Gurstelle giants stuff doors You get energy from other people, so hang out with energetic people. William Gurstelle energetic energy people I think it's important to associate with positive, upbeat people. William Gurstelle important people thinking I've seen Leonardo Da Vinci notebooks which are filled with tiny, messy scrawls written in mirror image across the page. I'd love to know how he kept all his projects going at once. William Gurstelle notebook pages mirrors Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo is arguably the world's most famous polymath. So many thoughts and so many different ideas! William Gurstelle different world ideas I specialize in science and history, with a special emphasis on including do-it-yourself projects in the mix. My dozen or so books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. I'm also a contributing editor at Popular Science and at Make Magazine. William Gurstelle editors special book I travel internationally a lot and I have a hard time sleeping and staying awake normally after crossing multiple time zones, especially going east. I've tried light therapy but not found it too helpful. William Gurstelle hard-times light sleep When something good hits me, I'll use Siri to make a note so I don't forget. William Gurstelle siri use forget I get some of my best ideas while out walking. William Gurstelle walking ideas Every day, I walk with my dog - summer, winter (it gets -20 F in Saint Paul), rain or shine. The nicer the day, of course, the longer the walk. William Gurstelle dog summer rain I always have a ton of projects in mind. On my ToodleDo list, I divide projects into those I'm actively working on, those I'm not doing but believe I will do, and those that sound good, but who knows if I'll ever get to them. William Gurstelle sound mind believe
