#(this is about my reading progress of Voltaire's work. i just finished book 3. next one covers Poltava)

[the-joy-of-knowledge]

Becoming an Intelligent Woman

My Dears,

There is no greater goal than being a fine woman who is intelligent, kind, and elegant. As much as we all want to be described with these adjectives, it takes a great amount of discipline to get there. It is very doable only if you are ready to put in the work.

Here are steps you can add to your routine in the next 4 weeks that will make you 1% more intelligent than you were before. This is a process that should become a habit not a goal. It is long term, however, I want you to devote just 4 weeks into doing these steps first and recognize the changes that follow.

Watch documentaries: This is the easiest step, we all have access to Youtube. Youtube has a great number of content on art, history, technology, food, science etc that will increase your knowledge and pique your curiosity. I really did not know much about world history especially from the perspective of World war 1 & 2, the roaring 20s, Age of Enlightenment, Jazz era, monarchies etc but with several channels dedicated to breaking down history into easily digestible forms. I have in the last 4 weeks immersed myself into these documentaries. Here are a few I watched:

The fall of monarchies

The Entire History of United Kingdom

The Eight Ages of Greece

World War 1

World War 2

The Roaring '20s

The Cuisine of the Enlightenment

2. Read Classics: I recommend starting with short classics so that you do not get easily discouraged. Try to make reading easy and interesting especially if you struggle with finishing a book. Why classics? You see, if you never went to an exclusive private school in Europe or America with well crafted syllabus that emphasized philosophy, history, art, and literary classics, you might want to know what is felt like and for me this was a strong reason. Asides that, there is so much wisdom and knowledge available in these books. In these books, you gain insights to the authors mind, the historical context of the era, the ingenuity of the author, the hidden messages, and the cultural impact of these books. Most importantly, you develop your personal philosophy from the stories and lessons you have accumulated from the lives of the characters in the books you read. Here are classics to get you started:

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Candide by Voltaire

Paradise lost by John Milton

3. Study the lives of people who inspire you: I dedicate one month to each person that fascinates me. I read their biography (date of birth, background, death, influences, work, style, education, personal life) For this month, I decided to study Frank Lloyd Wright because I was fascinated by the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I began to read about his influence in American Architecture (Organic architecture, Prairie School, Usonian style), his tumultuous personal life, his difficult relationship with his mentor (Louis Sullivan), his most iconic works etc. By the end of the year I would have learned the ins and outs of people I am inspired by through books and documentaries. Here are other people I plan to learn more about:

Winston Churchill

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Ada Lovelace

Benjamin Franklin

Helen Keller

John Nash

Isabella Stewart Gardner

Caroline Herrera

Ernest Hemingway

Catherine the Great

Ann Lowe

My dears, I hope you enjoyed this read. I cannot wait to write more on my journey to becoming a fine woman. I urge you to do this for four weeks and see what changes you notice. Make sure to write as well, it is important to document your progress.

Cheers to a very prosperous 2024!

[omicuddler]

Letters of Love (Words of Love Pt. 2)

You asked and you shall receive!! This is probably going to be a series so stay tuned for part 3!

AN: Thank you so much for the overwhelming support and compliments omg! Warnings: more fluff. Did you really expect no fluff from me? I also didn’t have much time to edit because I have to go to work in 30 minutes!

WC: 1720

AU: Hamiltime

1 3 4 5 Masterlist

My dearest (Y/N),

Though it has only been a few days since we have met, you have never left my mind's eye. The way that your eyes light up when we touch on your favorite books leaves me breathless. The way you smile leaves me helpless. And when we touch, I feel electricity flowing through my veins. My heart longs to see you again.

While we have exchanged numerous letters to one another, would you be so kind as to allow me to see you again? I will be in town today with my mother as we need to acquire writing materials as well as food. My wish is that we could possibly meet, even if it is in secret.

Forgive me if that is too forward and rash.

I patiently await your reply.

Yrs.

P. Ham.

As you read Phillip's reply, you can't help but smile and giggle.

You hear your mother calling you, and you quickly tuck the letter underneath your mattress for safekeeping, and to hide it from your parents.

It was lucky enough that they even let you out into town in the first place a few weeks ago. You could tell that they were trying to relax a bit. You saw your mother and father go out on a stroll a few days ago! While it isn't a big achievement, it's progress!

Ever since you met Phillip at the bookstore, the both of you have been writing non-stop to each other. Every few days you would receive a letter, each grander in romantic gestures than the last. You weren't going to lie: you were starting to develop feelings for him.

As you make your way down the stairs, you see your mother waiting for you with a small smile on her face.

"Good afternoon, Mother. You summoned me?", you asked slightly confused.

"Yes, darling. I was wondering if you would like to go town with me. Your father is busy and I believed that you would like another chance to...explore... again.", she said.

You were a bit surprised by your mother's actions, as she normally was the person who preferred to stay home. But you didn't object to this change of character, "Of course, mother! Just let me go and freshen up!"

As you quickly climbed up the stairs to your room, you came to a revelation: Phillip might be in town today! You quickly scribble a response to his letter:

My darling Phillip,

I pray this letter find you in good time and health.

I long to see you again. My heart skips a beat each time I think of you, and your poetic writing and romantic gestures bring a blush to my cheeks.

I will be in town with my mother today, as well. I wish only to met you once more, but I cannot risk my mother finding out about what we have.

If this letter finds you before you leave, meet me in the bookstore where we first met.

Forever Yrs.

(Y/F/I) (L/N)

You quickly run down the steps and to the front door. You open the door and look out into the street, and you see the letter carrier riding past your home. You run up to him, "Good morning sir!"

He sees you and he flashes a warm smile, "Good morning, Miss (L/N). What brings you outside your home this morning? If you are expecting another letter, alas I do not have one.", he says with a sparkle in his eye.

You chuckle quietly and blush softly, "No sir, I was not expecting a letter. But I do, in fact, have one for Mr. Phillip Hamilton. It is of the most urgent matter. If you could please..."

"Of course, Miss (L/N).", he stops you before you finished. You hand him the letter and he places it inside his jacket. He blows slightly to you before galloping away and delivering your letter to the freckled boy.

You run inside and you finally begin to get dressed. You decide to go for something simple but elegant. Emma has fallen ill, so she was not there to help you today. You were beginning to worry about her. You put on your corset and hoop, but you then put on a nice white skirt with your favorite (Y/F/C) blouse.

You then brush your hair and put it in a delicate up-do, with a few strands hanging to frame your face. After you look at yourself in the mirror, you finally put on your shoes and make your way down the stairs to meet your mother.

She looks at you with a small smile and knowing eyes. You tilt your head in slight confusion, "Is everything alright, mother?"

"Yes, my dear. Everything is fine. Shall we be on our way?", she asks while gesturing to the door.

You nod and smile, stepping out into the warm sunlight with her by your side.

As the carriage pulls up to the house, you let your mother get in first and you follow suit. The carriage pulls away and begins its journey into town. Your heart beats faster and faster at the thought of being one step closer to the one and only Phillip Hamilton.

The carriage pulls up to the town square and you thank the driver as he helps both you and your mother step down. You take your mother's hand and you begin walking around, with no particular destination in mind, at least not yet.

As you're walking, you tr to gaze around the square, your eyes longing to met a familiar pair of sparkling hazel ones. You thought that your actions went unnoticed, they didn't.

While you and your mother were walking, you didn't realize that you had somehow made your way to the bookstore. The very same bookstore where you and Phillip met all those weeks ago. You gesture to the store, silently pleading with your eyes to let you go inside. She gives you a small nod, and that was all you needed before opening the door and walking inside.

Once you were inside, you were overcome with the scent of books and the peaceful quietness. You let out a soft smile before you went exploring inside. You turn to your mother and ask, "May I go and find one of the books that I've been waiting for?".

Her eyebrows furrow for a second before she hesitantly answers, "Yes, but if anyone asks, you are to tell them that the books are for your father."

Your mood drops a little, as you remembered that you were special and that not everybody believed that women should be reading the same level of books as men. You nod solemnly before heading off.

As you wander through the aisles, your heart begins to race and your stomach does flips. You decide to falter a little, and let your hands graze the worn spines the many books that were aligned on the shelf.

You would be lying to yourself if you said that you weren't worried. There was always the chance that Phillip wouldn't show up, or maybe he found someone else or...

You were getting lost in your thoughts, just wandering the aisles aimlessly and waiting.

You then heard some footsteps behind you and a voice asking, "Excuse me miss, do you know where the books by Voltaire are?"

You let out a small sigh, "They're in the next aisle on your...", you say while turning around. You didn't get to finish your sentence, as you were pleasantly shocked as to who was behind you: Philip Hamilton.

You smile widely before curtsying, "Pleasure to meet you again, Philip", you say with a blush.

"The pleasure is all mine.", he says while gently kissing your hand with a small smirk on his face.

It took your breath away.

"May I?", he asks while offering his arm to you

"You may", you reply while you take his arm and he leads you through the different aisles.

You both were talking quietly before you hear someone quietly clear their throat behind you. You quickly let go of his arm and you turn around to see one of the most beautiful women you've seen other than your mother.

"Is this her?", you see her ask Philip. Philip then proceeds to nod and smile at you.

Confused you smile at the woman before you, "Forgive me but who...?"

"Eliza Hamilton... Philip's mother.", she says with a smile before hugging you gently. She looks at Philip with a knowing smile and then leaves to browse other books.

You two continue to walk throughout the small store, keeping an eye out for your mother. Philip then stops you and turns to look at you, you immediately fear the worst.

"(Y/N)... I have something to ask you...", he says quietly.

You nervously nod and let out a shaky sigh, "Yes, Philip?"

"(Y/N) (L/N), would you please allow me to court you?", he asks with wide eyes filled with hope.

Your stomach was not doing flips and turns while your heart felt like it was going to beat straight out of your chest. You were in such a state of shock that you didn't reply right away.

"I know it sounds rash, but forgive me. I cannot wait any longer...", he begins

"You may, Philip. You may court me", you say sheepishly with a blush growing on your face.

Philip flashes the happiest and excited smile before you hear two content sighs in the background.

You turn to see Eliza and your mother standing there, and you panicked, "Mother I can explain...", you begin.

"It's completely fine... Philip wrote to me asking for my permission to court you... I know about the letters and what you two have. It's something special...", she says with a kind smile.

"Oh mother...", you sigh happily as you walk over to hug her, "thank you", you whisper into her ear.

You turn back to Philip, who has a small smirk plastered on his face and you let out a giggle. He offers his arm to you once more and you take it. The both of you walk out of the store with your mothers following behind.

You two split off, your mothers talking and you and Philip next to each other exploring what other surprises the town holds.

@love-doesnt-discriminate @hamilton-canyouimagine @wrotemywayoutimagines @fightmeatweedhawken @manuelmiranduh @secretschuylersister

[ihavecolorfuldreams]

How to be More Prolific Than Van Gogh on Viagra

The word “prolific” comes from the Latin prolificus, which means, “to make offspring.” Which, if you think about it, is exactly what you do all day: Give birth to your creative brainchildren. The cool part is, the more prolific you are: The more profit you earn. The more love you spread. The more gravity you defy. The more legacy you leave. The more people you touch. The more purpose you fulfill. The more change you inspire. The more wisdom you amass. The more worlds you conquer. The more fans you accumulate. The more significance you realize. What did you create today? Whether you’re an entrepreneur, writer or ad agency art director, here’s a list of how to be more prolific than you ever thought possible:

1. Whatever you want to become, you can start being that thing (today!) by creating as much as you possibly can, as fast as you possibly can. Otherwise, if you put off being prolific until the right people stamp your creative passport, you’ll consign yourself to burning in the purgatory of wannabe. Remember: Being prolific beings with the mindset that you already are what you want to become. Are you acting as if? 2. Metabolize your life. That’s the singular source for informing your art. As Anne Lamout, author of Bird By Bird once said, “Art is whatever remains after the fire.” My question is: Does your life burn? If so, you’ll be more prolific than you ever imagined. As long as you focus on translating all that you experience into something more expressive. After all, art is nothing but the residue of a life fully lived. Screw being a great artist – focus on being a great human first. Bring all of who you are to your creative work and trust that the art will come. 3. Right isn’t as important as right direction.  Either way, when it comes to being prolific, what matters is that you simply get something down – every day. Maybe it sucks. Maybe it rocks. Maybe it’s just okay. Fine. Awesome. Perfect. All you need to remember is: When you put pen to paper, you have the power. When you put finger to keyboard, brush to canvas, blade to clay or reed to mouth, you have the power. Just begin with what is – you can make something beautiful out of it later. Are you willing to plunge forward planless? 4. Extend literary latitude.  That’s what prolific people practice: You don’t have to like something to learn from it; and you don’t have to get it to get something out of it. Sometimes bad work is exactly what you need to inspire good work. Your mission is experience what you experience with a posture of openness and possibility. Because if you give yourself permission, you can become inspired by everything in sight. And that’s when you start to crank out volumes of work that matters. Are you a mental omnivore? 5. Be a brilliant fixer. Whenever I’m reading, I’m writing. In my experience, it’s just too hard to separate the two. For example, when I’m not underlining passages, jotting down transient ideas, documenting adjacent thoughts or questioning the author’s arguments – I’m fixing. The cool part is, many of my best ideas came from something as simple as changing or adding a single word to an existing sentence. Examples: “A mind is a terrible thing to chase,” “A penny saved is an opportunity burned” and “All the world’s a page.” Your challenge is to incorporate some form fixing into your own creative process. You’ll find that it’s fun, challenging, energizing and the raging river of raw material never stops flowing. How are you improving on everything that’s wrong with everything else on the shelves? 6. Be careful not to slide into complacency. Yes, remember your victory dance. Yes, take pride in your creative victories. But don’t over celebrate.  Never trust the prosperity that accompanies prolificacy. Instead, regularly reinstate your humility with the birth of every new brainchild. As Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reminds us, “Seek to renew yourself, even when you’re hitting homeruns.” Remember: The arrogance of past victory is the aerosol of future failures. 7. Get good at recognizing beginnings. The reason prolific professionals are masters at starting, progressing and executing their projects – is because they’ve perfected the art of seed spotting. They estimate movement value early. They see everything with the eyes of the future. And they take action on those concepts without delay. That’s the mark of prolificacy: Lots of irons in lots of fires. Working on multiple projects simultaneously. Doing so helps you create thought bridges, subconscious connections and unexpected integrations between (seemingly) unrelated ideas. As a result, you will automatically notice natural relationships and structures in your work. What’s more, your creative efforts are more productively deployed when you start multiple projects simultaneously. Yes, it requires considerable self-regulation to pursue multiple projects concurrently. But by shifting between ideas as circumstances dictate, you never get burned out and always execute without remorse. What did you start today? 8. Become a master of your disinclination. In the documentary I’m Your Man, songwriter and poetry legend Leonard Cohen reminds us, “You gotta go to work everyday, knowing that you’re not going to get it everyday.” The secret is cultivating an acute sense of when disinclination is around the corner. Personally, if I don’t get anything good after about an hour – I go back to bed. Sometimes for twenty minutes, sometimes for three hours. I’ve followed this rule for eight years and have never, ever failed to come back to the page refreshed and reenergized. What’s more, I almost always go on to pound out something amazing. Lesson learned: Discover what frustrates your ambitions. Know when you’ve got it, known when you’ve lost it, know when there’s no way in hell you’re going to get it, and know when you’re going to have to take measures to get it back. Hey, it happens. Resistance can be a feisty little bitch. Don’t be afraid to let her win every once in a while. Create around the constraint. It demonstrates humility for the process and motivates you to return with strength. What’s your policy for managing compositional paralysis? 9. Let less happen. Increasing your capacity to execute isn’t just about what you do – it’s also about what you avoid, what you stop doing and what you stop thinking. , I began thinking about my own ratio. And it occurred to me that one of the reasons I’m so prolific is because ninety-eight percent of the work I do every day, matters. No wonder I just finished my eleventh book at the age of thirty: Distractions are at an all-time low; execution is at an all time high. Better enjoy it now while it lasts. Lesson learned: Excise every ounce of fat from your process. Discard the irrelevant. Then throw your shoulder into the work that matters. Be lean or be left behind. Is what you’re doing – right now – contributing to your body of work or your ulcer? 10. Keep the reservoir full. Whether you’re a painter, entrepreneur, wood carver or throbbing-member-trashy-novelist, prolificacy – that is, cranking out killer work consistently – is a function of volume. As a writer, for example, I built my own content management system. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s certainly more sophisticated than a box of colored folders filled with ideas scribbled on cocktail napkins or random scraps of paper. Currently clocking in at about 75,000 items, my creative inventory is meticulously organized by topic, date, use, audience, etc. And every single day, I add more water to the reservoir. Some days more than others. But I do it every day, without fail. Which means my inventory is indepletable. And that’s the secret behind building your reservoir, regardless of the medium in which you work: It equips your daily practice with creative rations long before the artistic famine strikes. And when I say famine, I’m referring common distractions such as: Resistance, boredom, disinclination, laziness or that annoying fluffball Westie from next door who does nothing but yap-yap-yap all day long. How much water did you add to your creative reservoir today? 11. Insulate yourself from interruptions. Tolerate nothing. Even if you have to put a sign on your door reading, “Quiet. The art is coming.” Whatever it takes. This is your creative time, and it deserves to be approached as sacrosanct. Resist the temptation to be squeezed by your surroundings. Otherwise you become muddied by triviality, swept into the undertow of inconsequentiality. And that’s a surefire recipe for low productivity. The hard part is stockpiling enough self-control to be able to look at your most seductive interruptions – square in the eye – and say, “Nice try. But I’ve got work to do. Peace out.” Email is the worst. You have to close the window down or else you’ll never execute anything that matters. What interruptions are you afraid to ignore? 12. Never lose your ear for what’s happening around you. If being prolific has historically been hard for you, I’ve got some bad news: You problem isn’t writer’s block – it’s hearing damage. That’s all creativity is, anyway: Active listening. And it’s easy to screw up. Like Voltaire said, “Never let temptation pass lightly by – it may never come again.” Lesson learned: People who are prolific listen. And they do so with their ears, eyes, minds, hearts or whatever other body part is available. Lose that skill and you forfeit the entire game. Keep it healthy and you’ll never stop creating. What did you hear today? FINAL THOUGHT: Let’s turn to Cicero, philosopher and uber-prolific writer. In his book, On the Good Life, he explained the following: “Philosophers must not be judged by individual utterances they may choose to offer. They must be judged, instead, by all their different statements put together and by the degree of consistency and coherence with this whole body of doctrine displays.” KEY WORD: Whole body. Because you’re not just creating one piece. Or one song. Or one book. Or one project. Or one website. Or one piece of art. You’re contributing to an ongoing, smokin’ hot body of work. Because that’s what prolifics do. With or without Viagra. LET ME ASK YA THIS… How prolific are you? * * * * Scott Ginsberg