What happens when you try to write an entire ten-minute podcast script without using is, am, are, and were? What happens when you follow a rule (and a profession) that encourages brevity above all else? What happens when you're afraid you don't have any big ideas? Listen and find out.

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Show notes:

• This script started as an early-morning creative constraint free write (avoiding forms of the verb "to be," but took seven more drafts to discover a satisfying conclusion. (Does that make you feel better? Stick with it!)

• The Elements of Style, rule 17 (Note, I updated pronouns because it's 2025.)

• Longinus, On the Sublime (the power of great conceptions)

• Oops, I misquoted — Dr. Seuss only used 50 words to write Green Eggs and Ham!

• And thanks to a few musicians from Blue Dot Sessions (supplementing my usual music source of Storyblocks): "Picnic March," and "Temperance."