Three things…

My ceramic skull by Tasmanian artist Marion Abraham

1. I have a turquoise ceramic skull on my desk at home. I bought it as a present to myself when I finished the first draft of my book. It alternately creeps me out, inspires me to write about death (something I think about pretty much all day long) AND reminds me to keep perspective (which is important when you’re predisposed to think about death all day long).

2. I work in advertising. That’s my day job. And every big campaign or teeny ad I come up with is arrived at by:

trying to find the truth of something;
the insight that comes from the truth;
the idea that can express that insight;
and then the execution that will catch the public’s eye…

3. After a hiatus, I am restarting my Masters degree next year (I’ve done a third of it so far). I’ll be studying philosophy – which I’ve always wanted to do yet somehow, until now, had felt was not practical or relevant enough for my pragmatic mind…

What do these three things have in common?

This cool Mumbrella post, and [thinking woman’s crumpet] Alain de Botton’s musings on skulls, creativity, advertising and philosophy – that’s what!

Seems I’m on the right track.