“Write what you love.”

Robert Reich has just published a new ebook — Beyond Outrage. It’s e-only, and the enhanced version includes 5 original videos created by Jacob Kornbluth.

Here’s one of the videos, which outlines what the ebook is all about:

Reich is hoping you’ll read the ebook, and then share your ideas for getting #beyondoutrage on Facebook and Twitter. As he points out, “You need to be outraged, but you also need to move beyond outrage, and take action.”

Awesome writing advice from writer Cheryl Strayed: “Aspire always for greatness, but surrender to mediocrity.” Be sure to check out her excellent new book Wild.

Hari Kunzru points out the importance of being ruthless with regard to cutting material that doesn’t work in the context of your overall project. “If it doesn’t fit, it has to go.”

Note: Kunzru’s excellent new novel Gods Without Men was just published on March 6.

Hari Kunzru talks about his fantastic new novel Gods Without Men, which is out today (March 6, 2012).

In words and pictures, writer Cheryl Strayed discusses what she learned, and what she gathered back to herself, while doing a solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail (the subject of her memoir Wild).

Designer Peter Mendelsund explains the cover design for Ben Marcus’s The Flame Alphabet.

Writer Alec Wilkinson, author of The Ice Balloon, discusses how writers should ask themselves “Is this true?” whenever they write something. Says Wilkinson, “I think any writer who can put something on the page, and say to himself or to herself “Is this true?” and of course you understand I don’t mean literally true, I mean true to some emotion, true to some thought, true to some circumstance that was involved in the creation of whatever piece of prose or poetry you’re working on, I think that if you can satisfactorily answer that question to yourself, you’ve probably got material that will be interesting to a reader.”

Be sure to check out Brain Picking’s great article by Michelle Legro on Wilkinson’s book The Ice Balloon.

In this Writers on Writing video, author Charles C. Mann encourages writers to write in such a way that readers feel they are engaged in a conversation when they are reading the work. Mann says, “When you write a book, if you’re lucky, your voice — it’s like you’re having a conversation with the reader. The reader feels like they’re having a talk with you. I know when I read a really good book, it’s like the writer’s voice is in my head, and I have this sense of this sort of friendly presence. And that’s, I think, what you want if you’re trying to talk about ideas, is to write in such a way that the person feels like ‘I’m on your side, I’m not trying to talk down to you, I’m not trying to drag you into terrain that you don’t want to go, I’m not this authority who’s lecturing you, I’m more like a guy who’s worked hard and learned some cool things that he wants to talk about.’ And I think that’s really important when you write.”

This video is part of Knopf Doubleday’s Writers on Writing series.

This is an amazing short film/book trailer for Ben Marcus’s new novel The Flame Alphabet. It was created by Erin Cosgrove. Amazing colors and animation and darkness of story. One of the better book trailers, for sure. In fact, I’d rather not call it a book trailer at all. Short film is much more appropriate.

The short film and the book are getting some very nice attention, as they should be.