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Ive been writing professionally since 2002, and in that time, Ive experimented with lots of different strategies to keep myself on track. (Ive been a columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and am now a contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion Section, in addition to cohosting Slates Money podcast, and Ive been an editor, reporter, and opinion writer for a number of other places.) I also have, shall we say, a fragmented attention span, and my therapist likes to routinely bring up how many women my age have undiagnosed ADHD, which I now take as a not-so-subtle hint. So I need systems and routines maybe a bit more than the average person, and it has taken me a while to find the right ones. But I stumbled upon my biggest problem with developing a consistent writing practice by accident when I added a couple of components that focused not on the writing itself, but on idea generation and development. Like most professional writers, I take notes and carry a notebook everywhere, and my journalistic background has primed me to capture details and thoughts even when Im not on the clock. That said, there was not much consistency to it for a long time, and I didnt have a process for taking those notes and thoughts and fashioning them into something that might qualify as a good work product, or if I was being really ambitious, art. The problem was that I was not giving myself enough raw creative material to work with, and would come up short when I needed to get something onto the page. The system I use now is a combination of physical note-taking, collation, and then review and organization once a month. I am fascinated by and have tried the Zettlekasten method, but its way too complicated for me. A lightweight solution My version is much more lightweight. My physical note-taking is the same, and I added morning pages right when I get up, which more than anything just allows me to clear my head of to-do list items and anxieties so I can think clearly about other things. The nature of my job(s) also means that I cant stay out of the news cycle or off social, though consuming less of both would certainly enhance my concentration, so I try to cordon it off in time blocks and get much of my writing done before I get sucked into whatever new chaos is brewing in the outside world. Once a week, I add notes and references that I think I want to keep to a master file similar to Steven Johnsons Spark file and once a month, I set aside an hour or two on a Sunday to review it and break useful pieces into notes for discrete columns or fiction or wherever I think they belong. As a result, I never really have to sit down to a blank page. Theres always something in progress to work on and new ideas in the pipeline. I dont have to stare at a screen in an increasing state of despair and desperation until something finally emerges from my addled brain. This specific system may not work for everybody, but what I think is generalizable is that its hard to keep up a writing practice if you let the well of creativity run dry. Its important to keep it full, even when youre not working on anything in particular. Im teaching a Zoom workshop in December on how to make this process work for you and how to set up a creative practice in general, if youre interested in learning more about how to do this. (Registration and info are here.) Im also interested in what other people do to make their creative practice sustainable, so suggestions and tips are welcome!
Category:
E-Commerce
French authorities have warned they may block access to Shein after it emerged that the online fast fashion giant had been selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance. Frances consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said last week it had discovered the dolls on Sheins website, noting that their descriptions and categorization left little doubt as to their child-pornographic nature. The agency has referred the case to public prosecutors, and Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on Monday he would seek to ban Shein from the French market if such incidents were to occur again. This is provided for by law, he said. In cases involving terrorism, drug trafficking, or child pornographic materials, the government has the right to request that access to the French market be prohibited, Lescure told BFM TV. The law authorizes French authorities to order online platforms to remove clearly illegal content such as child pornography within 24 hours. If they fail to comply, authorities can require internet service providers and search engines to block access and delist the site. The watchdog said it has issued a formal notice urging the platform to take urgent corrective measures. Shein said in a statement that it has banned all sex-doll products, and temporarily removed its adult products category for review. It added that it has launched an investigation to determine how these listings bypassed its screening measures. The fight against child exploitation is non-negotiable for Shein,” said Executive Chairman Donald Tang said in the statement. These were marketplace listings from third-party sellers, but I take this personally. Trust is our foundation, and we will not allow anything that violates it.” He noted that every related product has been removed and that “We are tracing the source and will take swift, decisive action against those responsible. Meanwhile, a parliamentary fact-finding mission on the inspection of products imported into France announced it will summon Shein officials for questioning. No economic actor can consider themselves above the law. A retailer who sold such an item would have had their store immediately closed by a prefectoral order. Shein must provide an explanation, said the mission rapporteur, Antoine Vermorel-Marques. Under French law, the distribution via electronic communication networks of child-pornographic materials is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a 100,000 euro ($115,000) fine. The watchdog also noted that Shein sells other pornographic products including adultlike sex dolls without effective age-filtering measures to prevent minors or sensitive audiences from accessing such pornographic content. Shein was founded in China in 2012, and the low-cost online retailer is now based in Singapore. Reaching customers mainly through its app, it has enjoyed a meteoric rise to become a global leader in fast fashion, shipping to 150 countries. The company has faced criticism over its labor practices and environmental record. Lescure’s comments came just days before Shein is due to open its first permanent physical store in Paris, located inside the BHV Marais department store in the heart of the French capital city. The opening has sparked controversy, with an online petition protesting Sheins arrival gathering more than 100,000 signatures. Frederic Merlin, president of Societe des Grands Magasins, which owns BHV, called the sale of the dolls on Shein’s platform indecent and “unacceptable,” adding that “no product from Sheins international marketplace will be sold at the department store. Meanwhile, the child-protection NGO MouvEnfants staged a protest at BHV. As long as these dolls are available somewhere in the world, the company will remain an accomplice to a system that enables sex crimes against children,” co-founder Arnaud Gallais said. Samuel Petrequin, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Three lower courts have ruled illegal President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose worldwide tariffs. Now the Supreme Court, with three justices Trump appointed and generally favorable to muscular presidential power, will have the final word. In roughly two dozen emergency appeals, the justices have largely gone along with Trump in temporarily allowing parts of his aggressive second-term agenda to take effect while lawsuits play out. But the case being argued Wednesday is the first in which the court will render a final decision on a Trump policy. The stakes are enormous, both politically and financially. The Republican president has made tariffs a central piece of his economic and foreign policy and has said it would be a disaster if the Supreme Court rules against him. Here are some things to know about the tariffs arguments at the Supreme Court: Tariffs are taxes on imports They are paid by companies that import finished products or parts, and the added cost can be passed on to consumers. Through September, the government has reported collecting $195 billion in revenue generated from the tariffs. The Constitution gives Congress the power to impose tariffs, but Trump has claimed extraordinary power to act without congressional approval by declaring national emergencies under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In February, he invoked the law to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, saying that the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs across the U.S. border amounted to a national emergency and that the three countries needed to do more to stop it. In April, he imposed worldwide tariffs after declaring the United States longstanding trade deficits a national emergency. Libertarian-backed businesses and states challenged the tariffs in federal court Challengers to Trump’s actions won rulings from a specialized trade court, a district judge in Washington and a business-focused appeals court, also in the nation’s capital. Those courts found that Trump could not justify tariffs under the emergency powers law, which doesn’t mention them. But they left the tariffs in place in the meantime. The appeals court relied on major questions, a legal doctrine devised by the Supreme Court that requires Congress to speak clearly on issues of vast economic and political significance. The major questions doctrine doomed several Biden policies Conservative majorities struck down three of then-President Joe Biden’s initiatives related to the coronavirus pandemic. The court ended the Democrat’s pause on evictions, blocked a vaccine mandate for large businesses and prevented student loan forgiveness that would have totaled $500 billion over 10 years. In comparison, the stakes in the tariff case are much higher. The taxes are estimated to generate $3 trillion over 10 years. The challengers in the tariffs case have cited writings by the three Trump appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, in calling on the court to apply similar limitations on a signal Trump policy. Barrett described a babysitter taking children on roller coasters and spending a night in a hotel based on a parent’s encouragement to make sure the kids have fun. In the normal course, permission to spend money on fun authorizes a babysitter to take children to the local ice cream parlor or movie theater, not on a multiday excursion to an out-of-town amusement park, Barrett wrote in the student loans case. “If a parent were willing to greenlight a trip that big, we would expect much more clarity than a general instruction to make sure the kids have fun. Kavanaugh, though, has suggested the court should not apply the same limiting standard to foreign policy and national security issues. A dissenting appellate judge also wrote that Congress purposely gave presidents more latitude to act through the emergency powers law. Some of the businesses that sued also are raising a separate legal argument in an appeal to conservative justices, saying that Congress could not constitutionally delegate its taxing power to the president. The nondelegation principle has not been used in 90 years, since the Supreme Court struck down some New Deal legislation. But Gorsuch authored a dissent in June that would have found the Federal Communications Commissions universal service fee an unconstitutional delegation. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined the dissent. What happens when Congress, weary of the hard business of legislating and facing strong incentives to pass the buck, cedes its lawmaking power, clearly and unmistakably, to an executive that craves it? Gorsuch wrote. The justices could act more quickly than usual in issuing a decision The court only agreed to hear the case in September, scheduling arguments less than two months later. The quick turnaround, at least by Supreme Court standards, suggests that the court will try to act fast. High-profile cases can take half a year or more to resolve, often because the majority and dissenting opinions go through rounds of revision. But the court can act quickly when deadline pressure dictates. Most recently, the court ruled a week after hearing arguments in the TikTok case, unanimously upholding a law requiring the popular social media app to be banned unless it was sold by its Chinese parent company. Trump has intervened several times to keep the law from taking effect while negotiations continue with China. Mark Sherman, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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