On a recent visit to a museum, I was surprised to find a little video viewing area in a specially ticketed exhibit.  Comfy furniture, throw pillows, and other casual seating created the impression of a TED Simulcast Lounge, and surprise! The venue had been set up to show Edith Witter’s TED Talk on bioluminescence .

She said that fish have three jobs: Find food, find a mate, and avoid being eaten.

I admit it. That pretty much sums up most of my life.

I must look into that “evolution” thing and see if I can figure out how to do it.

During my sabbatical I am looking for sources of delight, and I can always count on Maria Popova  to provide a plethora.

I can’t remember how or where I first heard of her.  Maybe it was Twitter , maybe it was through her creation called TEDify in which she does a mashup  of TED Talks.  Then I was wowed by her  BrainPickings.  I fell in digital love with her. 

When she asked the Twitterverse to help her get to TEDGlobal2009,  I became one of her many contributors. I met her IRL  at Oxford.

Those of us who crowdfunded her attendance did her an inadvertent disservice: by going as a fully-paid TEDster, she was automatically disqualified from applying to be a TED Fellow.  That means she will probably be crowdfunding TEDGlobal2010.

Perhaps that was part of the inspiration behind her excellent list of crowdfunding sites.  (The page takes awhile to load. Don’t be frightened by the seemingly unreadable colors. Wait. When it’s done the copy will be black type on white background. )

Why is it worth clicking on that link and waiting?  Maria did all the work of compiling  websites where ordinary people can raise tons of money for their personal projects. If your school, your place of worship, your artistic kid, or you are trying to raise money, this is the best list of resources I’ve seen.

When you take a dip in Maria’s ocean of information, perhaps you will jump in and subscribe to BrainPickings (and I heartily encourage you to join me as a financial supporter). 

The magic of this connection, and the untold hours of joy I’ve experienced through Maria’s work, are modern miracles to me.  When I was a kid, a long distance telephone call was a Major Big Deal.  Today a Bulgarian woman can reach around the world, change her destiny, and affect countless other lives, all with a click.

And now, with a click, I share her with you.

Yesterday I wrote that I am resisting the urge to write volumes about my TED experience.

Janet Ginsburg sent a thoughtful comment , which deserves a reply.

First, one of the TED Talks that I predict will be the next talk-heard-’round-the-world is a talk from an audience member at TEDActive in Palm Springs.  A young woman talks about having an expiry date from a brain tumor, and shares her philosophy of living and dying. You will receive this in your mailbox more times than you got Susan Boyle .

Anyway, I want to write in detail about that at some point, and many other TED Talks  which I hope you’ll watch and share with others.

To address Janet’s point: I’m not stifling my urge to create – I’m stifling my urge to make it a JOB.  The author Barbara Jenkins  once told me she has to write. She can’t not write.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  I spent decades writing on command, on demand, for grades or for money.  How many words do you want?  What do you need the piece to accomplish? What are the guidelines? When do you need it?  Who’s going to whack it or fact-check it or pass judgment on it?

See, that’s how I think of writing.  Not the free flow of creative expression, but the written-and-rewritten-and-edited-and-rewritten, within parameters.  Unlike Barbara, who has to write, I get to write, and if I need to write it’s because I’ve promised somebody something on deadline.  I’ve promised myself to post something on this site every day, whether or not I actually write it that day.  Therefore this is not work, but a personal commitment of discipline during sabbatical.

I don’t have to do it – I get to do it.

And I’m grateful for that.

Seth Godin’s books can help you avert a lifetime of unfulfilling wheel-spinning.  Don’t have time to read his latest, Tribes? Watch the interview at www.tedfellows.posterous.com and get the gist.  Don’t have the time or $ to attend a TED conference? Watch the TED Talks free online at www.ted.com.

When I spoke via Skype at SoCon2009 and talked about how TED Curator Chris Anderson had made the previously hush-hush super-exclusive TED more accessible, I got pushback from someone who says a $6000 conference pricetag is still  elitist.  The Palm Springs satellite conference is cheaper. As for the Long Beach event, if you are chosen as a TED Fellow, you don’t pay. If you are invited as a guest of TED, you don’t pay. There are ways to go to the in-person events without paying.  But my larger point was that before Chris bought TED from the founder, Richard Saul Wurman, it was deliberately small and secretive. Back then, your high-priced ticket bought exclusive info and access.  Now, the fee helps underwrite the worldwide dissemination of TED’s “ideas worth spreading.” Big difference.

I admire Chris for his willingness to trade comfortably smug exclusivity for risky, less personal outreach. If it’s an idea worth sharing at TED, it’s an idea worth spreading. It’s Chris’s great gift to the world, putting his own comfort, his own resources of time, cash, energy, skill, and talent, in the service of this work. And to his further credit, he acknowledges that the TED community has agreed with this shift and is willing to help him by giving up their precious little club of insiders in order to offer the ideas and sense of community to all. To YOU.  You are inviTED. Are you interesTED?

Confession: Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling Eat Pray Love did not engender a desire to befriend the author. When I saw she would be presenting at TED, I thought it was the one talk I’d be willing to miss. Good thing I don’t always listen to myself.  Her talk was a true highlight, and you can see it for yourself because it’s already up on the TED website.

You should see it if you are a creative person. Gilbert’s talk underscores one of my big life lessons. For years, I’ve been telling my clients that they need not feel bad or beat themselves up if they can’t get it together to write that book, start that company, or produce whatever creative output they feel they “should.”  I’ve learned that ideas come to more than one person at a time, demanding life. If you can’t get the idea out there, don’t worry – it’s nagging someone else, too.  Somebody will do it. You’re not the only one the idea is pestering.

So the pressure’s off. If an idea’s time has come, the idea will find at least one, and possibly many, humans through which to be born. You don’t have to do it – you’re off the hook. (Don’t say you weren’t warned, though. How will you feel when you see “your” idea with someone else’s name on it?)

And the pressure’s off me, too. I don’t have to translate that entire pad full of TED notes for you. Ethan Zuckerman’s contemporaneous notes are already published. The TED Blog and other bloggers and Tweeters (Laurel Touby’s were among my faves – disclosure, I love her) did a fantastic job of sharing the experience live.

There is one thing all those others can’t do: be me. Same for you. So if you ever do get around to following through with that idea, the expression of it will be uniquely yours. What is the one step you can take to move it forward today?

As friends of Bill W. say, “Hi, Virginia.” I, too, am a TED addict. I’m going for my big fix next week. The rush is indescribable. You can get a contact high at www.ted.com. Like the usual dealer of addictive substances, TED gives you the first one free. Unlike other suppliers,TED Curator Chris Anderson and sponsor BMWlet you get high on their dime every time.Good ideas are not only worth spreading, they MUST be spread!

That was Bill W.’s idea, too.

I’m not a friend of Bill W. but Iam a friend of Bill G. Gates, that is. (OK, he doesn’t know I’m his friend, but I am.)

Today I received his first Annual Letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill knows the value of a viral idea. He writes:

“And as we execute our strategies, we need to share what we learn, because the biggest leverage is in getting many others to adopt best practices. Since we are in this for the long run, we need to develop credibility by the strength of our evidence, and by not claiming to know more than we do….In the areas we work in, we want to make sure the foundation is drawing other players in the best way we can. Given the business sector’s broad expertise and resources, we particularly need to get more of its innovation power focused on our issues.”

What idea do YOU have that’s worth sharing, worth spreading, worth getting others to adopt?