The German poet Goethe apparently welcomed difficult times because he thought they brought out the best in his work. “My poetic ardour was always very faint as long as I was content,” he wrote. “But as soon as I was in deep trouble, fleeing from some danger, then my poetic ardour was always ablaze. Sweet poetry, like a rainbow, only shines forth against a background of darkness. That’s why poets always cultivate melancholy.” These days, you don’t need to be a poet, you don’t even need to cultivate melancholy. Instead, you can cultivate a blog: the “monstrous stove” we fuel with our own work so we can cut out the middleman. More...