Tag: Writing

Commitment

by MAÔ, posted in Pathfinding

Much like I committed to a post a day on this blog, I’ve committed now to maintaining my morning pages for the duration of my new notebook. That should be a little over two months, if I’ve done my math right.

This last notebook I missed more days than I care to count. But when I started in November of 2015, I know that some miraculous things started to happen in my life. I’m curious to see what will come of it now.

And that’s what commitment can reveal. Stick to it, whether it’s new healthy habits, or creative endeavors, or just giving a little bit more – to family, at work, or wherever. You get out what you put in.

If you really commit to it, it seems you get more out than what you’re putting in.

Artistry

by MAÔ, posted in Social

So much of what we do has migrated to the digital experience that it’s easy to forget the artistry behind things. The iPhone, for instance, is a beautiful device. But it replaced many things in its prevalence – the wristwatch, the pen and pad, the GPS, maps, even the desktop computer.

Yes, there are pockets of usage. And I do see them growing in popularity – look at companies like Moleskine or Citizen. Everyday items, simplistic and elegant, and still in use.

Look at the items we consume, and those that we keep. What is it about them that makes them so useful, and special, to us?

Seeing those common threads give you an inkling as to what you might treasure in other things as well.

Finding inspiration

by MAÔ, posted in Art

Something I heard long ago was about a songwriter who would frequently hear tunes  while driving. Like, original tunes, only in the mind. And it was frustrating, because while driving it’s hard to write down music (this was before cell phones and inexpensive voice recorders, but you get the idea).

The moral was, train your inspiration to come when you’re ready for it. Not when it’s convenient for your muse.

Somewhere in Stephen King’s On Writing, or perhaps in one of the interviews he’s given about writing, he says that the way he writes is to start at the same time every morning, write the same number of hours, take the same breaks. His inspiration comes during that time.

Certainly he may get ideas while showering, or taking out the trash. Notebooks and recorders are handy in that way. But mostly he puts ideas to paper during that time when he’s set down to write.

Thankfully, we are never lacking in ideas. Good, bad, indifferent, we think things up every day. Many aren’t original. Some are. Of the original, many are terrible. Some aren’t.

As Seth Godin says, ““If you put enough bad ideas into the world, sooner or later your brain will wake up, and good ideas will come.”

I thought of this because as I was waking up two mornings ago, I heard a whole song. An original song. I got as much of it down as I could, as I was just waking up and fumbling with the recorder. I unfortunately haven’t trained my muse in the same way.

John McPhee on writing

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

I tend to think of myself as a bland storyteller. Maybe I like to explain things more than is needed. Maybe I add a lot of filler to the meat of the story. Maybe it’s just the way I process information as it happens, and thus it’s how it comes out.

So when I find a writer who has a similar syntax and rhythm in their writing, it stands out to me.

I was reading Draft No. 4, a book I purchased on recommendation, and in the first essay I noticed the familiar tone of my own voice. Now, McPhee is a treasure-trove of first-hand accounts, and his written vocabulary far exceeds my own. But the way in which he describes occurrences resonates with me – because of its similarity.

“In the late nineteen-sixties, I was working in rented space on Nassau Street up a flight of stairs and over Nathan Krasel, Optometrist. Across the street was the main library of Princeton University. Across the hall was the Swedish Massage.”

One wonderful thing about reading Progression, this first essay in Draft No. 4, is that I didn’t find it bland at all. And I suppose that I can take comfort in that.

Returning

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

The longer you wait to start something back up, the harder it can be to get it going. That’s been the case for my writing. Also some other things – yoga, reading, and decluttering, as examples.

Sometimes you get sidetracked. It happens. And it happens to everyone. No matter what the circumstance, or how long it’s been, just get back in there. Maybe you are out of the flow, and it takes longer to do what you had done before. Or you can’t do as much. But just try and get those muscles moving – those juices flowing. It feels good.

Will this be the push that gets me back in the swing? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the important thing is to try.

The High Cost of Education

by MAÔ, posted in Reading

(I started this post before doing a monthly reading list, of which I am tardy on this month. But I left this sitting in drafts. My goal over the next month is to complete every draft that I’ve started and get it published on the blog. What you’ll see is that I have a problem with spending money on books, I have a lack of space with which to house all of my books, and I have a lack of time with which to read all of my books. So, about the same as any other book-lover all over the world.)

I’ve paid for an education on credit. No, not the degrees that I’ve eared (though the debt I’ve accrued in earning those is substantial), but I specifically speak about my love of books, or bibliophilia. And what an education. I can’t help but peruse the stacks at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or the countless used bookstores that I frequent. The musty smell, a fragrance that only holds a hint of the words of thousands-upon-thousands of women and men, just waiting to be re-released into the world.


So I stack books on shelves, on top of each other, on the floor. I try and read as many as I can, though I usually only finish one per week, though if it’s particularly gripping I’ll get through it in a little less time. The point I’m making, though, is that I find it difficult to leave a bookstore without some acquisition (or two or three, etc). My collection on philosophy, metaphysics, logic and esoterica is growing just over the past year (2017 – I was contemplating enrolling in a PhD Philosophy program, but have set that on the back burner for now).

I keep one bookshelf in a room, just to store the current interests. I’ve got books from Karl Ove Knausgaard, Alan Watts, Neil Gaiman, and Joseph Campbell. There are books on writing, time management, chakras, meditation, and philosophy. An entire shelf is made up of journals and notebooks – some blank, some partially written in, and others full of my scribblings. And every day, multiple times, I find myself just looking at the book shelf.

It may be impossible to read through everything I’ve purchased, but as John Waters said, “Nothing is more important than an unread library.”

Back in the lower 48

by MAÔ, posted in Travel

After a wonderful trip up through Alaska and Canada, I am down south again. My intention was to maintain posting every day during the trip, but it became too difficult for me to maintain while I was traveling. But now I’m back, nearly over the jet lag, and ready to hit the ground running.

This week, I’ll be writing about what I read last month, the fourth and its significance for me, and of course, my travels.

Though I am glad to be stationary for a bit, I think Alaska will stay with me in a way like no other place has.

Deleted content

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

While updating some posts on my phone, I thumbpressed trash rather than update on a post. So everything I’d scribed was now lost. No big deal, as it’s only one post a was just a few paragraphs. But it is an annoyance.

One downside to the digital world is the likelihood of deletion of content. When you consider how hard it is to delete handwriting from notebooks, it certainly gives that column a plus. However, it’s much more difficult to disseminate notebooks than it is a blog.

Counterintuitive

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

The oddest little thing has come to my attention. When I was writing one or two blog posts a week, I always seemed to find excuses for not doing them. I was always too busy.

Now, with a daily post, I don’t seem to run out of things to say. I can knock out three or four every time I sit in front of the computer. Most are short. Some are longer, and may take me three-ten tries to tie them up. But I am able still to move through my thoughts in an easier, more-streamlined way.

It’s either the commitment (though I had committed to twice a week before, which I let slip), or it’s the routine, or it’s writing so often that I don’t worry about the quality of work as much. As long as it’s grammatically correct and (mostly) spellchecked, then I’m pretty happy with the result. Even if it’s a lot of nonsense, tomorrow is another day.

1 month

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

That’s it! One month of daily postings. I wasn’t sure that I would have the tenacity to maintain a writing schedule. But, knowing that I had to do one every day made it a little bit easier to write, just about every day.

A friend of mine is a writer, of fiction, screenplays, etc. He says that sometimes his wife will have dinner ready, and he’ll tell her just a minute so that he can finish his thought. But that becomes a paragraph, then a page, and by the time he joins her dinner has gotten cold.

She says she doesn’t mind, because that’s his dream and his work. She can wait for him to eat, and it doesn’t bother her that the food is a little cold. (She won’t eat till he joins her, which I think is incredibly sweet.)

But he says he has to write when he can, because sometimes other work gets in the way. But he commits to writing at least a little every day. Good, bad, doesn’t matter. As long as words get to the page.

Well, on to May!