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10 votes
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The Proverbial Pen #2
Thanks a lot for the responses yesterday. I'm glad to be on Tildes, this seems to be a very vibrant and happy community unlike many others! Today is the second post in a series (hopefully) of...
Thanks a lot for the responses yesterday. I'm glad to be on Tildes, this seems to be a very vibrant and happy community unlike many others! Today is the second post in a series (hopefully) of writing exercises to get rid of my writer's block.
Today is the second day of my battle against Writer's Block. A very basic question I want to ask is what exactly is writing inspiration and where does it come from? If it comes from within you (as many claim) then why doesn't it always keep flowing like a river, why is it so scarce a resource? The mechanisms of subconscious mind are probably too complex for even the mind itself to work out!
What I've found though is that it's much easier to do freehand writing or writing nothing in particular (as I'm doing now) but it gets a bit tricky when you want to write about something specific like an article or research paper or a book. That's when you must start worrying about the content quality, research material, story background, plot, etc. But even freehand writing is a great exercise I think to flex your writing muscles at frequent intervals and ensure that they stay in order.
Of course, other antagonists like lethargy, procrastination, impostor syndrome, self censoring, etc. are always waiting in their closets to jump out and play their part in the battle! These are like natural foes. Whatever you do about them, they'll always lurk back in some form or other given the right environment! Especially in 2022 when oodles of great literature already exist on any given topic, the pressure to perform on a writer is tremendous. Wiser, smarter and more intelligent people than me already seem to have written whatever there is to write about literature, mathematics, computer science, physical sciences, social sciences, etc., what exactly is there left for me to write anyways? So the impostor wonders aloud!
When all else fails, the pundits ask you to "write about yourself" or "write about your own experiences". That's easy to say actually but my own life has been so mundane and ordinary (just like most other people's, I suppose) that there is hardly anything inspiring or worthwhile to get out of that. They say "open yourself up" but what if there is nothing inside but just a hollow and empty shell when you open up? My life has been one of the most "typical" or "average" as I'd put it whereas writing is supposed to be creative and extra ordinary.
Another obvious source of writing is reading. They say the more you read, a better writer you'll become as you'll keep adding to the raw material to pick from. I have a good collection of books and I used to read a lot many years ago, an activity which has reduced a lot lately due to work and other factors. Just like writer's block, I also seem to have gotten myself a "reader's block" if there is such a thing!
As I keep battling with the proverbial pen day after day, I hope something good will come out of it and I might become a better writer than I presently am. Today is just the second day, I just hope I'll be able to keep up with this pace and write daily. Please wish me luck! Thanks for reading.
5 votes -
Moving your focus from thoughts to actions for a more fulfilling life
6 votes -
Regarding the future: An open letter to the people I care about
13 votes -
AI and ethical licensing
9 votes -
Remix of Madeon's Love You Back
8 votes -
Noise Job – Sunken (2022)
9 votes -
Lana del Rey - Summertime Sadness (Remix)
9 votes -
Sir Curse - Glad I Woke Up (2022)
7 votes -
Tears - Clean Bandit (Remix) (2022)
4 votes -
Scriptless
18 votes -
Shooting with a 1936's Zeiss Ikonta camera
Recently I got for free an old Zeiss Super Ikonta 531/2, it's a medium format foldable camera from 1936. It was in decent shape but the lens was very foggy. Fungi can grow on lenses but I think it...
Recently I got for free an old Zeiss Super Ikonta 531/2, it's a medium format foldable camera from 1936. It was in decent shape but the lens was very foggy. Fungi can grow on lenses but I think it was just general dirt. Opening it was a bit tricky (I had to get watching-making tools, because the screws are very tiny) but I managed to clean the lenses quite well. I shot a first roll but the focus was off, so I had to make sure the front lens element was at the right distance, using some semi-transparent tape on the back of the camera to see the image.
Then I shot a second roll and developed it myself, which was also a first (it's not super hard though), I had no idea if the images would come out good, or even at all (wasn't even sure I loaded the developing tank correctly). Seeing the images come out of the tank for the first time is quite magical, and they came out great (some of them at least...) :
Even with my crappy development & scanning I can get high-res images that compete with my expensive digital camera. The lens (Tessar 105mm, f3.8) is quite sharp wide open (statue shot) and I even took a long exposure shot at night using a release cable. The process is very slow and focusing is hard, but it's quite fun and rewarding. These kind of cameras are very cheap but the rest (film, accessories, development, repairs, ...) not so much.
5 votes -
How to organize your research for blog posts: A comprehensive guide
7 votes -
How to generate a never ending supply of blog posts
3 votes -
"Free will" is an illusion: Your life runs on a pre-destined trajectory
5 votes -
Frugal living 101: Huge list of ways to curb your home expenses during COVID times
8 votes -
Reviewing the introduction to FE7x: Immortal Sword
3 votes -
CentOS Linux 8 is about to die. What do you do next?
19 votes -
Log4Shell: We are in so much trouble
21 votes -
But why that VPN? How WireGuard made it into Linux
8 votes -
Open-source Vizio lawsuit takes an ugly turn
15 votes -
Grades as communication
21 votes -
Omicron: Here we go again
5 votes -
Rust takes a major step forward as Linux's second official language
19 votes -
Red Hat's CentOS Stream 9 Linux arrive
2 votes -
AWS embraces Fedora Linux for its cloud-based Amazon Linux
5 votes -
COVID-19 myths
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Good blessings
4 votes -
Leeks, tropicalizers, and cutting the soap: A guide to global startup slang
1 vote -
Hobby update: I had my first live show!
20 votes -
Florida carpenter ant
11 votes -
An Ode to Undies
T'was picking fruit down under, where I learned the truth of underwear Davenport made the best boxer costed more but last forever At first my junk was hanging loose no more briefs snuggling like a...
T'was picking fruit down under, where
I learned the truth of underwear
Davenport made the best boxer
costed more but last foreverAt first my junk was hanging loose
no more briefs snuggling like a noose
but soon I loved it hanging free
it's quicker when you have to peeDecade later holes not in sight
Bought some more in case they might
Thought they'd be with me till the end
Thirty years they've been my friendNow I'm down to last seven pair
Out of business they went I fear
Brought down low by cheap knock offs
Where oh where is my Undie Guru now?12 votes -
How to get a near perfect shave in less than ₹5
5 votes -
Art Fight 2021: A whole lotta art
9 votes -
My brand new Aphaenogaster picea queen! I can’t wait for her to start a colony!
25 votes -
I sang her name in words forgotten
I sang her name in words forgotten Rough bellows of lost yearning A hurt hound without path A sorrow meaning without an end I heard the rain, heard the ocean Lick the sand without defect The...
I sang her name in words forgotten
Rough bellows of lost yearning
A hurt hound without path
A sorrow meaning without an endI heard the rain, heard the ocean
Lick the sand without defect
The water, where it falls
Is always beautiful all the sameI saw, my God, that you made her
Carefully crooked, imperfect
And inside her deep mournful eyes
The tears that I could never shed9 votes -
I just released a new single with Vacant Sundays!
15 votes -
HIs Dark Materials (metal version) (2021)
4 votes -
Revisiting old art: a character redraw
8 votes -
Sea lions
10 votes -
The first single by my band is out now! Noise Job - Medication
14 votes -
I just directed my first short film! Introducing Noise Job
22 votes -
What companies get wrong about remote salaries
5 votes -
Finally got my Zorki 4k shots developed
11 votes -
Why Robinhood disabled buys but not sells
16 votes -
The hedge fund Citadel does not buy Robinhood data, Citadel Securities is a different company, and other misconceptions
15 votes -
US President Joe Biden's FCC appointment is a big step toward net neutrality's return
10 votes -
Twitter should immediately and permanently ban Trump
16 votes -
What is art?
9 votes -
Internet 2021: Here's what the new year will (and won't) bring
5 votes