BLOCK PARTY
Lately I’ve been having writer’s block. To be more accurate, it’s not a block, it’s more of an insecurity about what I have written. (2 or 3 posts by now, and you haven’t seen any of them.) The ideas I have are all floating around without structure, substance, or conclusion. It’s very disappointing. They are ideas like; Well, in Switzerland, it was the farmers who began constructing watches, in the winter, when the fields were fallow- or; Here are some ways not to get a date- or; I sure do like This American Life. But none of those ideas are interesting on their own. In fact, they are not ideas at all. They are just starting points. The real ideas happen when those jump-offs are substantiated by the real ideas. The real ideas are what I’m having a hard time articulating.
December 17th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
It’s cool.
I fall victim to this quite a lot. I think it is one of the manifestations of the Ideal of the Artist.
This one specifically being “Real Artists are constantly generating new material - ideas ceaselessly fall forth from the Creative Mind from which The Artist freely picks and chooses”, etc., etc.
And, speaking for myself, it is pretty shocking how dedicated i am to these ideals which are not my own when i feel so ‘liberated’ from other similar things. It can be deceptive…
So, my advice to you and myself is to let it be okay to not be a factory of ideas. You have had many and you will have many more. There’s no rush.
Also, remember you are not alone: There is a community of ideas which you are a very active, generous, diligent member of.
Sometimes, all it takes is asking.
And you have, so here goes…
December 21st, 2005 at 12:42 am
Maybe I wasn’t even very articulate about not being articulate. I think my current problem has more to do with being intimidated about writing than about the ideas themselves. Really, I think even boring things can be very interesting if you relate them to other commonplace things in an engaging way. I’ve just been having a bit of trouble hurtling over my fear of sounding unfocused and banal. (secretly, because of writing on my new blog, which for some reason feels higher pressure than just writing my ideas on friendster. I mean, friendster, that’s like, no expectations, right?) But basically, my intent in writing that last entry was to just choke up SOMETHING and then move on to some real ideas again. I mean, aren’t you just dying to know some ways not to get a date?
December 23rd, 2005 at 11:10 pm
Not that I need any more advice on the subject, but YES, YES, YES.