I remember reading somewhere that when you keep using your brain for something it creates channels or pathways in your brain that make you better at that activity. I would like to be a better writer so I am going to try to just keep writing and getting myself used to thinking of words and stringing them together to form a thought or communicate feelings and ideas. This is my first attempt. Practice.
I'm trying to just keep writing even though I have nothing to say because I think it is good for me. It's not even that I would necessarily like to be a writer or do any writing whatsoever for the rest of my life, but I see other people who can express themselves through painting or drawing or writing music and I am not really very creative in those ways. I think I am a good writer but I just don't have things to say that I can put into words.
I have always thought of myself as a creative type and I am starting to come to terms with the fact that I am (and probably always have been) more of an academic. I always tell myself I'm musically inclined and bad at math, but I have an inkling that I am quite good at math and not that musically inclined either.
I wish I had more to say right now. I would like to give myself a word or page count that I should try to reach but unfortunately blogspot does not tell you how many words or letters you have typed. I should also stop using the word "you" in my writing because it's not really correct or proper. I should also stop using the words "really" and "very" because they don't sound good either. I should also stop using "good" and "interesting" and their ilk because those are not really good or very interesting words.
I actually really like words and I feel like I have a big vocabulary but I am not used to using bigger or more creative words in context, or ever. I try to use different words when I speak, mix it up a bit, I tend to say things like "excellent" or "superb" or "delightful," but even those have become a bit commonplace in my vocabulary. Maybe I should learn a word every day and make it a rule that I must use that word at least once in the day, in proper context.
Today's word of the day on dictionary.com is:
frabjous
wonderful, elegant, superb, or delicious.
This is an incredibly satisfying word. Not only because it is from the Jabberwocky (trust me, it is), but because "wonderful" and "superb" (as already mentioned) are words for which I am constantly trying to find a synonym.
Damn I wish I had a word count.
I feel that this blog is going nowhere. None of my posts have any meaning, nor are they of any interest to anybody. They aren't even entertaining for those who might care to read.
Also, I have managed to accomplish exactly zero percent of my work today. Well, not zero, I did decide to skip the prologue in this book I have to read, and I read the first page after that, that's gotta count for something.
People always say "write what you know," right? Yeah, but all I know is ME, and film people will always tell you never to write about yourself. Draw from personal experience, they say, but everybody can tell when you write about yourself, and it's narcissistic and indulgent unless you are actually somebody people know or care about. (I am neither of these.)
Bottom line: I've got nothing to say.
That is all.
CURRENTLY READING: Doing Documentary Work by Robert Coles
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Ask Me Anything by The Strokes (First Impressions of Earth)
CURRENTLY WATCHING: Pink Flamingos (1972, dir. John Waters)
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I wrote a reply but it won't let me post it because it's too long! Aaaaaaah!
ReplyDeleteOh wait I can split it up.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was a kid I was watching a TV show (I want to say Magic Schoolbus but I'm not sure) where there are a group of kids and one of them is like "I had something to say but I forgot!" and it's really bothering him and then a girl is like "don't think about it and it will come to you." And then after a few minutes of not thinking about it he is like "I remembered what I wanted to say. It's gonna rain!" And then it started raining.
ReplyDeleteI think creativity is like trying to remember something. So like instead of sitting down to write something, just go out and do ordinary people things that are fun and let it be and I know you'll get a random inspiration like "yo elephants are the dopessst animals everrrr they got like trunks and shit i gotta blog about this!" (that's how I hear things in my head, it might sound different in yours but you get the idea). And that's a start.
I think everybody has creative sparks but success is a matter of recognizing them and then realizing them. So like one person might hear awesome music in their head but not thing anything of it and then they forget about it. They lose. And then another person might hear awesome music in their head and be like "this music is amaaaaaazing i gotta record this but shit i don't know how to do that" and that's that. They lose too. But then somebody hears the music in their head and has the ability to write it down or record it. And that's how all art works.
The thing about writing is there is a smaller gap between the idea stage and the execution stage, and probably a lot of people would disagree with me here but anybody can do it. So if you enjoy writing and you feel like you have nothing to write about my advice is to make pasta and sing and dance or play chess or whatever you like to do because that's what gets things going. I'm one of those people that likes to spend half my day on the computer but when I do that I get depressed and braindead.
I forgot what my point was but I think what I'm trying to say is that you do have stuff to say, you just don't know how to recognize it. Until then, consider yourself a little bit lucky because most people I encounter have waaaaay too much to say and none of it is interesting and I hate those people. I'm aware that it is ironic that I'm saying that, but I believe what I have to say is interesting to the people who care because I flat out refuse to talk about the boring things in life.
I wasn't planning on writing this much, I was just going to say how a few years ago you taught me the word "defenestration" which is a dope word though I've never used the word in real life, except when discussing the word. What's great about the word is that you know it must have been a serious issue at one point in history, otherwise nobody would have come up with it. Which is funny because you don't hear of too many people being thrown out of windows these days but perhaps it was a serious epidemic at the time. I can imagine an entire city living in fear of the "Defenestration Killer."
ReplyDeleteI love the word "wonderful" and I probably use it more than any other word when describing my favorite things. I find it works best when said in a soft, quiet voice.
By the way, last weekend I saw the movie Easy A and it was, surprisingly, wonderful! I was laughing way harder than everybody else in the theater and I don't know if that entices you or turns you off from it but I think you would like it.
Learning new words is cool but I prefer making new ones up. Not necessarily new words but new phrases too. I think it's because I look up to rappers and they do it all the time, but it also has a sort of make-your-own-reality appeal to it. Also, there aren't a lot of visionary word-makers out there so it's a good skill to have.
Anyhow, I'll wrap this up with the first thing that came to mind after reading your post. I found it funny that an exercise in an attempt to create new pathways ends with you watching Pink Flamingos. I kind feel like that movie took my virginity (but not in a good way). It left me in that headache/braindead/depressed state lol but the world don't move to the beat of just one drum so that's ok!