I’ve only planted a few seeds here. I had a fleeting surge of ideas for this essay, but I didn’t commit them to the page soon enough. I plan to return here to water and prune from time to time.
On writing
- Planted:
- Last watered:
I started writing somewhat regularly about ten years ago. Writing has been and is many things for me.
On communicating
I don’t know if “communicating” is the right label for what I mean here. In any case, this is among the most important ways writing impacts me now, which I didn’t see coming.
Writing is helping me mend family trauma and conflict. I can often communicate by writing in ways that I literally can’t by talking. Sometimes the receiver isn’t ready or capable of listening, or I can’t stitch together the words just right. But in writing, I can rewrite, rearrange, reconsider, reorder, etc. And I can leave the words there for whenever the receiver is ready to absorb them.
On having your antenna up
One reason I’m interested in taking on writing projects—whether a book or a longform nonfiction piece—is that it brings the world to life. I learn about things that otherwise wouldn’t interest me. Like, researching the geopolitics of internet domains makes me a whole lot more interested in tiny islands and wars happening across the world. Compounding that sort of intellectual digging over decades would really satisfy me, I think. I’d learn a lot about the world. It’s that antenna-up phenomenon I described, riffing on James Somers’s “More people should write.” In 2009, when my brother was 16 and I was 12, an observant friend of ours noted that we’re both observant. Being a writer gives you a reason to be observant. And that makes you more observant.
On emulation
About ten years ago I noticed myself naturally emulating whoever I was reading in my daily writing practice. It was most obvious with David Foster Wallace, where I’d find myself using make-it-up-as-you go hyphenated adjectives, custom abbreviations, and long, winding sentences.
At first I did this accidentally, then I started doing it on purpose as a sort of creative writing practice. Emulate your favorite writers to close the gap between your taste and your ability. Maggie Appleton led a writing club do make this approach explicit: The Echo & Narcissus Writing Club. I love that gathering structure and may try reprising that writers' club (I just discovered it, so I missed that first one by four years).
On being an individual
Arguably, what it takes to be an individual...
On thinking
...