Mindless Reporters Don’t Lie

Feeling frisky today. Woke up at 9:30pm (I gigged and stayed restless last night) and posted a 1,000-word article over at the songwriting website about curing writer’s block. I called it “Writer’s Block or Building Blocks?” Should you need one, it contains a loving, affectionate smack upside your head. ;)

In the editing end of that website I’ve got a calendar plug-in for Wordpress. It’s great for checking which topics I’ve posted about over a certain span of time. I like to strategize content somewhat.

Another great thing about the article calendar is that it doesn’t lie. I set out to write and post a quality article every day this past month. But I’ve only managed to post about once every two or three days. It’s good to have an objective reality-check.

One article per day.

Back to it.

Sunday Morning.

0600hrs. – I wrote all night. It was productive and satisfying, but I’d like to sleep soon. The sun is rising.

This afternoon I have a phone meeting, but after that I will take time to exercise, relax, and read. Maybe Dante’s Inferno. Then I’ll play piano for a while.

These little promises I make to myself are all that keep me going some days.

Goodnight.

Book Book Book Book Book Book Book

I'm writing a book. For now I'd like to keep the topic quiet, because the idea's still developing in its egg.

When I was younger, I always tried to write novels, usually without much direction. And though the results were anywhere from unintentionally hilarious to genuinely good, most remained incomplete. The idea of a book deal used to tantalize me, but that impetus alone was never enough to see me through the entire arc of a story.

It began with one day of inattention. That one day of slacking would extend into the next, and the next, until the days accumulated like snowfall, the story grew increasingly obscured and distant in my mind, and the project was finally frozen and buried.

This time is different.

I'm publishing the book myself--the moment it's finished, I can present it to the world. This is also the first time I've ever attempted a complete work of nonfiction.

Brain Candy

The topical research is shaking open these amazing clustered webs of ideas in my mind. The project involves taking in a vast, vast amount of information, making complex distinctions and connections between all of it, and then turning all that data into simple imperatives that I or anyone else can use to create amazing art.

The process: devour information, scribble outline on how to put that info to work, swallow more info, reflect on info, combine with all previous info, scribble outline on the synergy of the ideas, repeat from the beginning. After 2-4 hours this process alters the very timbre of my consciousness, and because every work session brings new insights and connections I’ve been struggling to make for my entire life, it all leaves me feeling somewhat dizzy and elated. I'm answering, confronting, and overcoming the problems that prevented me from ever finishing a novel.

In sum: I'm creating a system. The system itself is fun to work on. When it's built and fully functional, it'll serve as a lever that multiplies my strength and efforts, making me a far, far more productive, interesting, and efficient artist... and if  I succeed, it'll do the same for all its readers.

My Home is a Blank Notebook

Yesterday I spent the afternoon and most of the night cleaning and organizing. My home already looked okay, but now two of my three rooms look pristine.

The cleaner and neater my home gets, the more settled and ambitious I feel. I’ll look at the wide-open floor and think, “Hey, there’s enough space to run in place right here. I should run for a while today.” Or I’ll look up at the the bookshelf and a particular spine will light me up. “I should spend the afternoon reading that.” Or I pass by a spotless, totally clear desk, and think “I could sit down and work on the book for a while.”

My home now radiates that same feeling of possibility and promise that comes with any new notebook. I can work here. I can live here. I can do something great here.

And I can invite guests without reservation. Of all the pleasant side effects of an orderly home, the obvious one I didn’t foresee is that it keeps me in touch with society.

I’m unlikely to host any intense dinner parties in the near future, though. While tackling large, longer-term projects, I work best in solitude.

U.S. Marines Workout Plan

Great find in the book bin at the grocery store yesterday! It's a short, sweet distillation of the U.S. Marine physical conditioning process.

Author Martin Cohen writes clearly and succinctly. No unnecessary words. Beautiful. And he begins by describing the many benefits of the workout plan—this left me feeling excited and motivated enough to begin the program immediately

The book provides a system for figuring out how fit you are in each of four areas--so that you know whether you'll initially be doing push-offs against the wall, full-fledged pushups on the floor, or something in between. Likewise with lower-body exercise, chin-ups, and cardiorespiratory exercise.

Once you know how fit you are in each of those areas, you begin actually working out. This basically involves doing as many repetitions of each exercise as possible, until you're overloaded.

This program is a nice match for me also because I don't own any running shorts, shoes, or fancy equipment like that. The book requires only some surfaces at various heights--I ended up needing a sofa for my triceps, for example.

Now all I need to do is talk to my downstairs neighbors about a time of day when I can run in place in my living room without driving them nuts.

Minimalism and Great Solitude

My best creative environment is quiet and solitary.

It took me a long time to realize this, but I thrive on living and working spaces that are also visually quiet, without anything misplaced. I declared war on the stacks of useless accumulated consumer goods, and now everything in my home is either absolutely necessary or carefully chosen to be decorative but not distracting. I use the stereo to fill the air with ambient music or sound effects.

Lastly, and most deliciously, I write using a program called DarkRoom, which turns the entire screen black (or a color of your choice) and your words are the only thing visible on the screen. It’s beautiful.

Stacks and Stacks and Stacks

I’ve got a foot-tall stack of notebook pages on the shelf behind me. There’s another on the floor of the kitchen, and there are seven more in the next room.

All of these are just handwritten something-or-others. There’s fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, philosophy…

The humbling conclusion I came to last night is that I’m not going to use any of it.

All of that is behind me. It’s just experience to stand on so that I have the reach to move on to the next thing, the next idea.

Digging in

Writing a blog about songwriting has made me realize how much I love digging into a topic: researching, thinking, writing, writing some more, responding, debating, and building content.

It’s so satisfying to mastermind an enormous resource, one page at a time. Whenever I learn something, my readers have the potential to also. And whenever my more vocal readers spot something I’ve missed, I learn. And we are all better off for having gathered together.

A blog can be just a byproduct of a learning process. A blog is like a venue. What takes place within that venue is up to you: it can be like a café, a library, a bustling marketplace, or like two armchairs in front of a fire.

If you don’t have one, get one.

Tom Waits. Bill Gates.

No reason to go into detail about it, but today was mostly rotten. Tomorrow, that won’t matter.

I have amazing family. Amazing students. You all restore my faith. Daily.

…

…

…

I still can’t settle down. Time to go read about Bill Gates until whatever it is that drives me finally relaxes (or comes apart).

“A man must test his mettle

In the crooked old world” – Tom Waits