...to the man or woman who can create a reliable cure for writers block. Also, burn out - which I'm starting to feel like this might actually be. I was able to squeeze out a page of treatment on Saturday but otherwise I have been amazed at how flattened my writing ability has been since early last Friday. It's maddening beyond belief! I've tried turning to every technique I've ever used...
- Reading work that I really admire.
- Listening to music which would be an appropriate soundtrack to what I'm trying to write.
- Taking a walk (preferably through a picturesque setting)
- Having a conversation (more jokes the better, lord knows why)
- Transcribing my pen & paper notes in the hopes that when I reach the end of the transcription, then I'll just keep on going into the realm of new content.
- Praying to the little, improvised idol of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. which I've assembled from common household cleaning items.
And even a new piece of armament in the war on unproductiveness, drawing. Good gravy but I can at least take some solace in having drawn a good deal more. I feel like I've nailed some basic reference designs for Clive and Charlotte, while I'll have to have another go with Devon. I've also been figuring out details in The Gimp and messing about with my photographic backgrounds. I'm beginning to consider taking a note from John Allisons partially tongue-in-cheek guide to doing webcomics - tracing the photographs instead of using them straight. This is because I know I will not often have access to interiors which suit what I want, not to mention possible entanglements pertaining to legal permission. Thus I might get a bit of a clash, having photographic exteriors and drawn interiors. I'm sure readers would be bright enough to "get it" but I don't think I have the artistic chops to get away with intentionally inserting an element which will jar people from their standard reading patterns. Overall, my temptation is to try and get fancy as possible, but I know that I will ideally want to get something looking decent enough that I can reliably put out two or three times a week.
Having bought my first printer/scanner (the previous ones being hand-me downs) I discovered a scam that apparently has been going for some time - they sell the damn things without a USB cable to connect it to your computer! (FIRST WORLD PROB...) Luckily good ol' paw has sent one along with some of my shirts and so I hope to be scanning and uploading some of these artistic efforts for perusal (and perhaps pointing and jeering? Go on, I won't hold it against you) on Friday-ish.
Tangent Status: Engaged
Also, okay maybe I tried every unblocking trick but one: becoming infatuated with one of them females you read about in the scientific journals. Mind your ego there, wimminz, but it's true! For whatever reason, you can in fact inspire writing (and not just of the romantical, whimsical variety which results in embarrassing poetry scrawled along the underside of a daydream).
Meanwhile, I was pleased to see that somebody in a position of authority remembered that men get to have some say when it comes to the creation of children - not to mention that modern fertility techniques should perhaps not be used to provide an endless supply of second chances, particularly in a world burdened by overpopulation that is only getting worse.
Tangent Status: Disengaged
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7 comments:
My cure for writers block is to drink amber or black rum until I can't not write. Gin also works nicely. I have finished many a paper listing to port.
I've always cured burn out by taking a break to do something completely different. I took up cooking things in part to serve as a break from writing. Find something engaging that has nothing to do with the creative literary process.
...let me guess. You're a Paul Ehrlich fan? The population bomb? *sigh*
I actually wrote a good chunk of my soon-to-be thesis on this... Put simply, the issue isn't really overpopulation, it's overconsumption. And, to make matters just that much worse, it's not the populations with high growth rates that are consuming the most, or even close to the most.
There's a lot to be critical of in that article (is she just plain crazy?- I think so), but overpopulation really just doesn't (or shouldn't) factor in.
Haha, I considered getting a bottle of Magnors but - frankly - I also find writers block depressing and didn't think alcohol would help with the latter? Though, in the past, I have tried to write the Hemingway and found that it leads to very long, poorly spelt tales of the "Aircraft Carrier Delight" variety.
As for the burn out, that is definitely where the drawing has helped - but I've also been just spending lengths of time not trying to attend to one task or another. It ocurred to me that every waking moment for weeks (months?) now, I've been of the mindset that if I'm not doing something (i.e. writing, attending to chores etc etc) then I am wasting my life. Suffice to say, this is a bit hard on oneself and DRAINING. Today I finally feel rested and will take another crack at some script on the train today...
Kate: Actually I can't say as I've read Paul Ehrlich - I just think we have way too many damn people! This isn't mysanthropy (entirely...) but the ol' environment thing. I totally appreciate that we are definitely in a situation where the few have and consume much more than the many - but the many (re: China and India, for starters) are busily gearing up to emulate the few! Hence the new coal power plant ever ten minutes or whatever alarming figure it is (just woke up, sorry for the vague rhetoric in place of researched fact).
My point is: Everybody stinks, so we need less of us. FACT.
This is in no way an academic essay, FACT.
As for the article, yeah it realllly caught my eye. I appreciate that women (generally) have a stronger biological drive to procreate than men - but I just couldn't must one iota of sympathy for that lady. I mostly got a huge kick out of the judge saying to her that maybe she should accept a)that her former husband has a say in where his genetic material goes and b)sometimes relationships go awry! SOMETIMES YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT. Christ, now THERE is a first world problem!
Wouldn't it be better to get people to consume less than try to regulate reproduction- which is exactly what population control tries to do? Interestingly, both India and China have very advanced population control programs.
High populations are generally a sign of insecurity- an insurance policy in places where they don't, frankly, have a welfare state. As security (financial, food, etc.) goes up, population growth rates tend to drop. Right now, 22% of the world's population (yup, that's us!) consume 70% of the world's resources. Somehow, blaming population growth for the environmental problems is putting on the onus on by far the wrong people.
No doubt! It would be very unfair of me to simply have a go at those countries - it's just that I'm having a go at them in addition to us and our lot. Now that I'm not wiping sleep from my eyes (why didn't I wait until later to reply? ah well...) I can perhaps explain my position better.
I think that absolutely all nations need to breed and consume less. Thus, knowing that people tend to side with the non first world nations against the first in these issues...I would like it if people stopped trying to frame it in a good vs bad manner.
Yeah sure, over history some cultures came out better than others in the big old game of Power and Business. But climate change is such a big, all-encompassing problem that I think it is more important try and keep the whole species in check rather then to single out any one group. Thus I am just as happy to try and do my part in convincing Western civilization to consume less as I am to do my bit to discourage excessive breeding in, well, all countries!
But it depends how you define "excessive breeding".
Thanks to their (coercive) population control programs, China is already below replacement level fertility, and India is almost there.
In countries with low levels of security, what's excessive? Children are essentially a survival strategy. If you need to have 6 kids to have a reasonable shot of one surviving to adulthood, then you're going to have lots of kids.
Besides which, in countries with low levels of security there are also generally also low levels of consumption (it's hard to consume much when you don't have much) Therefore, by the time boys in most developing countries are FIFTEEN, their total production up to that point has exceeded their entire lifetime consumption.
Population can't just be boiled down to a simple equation of "More people equals Fewer Resources"
Both of you make good points! It is alarming and depressing that no matter what the problem is, we're the worst. Nations like the U.S. and England face overpopulation concerns. Canada doesn't, but it will thanks to the logic of current trends. And we are all sucking the life out of anyone we can grope at. That is simply my opinion, of course.
On another note:
"Oliver Brackenbury
1982-20XX
'SOMETIMES YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT'"
Finally, I am in complete agreement with the judge's verdict in that particular case. This is different from, say, abortion - where the woman has to be given the final verdict because it just makes sense. Although, a reasonable person will still respect and listen to the male's opinion as well...
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