I haven’t been writing quite as much as I’d like to lately and have been considering how I approach the whole thing.
Instead of talking about what I’m thinking in the moment (pretty fleeting), I’m ……
This is exactly the point where I’ll go “I’m planning on …” : I do not wish like doing that anymore. Talking about my momentary plans for a while has been quite the distraction that I occasionally enjoy.
Do note that this is an old post (from my last archived blog) that I’m refactoring : more on that here
I, hitherto, have been reading books as a single unit of intellectual conveyance. However, that strategy doesn’t work for all the works. Some authors have their writings crisply intertwined with their other writings.
Approaching a single book as a part of a larger intellectual conveyance is more efficient in the longer term if one intends to read all the work of a particular author. Consequently, grouping these reads together has also been somewhat interesting lately.
I’d managed to produce some fairly original essays on my last blog and I’ll soon be incorporating them into posts here. I had a habit of writing in streams in the main blog itself and there is a lot of insight stored in the chronology of some such logs.
The old blog is archived in the repository here and I could benefit from repurposing old works into the present setup.
I’ll mainly be focusing on editing the fluff out, finding what good stylistic knacks I’ve accumulated over the years, and rejecting the questionable habits that don’t serve me so well.
Books play a pivotal role in the life of any aspiring and existing intellectual. I began reading diversely and seriously when I was 19 and immediately regretted not starting sooner.
Reading sets you up for an involved existence. If you read vastly, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
Over the span of 3 years (2019 - 2022), I read around a 100 books ranging from the classics, biographies, auto-biographies, physics, computer science, anthropology, data science, etymology, theology, game theory, mathematics, history, how-to-books, nutrition, physiology , fitness, health, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, business (okay, don’t judge - we all do this), economics, writing, self help (guilty as charged), spirituality, humor (guides to being funny and similar stuff), young adult (only 1 - please don’t chastise me - I could not handle the cringe), philosophy (a lot - please don’t chastise me) and meta books (speed reading, how to consume books, taking notes, etc).
If you wish to be a writer, write. Epictetus
I took up writing as a hobby in the sophomore year of my bachelors and it turned out to be the most definitive step towards bettering my way with words and expressing myself accurately.
This is the fourth major iteration on my blogging system and I’ve noticed that I’m slowly tending towards minimalism and an overall clutter-free approach with each step, building up from my past stylistic mistakes and experiences. As with any beginner, I began with enthusiasm and held my ideas in high regard - a major reason for why I felt they should be out there. Over time, as I read more, I learned I had a lot more to learn and finally after a long break of writing frequently, here I am again, at symbolic ground zero - drafting a first post.
