Forced Boredom – A Great Idea
Awhile back, I would come home, smoke a cigarette, and promptly enter a useless state for three to four hours (I wouldn’t smoke the entire day while I was at work so the nicotine hit hard). Then I quit smoking, and all of a sudden, I noticed that I would come home, work out, read, write, and do stuff. Now, I am not 100% sure what was causing this slump (99% sure it was cigarettes), but I am glad it is over. The weird thing, I have a decent amount of time that I apparently have to fill with activities (average cigarette takes five minutes to smoke, I would smoke ten to twenty in a day, so I am saving fifty minutes a day).
As a single person, I end up not having much to do since I rather not watch TV or listen to Podcasts at home. Now, I have ceased the Podcasts at home, because I saw my mind being swallowed by their sermon. So I took action, and by slimming down on these forms of entertainment, I was able to let my mind wander and just be.
Then, to take it a step further, I created forced boredom time. This is a period in time where I lay on the couch, listen to one entire instrumental album (jazz, classical music, flamenco, or something weird like my Reed Album), and just think. Part of the reason for this forced state of boredom was to transition from work mode to personal work mode (writing). The other aspect of this methodology was to help me form coherent and personal thoughts on topics. Often, we become a regurgitation engine where we consume a piece of media, digest it partially, then vomit the concept back into the world – rarely changing the initial idea. My forced boredom time was a structure framework to avoid this hive mind outcome.
Yet, in one of my boredom periods, I realized it is impossible to divorce my own ideas from the various entities that helped produce them. The difference was my ability to take an idea, fully digest it, and turn it into something else (in this analogy that would be a turd… but they aren’t all turds). By focusing on the content and really thinking about it, I was able to isolate the concept and really hammer on it to validate that it was sturdy. These led to tweaks, modifications, and justifications. By not just listening, I had allowed myself the necessary time to strengthen the idea against the outside world. It also helped me reject straw men arguments and other logical fallacies. And all of this due diligence was the outcome of 45 minutes of pure uninhibited time to think.
Also, it led to some great writing ideas that I will need to act on as soon as I finish up this current round of editing.
In the end, please take some time each day and just think. Take anything and just mull on it. Trust me, it helps… here’s your first topic: Forced Boredom.
Read More30 Years – books, Books, BOOKS!
I grew up in the Chicagoland area but chose to live somewhere else. My reasons were simple, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss the area. So, I come up occasionally to see my family and friends. Sadly, I get nothing done when I’m here because there is always somewhere to go, someone to see, and something to buy. Add in the traffic, and the painting that should appear explains why I haven’t returned. This area is not conducive to writing. If I don’t write; I get disgruntled.
Why am I here and posting about Chicago and books when I am supposed to be working on Tesla’s Travels? It’s Printers Row Lit Fest (June 8th, June 9th), and I will be going with my editor and a few amazing friends to buy books. Yes, I love books and will be searching for: French authors, Japanese authors, and the Redwall Series (a friend and I are collecting then rereading the series for nostalgic purposes). If you have any author suggestions, shoot me an email! We will all be there on Sunday.
So, I will explain why I am looking for French and Japanese authors. Part of my writer training is to read entire traditions of literature. This was a growth exercise handed down from Dr. Niculescu during one of our lunches. It is simple, how can you write in a tradition of literature without experiencing that tradition. So, I began reading the classic authors in American literature (because I write in that tradition). However, he ended his exercise with a suggestion: read other traditions and you will be able to write in multiple forms.
That is the exercise, and I decided to absorb the Japanese and French traditions into my Being. French is simple, I can read anything (as in enjoy it) French, digest it and love it. For me, the story never matters in French writing, it’s their underlying philosophical currents that pull me down like a undertow. It may come as a surprise (not really if you read any of my manuscripts), but I study French philosophy more than German.
Then there is the Japanese tradition I will read. I am currently reading The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima. My reasons for reading this tradition are slightly different from the others. I want to get a world view, and books allow me to be transported to a different culture and different time period (Light in August just took me to Mississippi during the early 1930’s). Japanese authors, like any author, are writing about what they know and what is important to them. These differences are clear in the first chapter of The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Which means, I will soon be in Japan post WWII, and I am excited and scared!
If I am lucky, and my ideas about this festival are correct, then I am going to get some great books at amazing prices.
Oh, and while I was home I decided to print out Journey to God single spaced, click this post to see a picture.
Read MoreLiterary Game
One of my friends, a good friend, is also a writer. Neither of us share the same style or topics in our projects. Nonetheless, we embarked on a fun game that we designed over a skype session one day. Since he has moved from the area in order to get his Doctorate in Chemistry we only communicate over the phone or internet. Even with this limitation we created a game that challenged both of us to write in a pure form. I hope to share this exercise as I think it will benefit many people.
The Rules:
There are two stages: the first is topic creation and the second is the writing portion. Each one of the stages is 5 minutes. The first five minutes are used to create a topic for the other participant. The second five minutes is used to write a short story.
The Breakdown:
I choose a topic, in our last game I chose: “plants”. My friend chose: “Describe being on your porch drunk”.
He wrote about a person who was fed up with his neighbor and his unkept lawn. The confrontation led the neighbor to cut his grass but drove the lawn mower over gravel. This shot the gravel at the confrontational neighbors car and left dents and scratches. Moral of the story was be nice to your neighbors.
I wrote about being drunk on my porch from a third person standpoint. Describing the aftermath of a party.
On average our stories land between 50-200 words. I tried to break the 300 word barrier but was unable to, made it to 297.
The End Goal:
This isn’t an exercise in editing. Rather, it is a way to force yourself out of your comfort zone and work at an accelerated speed. After you complete the short piece you get the luxury of seeing where you did make mistakes. Perhaps you write the same word wrong multiple times. If that is the case you have made it visible. The second step is to correct the mistake.
For a real embarrassing factor we post these on Facebook for everyone to see.
Read More