Author Archives: T.Z. Barry

How to Self-Edit Your Writing

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No piece of writing is done until you’ve edited it. I’ve mentioned before how I’m not a fan of editing. I find it the most tedious part of the writing process, but it needs to be done. You can’t expect others to read something full of typos and mistakes. But finding all your typos can be difficult because your brain naturally corrects mistakes in your head as you read, so you don’t even notice them. The best thing to do is hire a professional editor. But not everybody can afford to do that. (Especially for a blog post like this.) So I’ll share some tricks I’ve used to help self-edit my own writing. Continue reading

Social Anxiety in Movies: Her

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As a big fan of Spike Jonze‘s previous films, I was anticipating Her before its release in 2013, and I really enjoyed it when I first saw it in the theater. But upon rewatching Her, I realize it’s even better than I initially thought. The premise may sound preposterous and overly comedic: in the near future, a man falls in love with the operating system on his phone. However, while the film is funny at times, both it and the science behind “Samantha” are quite serious. Her is not some broad comedy about falling in love with “Siri.” It’s actually quite scientifically accurate as far as artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential. Something similar to this could actually happen. The film explores the future of AI technology and how it will affect humanity, particularly in the areas of loneliness and social anxiety. Continue reading

Idea Inception: Outlining and the Future of Writing

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My favorite part of writing might be outlining. Not actually creating a formal outline, but the moment I first hatch the idea and jot notes down. It’s more like free-writing. The ideas come to me rapidly, and I just try to get it all down as fast as I can. They come out of order: plot points, characters, action scenes, settings… My mind naturally sculpts the ideas into stories with three acts: a beginning, middle, and end. In a half-hour, I could have a page or two—and it may look like a mess—but it’ll contain the structure of an entire screenplay/novel. I can see the entire story in my head like a movie. My mind fills in the gaps between the scenes. It feels complete. I don’t even need to write it—other than to share it with other people. Continue reading

Best Music of 2017

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I’ve always loved listening to music but was never very good at playing instruments. I tried drums then guitar, but I always struggled with hand-eye coordination. I’d mess up, miss a note, or my timing would be off. It wasn’t until a year or two ago when I started messing around with the GarageBand app on my iPad that everything clicked into place. Continue reading

Top 10 Movies (At Least 10 Years Old) I Saw in 2017

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I did this list last year and may make it an annual tradition. It’s essentially a random and arbitrary list. These aren’t “the best” movies that are 10+ years old—just the ones I happened to watch this past year. My intent was to create a unique “best movies of year” list, though also, it can sometimes take ten years to accurately judge a film in a historical context. I’ve already seen most of the consensus top films from history, so this list consists of deeper cuts that I never saw or mainstream classics that I re-watched this past year. Continue reading

Best Nonfiction Books I Read in 2017

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I tend to consume most of my non-fiction content through podcasts, which I like because non-fiction authors are often guests, and they summarize their books in their own words in about an hour. That allows me to learn more in less time. Then when I hear an author or subject I am especially interested in, I can delve deeper by reading their full book. That was the case with many of the non-fiction books I read in 2017. Continue reading

Best Fiction Books I Read in 2017

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I often feel overwhelmed by the number of great books I want to read and my lack of time to do so. Even if all I did was read for the rest of my life and I lived to 100, I wouldn’t have enough time to read every book I’d like to. But as I wrote about here, we often fail to realize how much we actually get done. I catalog every book I read on Goodreads, so at the end of the year, I can look back and be surprised at just how many books I read. The total was 115 this year, including novels, non-fiction, comics, and audiobooks. I already went through my favorite comic books. Next up are my favorite fiction books I read in 2017. Continue reading

Best Comic Books I Read in 2017

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I wasn’t a big comic book reader when I was a kid, but in recent years, I have become a huge fan of the medium. I love both movies and novels, but in many ways, comics take the best of both worlds, combining the visual images of film with the textual dialogue of novels. When you think about it, comics are one of the oldest and purest forms of storytelling, dating back to cave paintings. I’d like to write a graphic novel of my own, if only I could draw better. Continue reading

Why Does Everybody Have More Free Time Than Me?

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There are so many stories I want to write, books I want to read, movies, TV shows, and documentaries I want to watch, video games I want to play, music and podcasts I want to listen to, and places I want to go. I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to. But when I look around, everybody else seems to be having no problem finding the time to do it all. Which drives me crazy. Why does everybody have so much more free time than me? Continue reading