Category Archives: Writing

Audiobooks vs. Reading

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I love listening to podcasts, but for some reason I never got into audiobooks. I couldn’t quite connect with a novel by listening to it in the same way I did by reading it. Which I found odd. Oral storytelling is evolutionarily ingrained in humans, dating back to when our prehistoric ancestors told stories around the campfire. Therefore, audiobooks should be more natural than reading. Which explains why I prefer listening to podcasts over reading transcripts or articles. However, I still prefer reading books over audiobooks. Why the apparent discrepancy? Continue reading

The Allure of the Reclusive Author

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I wish I could be like J.D. Salinger or Thomas Pynchon, a famous author who stays completely out of the public eye. No interviews. No social media. No website. Retain an air of mystery about myself. Build a mystique. It’s an alluring idea, but I’m not sure if it’s possible anymore to be both a famous author and a recluse. Continue reading

Why I Hate Rewriting

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They say writing is rewriting. Well, I love writing, but I hate rewriting.

The first draft is my favorite part of the process. While it’s often difficult, I enjoy the challenge because it’s pure creativity. Rewriting and editing, on the other hand, feels like drudgery. I know it’s important and makes the work better, but I just want to get it over with and move on to the next project and write something new. Continue reading

Can Robots Create Art?

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I was thinking about the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and how robots and automation will take over most if not all human jobs. But what about mine? The fiction writer. Or any other kind of artist: painter, musician, actor, etc… Will robots replace humans in creating art? Continue reading

How to Get Ideas

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A common question that writers are asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?” Most writers seem to hate the question because they have no clear answer. I can understand that. Sometimes an idea just comes to me, and I’m not quite sure where it came from. But other times, I can trace the source of the idea. I’ll see a great movie or read a great book and get inspired to write something as good. Or I’ll see a bad movie or read a poor book and get inspired to write something better. Or I’ll take one small nugget from a fictional story, or from real life, and expand upon it. But there’s more to it than that. Thinking of ideas requires…well…thinking. Literally devoting time to daydreaming and brainstorming ideas. Continue reading

Antidepressants on Writing and Creativity

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From what I’ve learned, social anxiety comes from overthinking, particularly false negative thoughts. Thoughts about yourself and thoughts about what others are thinking about you. And from what I’ve learned from taking antidepressants, they stop your social anxiety thoughts by essentially stopping you from thinking altogether. So in a sense, antidepressants do work. They help stop you from thinking the negative thoughts that cause social anxiety. But at the same time, antidepressants also stop you from thinking positive thoughts. And creative thoughts. Continue reading

Podcasts Taught Me Everything I Know

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I love podcasts. I’ve learned more from free podcasts than I did from a $200,000 college education. There’s a podcast for literally every topic under the sun. Actually, there’s about twelve for every topic under the sun. A podcast can be broad or extremely specific. It’s basically radio on-demand. You listen to exactly what you want, exactly when you want to. And it’s completely free–except for the Audible and Stamps.com commercials that sponsor just about every podcast, though you can skip over them, anyway. While there are some podcasts I listen to for pure entertainment value, I listen to many more podcasts to learn. Continue reading

New Year, New Direction

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One of the most common pieces of writing advice is to write what you know. That idea can be misconstrued if taken too literally, (you don’t have to be an astronaut to write about space) but it’s generally good advice. However, sometimes simply writing what you know is not enough to stand out in today’s world of mass media with millions of books and blogs and Youtube videos. Continue reading