Man that ayyyyy lmao meme is exactly what I’ve needed. Understanding things conceptually is good and all, but the image of the whirlpool and the hydra make it easier for me to remember I hang out around that hydra too much and my life could use more whirlpool :)
I can't tell you how reassuring it is to see a writer you admire and enjoy grappling with familiar problems. It's a celebration of the half-baked, and I can't wait to read these as they come into fruition
My list of essays and pieces that I want to write is SO LONG. It’s not so much that I’m putting them off, it’s that I’m focused on finishing the book of memoir now more than ever, and so all of these other things are sitting in the stew pot, stewing, cooking, bubbling away. I know some of them will get overcooked, some won’t be worth eating—and many will still be there for me when I come back to them. It’s frustrating, it’s tempting, it crowds my mind, but it’s also reassuring, exciting, and gratifying to feel so many ideas swirling around. I know that I don’t have any shortage of things that I want to write about.
Thanks for writing this. Just discovered your Stack and subscribed.
My memoir in progress and quite a few essays as well ⬇️
Love it! Just finished Tiago’s book last night, and this post feels right in line with some of the advice in there. Make *something* and share it as early as possible. Looking forward to seeing these essays materialize (in whatever form).
Just read this since you emailed your book buyers about writing essays again and woosh, gotta say I felt a rush reading your ideas here. There are plenty in that list that I know I would savour reading, so I hope you'll fight the resistance, poke around these reified spaghetti monsters, and publish them essays.
Also, I share a similar anguish about what to write (so many!) but I feel like I'm still a step or two behind your level of reasoning and breadth and depth of knowledge. Nevertheless, I'm publishing a mini-essay once a week and keeping at it so that I'll improve and deliver some of the good stuff eventually.
I love your essay ideas and would love to see them come into existence.
Another essay I think you’d do uniquely well on is something like: “How to negotiate with your self”
I find that you’re doing that really well here. No doubt part of it is from your experience journaling, word vomiting and youtube riffing!
Practically (on difficulty writing/publishing): I know you have Pressfield’s War of Art (I read parts of it from time to time when I struggle with my creative output), maybe read a few pages of it before every moment you want to write.
In any case, keep channeling the magical junkyard 🧙🏼♂️!
i’m here for the half-baked ideas! i’m glad you decided to share this despite it not being the perfect essay you had expected of yourself. what i enjoy second most (the most being the proposed essays themselves) is your ability to describe so well what and where you’re stuck. this expression of self-perception is really enlightening. thx for sharing.
I feel like I'm in the front row of the making of... all this, and it's exciting! relating with this process a lot, especially with the bit where it feels like a lot of these essay ideas need time, now that you've identified the whats and where you're stuck and also how it feels to write! ugh, I love to go wherever 'em words take me even though some landings are rough, uncomfortable, surprising. I love how you share your process so generously with us all. you've given me courage and made me newly excited to really peer into my own writing and see what my words - which come out as part-essay/poem/musing/short story - are making themselves into. thank you so much for sharing this! cheering you on as you continue this process!!💪🏿
ps. I finished reading FAN the other day. I found a lot of how you framed things relatable and helpful. there's always something from the book that pops into my days, the current ones being (i)what's my relationship with ___ I didn't know half the places I would end up exploring this, and (ii) the meaning of life is friendship ,and (iii) being deliberate about the conversations in relationships that need to be had.
still trying to wrap my head around ambition as that's the vaguest of the 3 things in my life. I feel like I need more reading(?) (or doing maybe) on ambition.
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on "You can’t moralize away a load-bearing coping mechanism"; I've got some perhaps heretical thoughts on addiction too, and I'm curious how they match up.
Man that ayyyyy lmao meme is exactly what I’ve needed. Understanding things conceptually is good and all, but the image of the whirlpool and the hydra make it easier for me to remember I hang out around that hydra too much and my life could use more whirlpool :)
I can't tell you how reassuring it is to see a writer you admire and enjoy grappling with familiar problems. It's a celebration of the half-baked, and I can't wait to read these as they come into fruition
My list of essays and pieces that I want to write is SO LONG. It’s not so much that I’m putting them off, it’s that I’m focused on finishing the book of memoir now more than ever, and so all of these other things are sitting in the stew pot, stewing, cooking, bubbling away. I know some of them will get overcooked, some won’t be worth eating—and many will still be there for me when I come back to them. It’s frustrating, it’s tempting, it crowds my mind, but it’s also reassuring, exciting, and gratifying to feel so many ideas swirling around. I know that I don’t have any shortage of things that I want to write about.
Thanks for writing this. Just discovered your Stack and subscribed.
My memoir in progress and quite a few essays as well ⬇️
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/
Love it! Just finished Tiago’s book last night, and this post feels right in line with some of the advice in there. Make *something* and share it as early as possible. Looking forward to seeing these essays materialize (in whatever form).
Just read this since you emailed your book buyers about writing essays again and woosh, gotta say I felt a rush reading your ideas here. There are plenty in that list that I know I would savour reading, so I hope you'll fight the resistance, poke around these reified spaghetti monsters, and publish them essays.
Also, I share a similar anguish about what to write (so many!) but I feel like I'm still a step or two behind your level of reasoning and breadth and depth of knowledge. Nevertheless, I'm publishing a mini-essay once a week and keeping at it so that I'll improve and deliver some of the good stuff eventually.
I love your essay ideas and would love to see them come into existence.
Another essay I think you’d do uniquely well on is something like: “How to negotiate with your self”
I find that you’re doing that really well here. No doubt part of it is from your experience journaling, word vomiting and youtube riffing!
Practically (on difficulty writing/publishing): I know you have Pressfield’s War of Art (I read parts of it from time to time when I struggle with my creative output), maybe read a few pages of it before every moment you want to write.
In any case, keep channeling the magical junkyard 🧙🏼♂️!
i’m here for the half-baked ideas! i’m glad you decided to share this despite it not being the perfect essay you had expected of yourself. what i enjoy second most (the most being the proposed essays themselves) is your ability to describe so well what and where you’re stuck. this expression of self-perception is really enlightening. thx for sharing.
I feel like I'm in the front row of the making of... all this, and it's exciting! relating with this process a lot, especially with the bit where it feels like a lot of these essay ideas need time, now that you've identified the whats and where you're stuck and also how it feels to write! ugh, I love to go wherever 'em words take me even though some landings are rough, uncomfortable, surprising. I love how you share your process so generously with us all. you've given me courage and made me newly excited to really peer into my own writing and see what my words - which come out as part-essay/poem/musing/short story - are making themselves into. thank you so much for sharing this! cheering you on as you continue this process!!💪🏿
ps. I finished reading FAN the other day. I found a lot of how you framed things relatable and helpful. there's always something from the book that pops into my days, the current ones being (i)what's my relationship with ___ I didn't know half the places I would end up exploring this, and (ii) the meaning of life is friendship ,and (iii) being deliberate about the conversations in relationships that need to be had.
still trying to wrap my head around ambition as that's the vaguest of the 3 things in my life. I feel like I need more reading(?) (or doing maybe) on ambition.
looking forward to reading Introspect!
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on "You can’t moralize away a load-bearing coping mechanism"; I've got some perhaps heretical thoughts on addiction too, and I'm curious how they match up.