A New Socratic Sign, or: Writer's Block as a Work of Grace
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I wrote previously about my experience of a "Socratic Sign" as a student: how my experience of wonder and exhilaration in my studies kept me going through the relative stress and difficulty of that experience.
Of course, I took a bit of artistic license in describing it as a "Socratic Sign," since the sign Socrates described was actually a kind of warning to stop, rather than a direct encouragement to continue a course of action.
In my recent writing endeavours, however, I've felt a new kind of Socratic Sign, more like the original. As I prepare to tackle a difficult and complex or controversial subject, and as I start to feel the creative juices begin to flow, it will at times just suddenly stop and revert. The launch gets scrubbed at T minus twenty seconds and I find myself just sitting there, wondering what happened.
Now, writer's block is nothing new, and it may indeed be foolhardy to try to prescribe greater meaning (let alone Divine intervention) to it. But I still think at the very least it is a solid indicator of a lack of clarity and conviction in the subject matter, and an invitation to shelve the subject and come back to it later after having given it more time to "stew" in the spiritual "plumbing" of the writer.
And so, dear writer, if you feel the old Vaudeville Hook gently tugging at your neck, maybe put it in your WIP pile for a bit. Chew on the subject for a while, publish a few simpler, easier posts, and revisit it when you feel the clarity and/or conviction/"unction" revisiting you. :)
Mind the Shards
Photo source: Marika Vinkmann
I was listening to one of my new favorite podcasts, Don't Listen to Us with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody (his wife). As I mentioned in a recent post, Mandy is one of my favorite actors, nay, favorite humans on the planet. I can't get into …
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Breakfast at Der Waffle Haus
Disclaimer 1: A heavy "[sic]" is implied on all intentional butchering of the German language in the references (and URLs) in this post
Disclaimer 2: This post deals with issues of grieving, but in a lighthearted manner
Disclaimer 3: This post may be best enjoyed while listening to this track …
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Re-thinking Sci-Fi Space Battles
I don't watch a lot of YouTube anymore, and I'm trying to bring my TV watching down by a lot and read more.
But one of my guilty pleasures is Retro Badger Gaming. This guy uses variants of the Bridge Commander series of games/mods to put together intriguing, insane …
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My Mirror is Surely Alive
By Dorkface Rickens
Ready or not, the future is here! This evening, I installed a new technology in my bathroom called a "mirror."
I was excited to see what this could do, and skeptical of the claims that mirrors merely reflect the light coming in.
Imagine my astonishment when I …
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I Loved Computers Before the Internet was a Thing
A reconstruction of the Commodore 64's BASIC prompt, adapted from Wikipedia
I loved computers before the internet was a thing, and I will continue enjoying them long after the internet becomes an unusable hellhole of mass surveillance, age verification, deplorably invasive technical "standards," and hyper-aggressive advertising.
I've seen truly enormous …
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The Cowardice Snowball
Content Warning: Discussion of fascism, modern U.S. politics, and a bible quote
Background
Back around 2011, there was a bible verse that was working its way through my cognitive machinery:
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw …
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I Miss My Hometown
Image of the Cactus Cafe, taken from Wikipedia
I went to a live music venue (really just a restaurant with a sizable enclosed patio and questionable sound system) with some family and friends a couple nights ago, and as we were sitting, sipping our drinks and waiting for the primary …
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The Farmer's Station Wagon: A Parable
One day, a farmer went to load up his station wagon to take his family to visit some friends, but found that it wouldn't start. Looking under the hood with his friends, they sadly discovered that the engine block was cracked, and there was no likelihood of an easy or …
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Book mini-review: "Gulliver's Fugitives" by Keith Sharee
Note: no substantive spoilers in this review
If you're short on time, you can skip the preamble
Preamble
As you will know from my previous blog post, I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately. I honestly hadn't read too many novels since I was in University last …
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