I Believe

This is by far one of the best songified videos I’ve ever seen, thank ya kindly PBS.

I’ve always found Bob Ross’s painting videos interesting because he was apparently a drill sergeant in the military and had to scream at people all day every day and next boot camp.

Then he was so calm when he painted on his TV show. What a contrast.

I get the feels when I listen to this songified Bob Ross episode. It resonates with me not only because the musical accompaniment to his songified voice works so well, but also because I feel that there are parallels between the way he describes painting and the way I, and I would think most writers, experience writing.

You’re the creator. You find freedom on the canvas. And there is so much you can do with that freedom. Fluff it, a touch, a push, so many color combinations, so many endless options.

In writing, you find freedom in the blank screen. There are no limits. There are no rules. It’s you against a blinking cursor until it gets done. So many stories to tell, so many ways to go about writing them. And once you get into the right flow, and stop over-analyzing your every action, it can go on and on and on.

You start by believing here (points to noggin) because if you don’t believe that you can write, you won’t ever be able to.

If you can’t get past that self-doubt, if you don’t beat out that background sound of negativity with the sound of the keyboard clacking, you’ll be in a bad spot.

You need to have faith, and take that leap into your mind.

The reality I guess is that much of the positive advice in the video carries parallels to a lot of different things in life. Many different endeavors, different ambitions, could draw inspiration from a video like this one.

But I definitely know that every day’s a good day when you write.

And whatever you want to do in life, whatever arena it is, you can do it too. Find freedom in that knowledge.

I believe.

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Candy

I was suddenly struck today by the profound realization that it had been quite some time since I had eaten a Snickers bar.

I ate them always as a kid. I ate them always as a teenager. But in recent years, I honestly can’t remember the last year I ate one.

It left me wondering how much our tastes change over the years, and how differently our minds and desires operate as we grow older. Or rather, how much these tastes get nudged in new directions by the endless onslaught of advertisements that bombard our brains. I hadn’t even thought about eating a Snickers in a while. But suddenly today as I was taking a shower, I felt an urge to eat just go eat a Snickers.

And it all sparked from me being confused about how the hell the Snickers marketing campaign got the Brady Bunch to actually look like they were pushing their product.

It left me with a secondary realization that effective marketing really is the difference between an impulse buy of a Snickers over every other fucking candy on that shelf. Companies need to reach and tickle another layer of your consciousness to influence you in those moments where you think you’re making a judgment all by yourself.

Everyday as the years stack on, I am more and more convinced of an obvious yet still profound reality of our society. We all ready know it. But we’d all do well to remember it.

Marketing is power.

You first must fall

Today is a significant day for me, in that I received my first rejection letter today from a literary agent.

I’m reluctant to put this post on my blog for several reasons. First and foremost, because at the rate that I’ve been blogging I don’t have regular viewers, and so it’s clear that as of now nobody’s going to even read it. Secondly, the current primary purpose of my blogging is for cathartic release so I can find some improved direction through the chaos of my ramblings, that I might get some peace of mind knowing that I’m in a state of action instead of dejection and complacency. And I don’t necessarily need to put that up online to get that experience. Thirdly, this type of article will likely not be interesting to most people that are not writers, and I am still searching for what type of identity my blog should eventually take.

And as another strange way of me sublimating this depressing yet partly expected surge of negativity, I’ve decided to make a decision between two choices. Of course, our choices are close to infinite in reality. You never have only two choices in any given circumstance, but we reduce our choices to a few distinct selections to better grant structure to our lives, and create clearer direction. And I’m reminded of a scene from Fight Club where Tyler Durden mentions to Edward Norton’s character, that they can either kick fight club up a notch or shut it down for good. They were at a plateau in their journey. I’m at a plateau in my journey. I can either kick my writing up a notch, or shut it down. And if I might reduce the options even further, shutting it down is not an option for me. I need to write. I need it for my own sanity. It’s not so much a desire as it is a necessity now.

That’s one rejection letter from a literary agent. I’m sure there will be more to come. I’ll need to re-think my plan to a writing career. And I may need to parse down the word count of the manuscript (250,000+ words might be too much). And I’ll need to build up a better writing platform. And I’ll need to keep working on my new novel, making sure to keep it closer to 100,000 words. And if there are other writers out there who read this who are having a similar experience, I wish you the best of luck on your way to literary success.

All in all, before you rise, you first must fall.

I can feel myself falling. I’m willing to write and fall better. Let’s fall some more.