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I bought a book a while ago that I was really interested in, but when I sat down to read it, just wasn't feeling it. Instead of getting frustrated, I listened to the feeling, put the book back on my bookshelf and said to myself I'll pick it up when the time is right.
Cut to a few months later and I'm writing a script about dreams. I look at my bookshelf, wanting to read something knew, but not knowing what. And there it is, crammed way in there: the book. I pick it up. Lo and behold, the first story is a story all about dreams - a story that inspires and fuels me in my own writing.
Basically, what this taught me is to trust the process. Being open means that it will all happen when it's supposed to. You've just gotta let it in.
Related Recs
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Like those weird, out-of-place lines that pop into your head when you’re trying to write a thing.
Write them down! Sometimes they lead somewhere or grow into something incredible and you just don’t know that in the moment. Like David Lynch & the opening line for Lost Highway popping into his head, completely out of context at the time.
It takes some work to trust yourself on these things, but it's damn worth it.
Feb 16, 2025
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i dont know if this will be helpful. Or confusing. But when i experience writers block i like to live with it (?) i think that its natural and you have to ride the wave. i think art comes to you. Not the other way around. Yes it is fun to create. but inspiration must naturally strike
I would get an ounce of an idea and i would push it and stress over completing it. And then get so frustrated And then its not fun anymore.
but now when i get an idea i transfer it to a physical medium and once i get stuck, i leave it alone. Until it comes back to me again. Or not at all. And that’s ok too. Not everything has to be completed
Keeping creative endeavors in the back of your mind can let them marinate and get nice and lovely. easier said than done but try not to get discouraged that you’re not writing right now. There is some kind of beauty in its absence
Feb 11, 2025
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I write lyrics/poems/prose/essays/the occasional substack/text based art/performance art and the most successful process I've found works for me is just 'hold a pen and hope that it happens'. I can't get any real ideas done on a laptop (my substacks are all drafted in bullet points by hand first). I don't write every day because I don't have the energy or time or enough that is important to say. I only write when I really get the urge in my fingertips and then I get my notebook and just open the page and get whatever out I can. Sometimes it's an idea I've been mulling over that finally comes out and others it's just nonsense sentences that eventually form something.
Basically my advice if you're struggling to get started is just whenever you think you want to do it, just hold a pen and a blank piece of paper and just do it. Maybe it'll be brilliant from the off. First lines are hard so don't worry about it if it's not, fourth lines are where it gets good. I definitely produce 70/30 shit/good writing and that's okay because who's reading it??
Also sometimes you go back a few months later and realise that what you thought was terrible was actually great all along it just needed a different context!
May 3, 2024
Top Recs from @bperk13
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Digitised DVD commentaries from films when they first came out. David Fincher on Gone Girl. Richard Linklater on School of Rock. The list is endless, and so much fun if this is your thing!
Jan 28, 2024
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Not the tube, not the train, the DLR is an "automated light metro system", according to the internet. Without doubt, the best form of transport in London. I extend my trip to and from work by like 20 mins just so I can ride it. It's kind of like going on a rollercoaster that never actually goes fast. I have seen children have transcendent experiences riding it. I have had transcendent experiences riding it. The train is DRIVERLESS?! The best bit is going through Canary Wharf when the sun is setting - the way the light hits all that glass and steel...I am absolutely CONVINCED Caroline Polachek got most of her inspo for her most recent album by riding the DLR.
Jan 19, 2024
The way she marries All American girl-ness with this intrinsic depth/soulfulness. She's always had it - it's why BRING IT ON goes so hard. Her Architectural Digest also shows she's just a nerdy little weirdo. KD is the best.
Feb 9, 2024