Tyler Weaver's Blog, page 11

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Latest Blu-upgrades; I might be somewhat addicted.

Starting / Small Assignments

After a rough start this morning (the past month, really) on the new thing (at least partially the same as the old thing), think I've found the/a way forward. Finding that germ, that gem, whatever, always being the most intimidating prospect at the start of something new: the hook, the angle, maybe... and that mistaken belief that it gets easier with time, with "experience.”

(Ha.)

And, while it's still too broad a view for any level of detail-oriented depth, those essential "small assignments" provide, at least, a place to begin – which doesn't mean it's the beginning – only a place to start.

Which is certainly not nothing.

Feels like I've finally hit the sweet spot with this site. Tags and channels and methods and all of that. Who knows if it'll remain this way but, for now, I'll take it for what it is and enjoy myself.

P.S. Happy 95th birthday to my grandfather: still, and always, the best man I’ve ever known.

Starting

After a rough start this morning (the past month, really) on the new thing (at least partially the same as the old thing), think I've found the/a way forward. Finding that germ, that gem, whatever, always being the most intimidating prospect at the start of something new: the hook, the angle, maybe... and that mistaken belief that it gets easier with time, with "experience.”

(Ha.)

And, while it's still too broad for any level of detail-oriented depth, those essential "small assignments" there is, at least, a place to begin – which doesn't mean it's the beginning – only a place to start.

Which is certainly not nothing.

Feels like I've finally hit the sweet spot with this site. Tags and channels and methods and all of that. Who knows if it'll remain this way but, for now, I'll take it for what it is and enjoy myself.

P.S. Happy 95th birthday to my grandfather, still, and always, the best man I’ve ever known.

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Reading.

Reading

Reading:

RSS update

Quick note: if you subscribe to this blog via RSS, I’ve shifted things over to this feed. This gave me a lot more freedom to fiddle about with things, so there you go.

Towards Frictionless Brainfragment Creation (Now with Comment System!)

Survived familial small talk via my usual methods: sit, pretend I'm not there, and nod occasionally. One would think, given that I've been doing this Sunday game for ten years now, that I'd be neutral to its banality but it never ceases to exhaust me more than anything else I do all week.

Speaking of: I have, for the first time in this site's existence, turned on the comment system. Part of my desire to have all of my communications be through this site and/or the newsletter. Comment away – though I have no idea how Squarespace handles comments; I might install Disqus at some point if SS is user-unfriendly. Banality allowed.

(I had considered setting up a Discord channel for discussions and stuff here, and I might – especially for NL subscribers – but I prefer, at this stage in whatever passes for my career/life to keep all comminiques/broadcasts on platforms that I own.)

Obsidian love continues: my own Zettlekasten variant emergent, even though I have zero interest in learning all the ins and outs of the system, preferring instead to form my own hybrid out of the viscera of several disparate ones (the note titling system, YYYYMMDDHHMM, is great, especially since I have Obsidian set up to send these to an Inbox folder for later processing; would be great if Obsidian allowed for haptic touch menu Zettlenote creation, but it’s a young program – plenty of time to grow). That said, I love how it – along with other voices/uses – has moved my conception of my "writing times" into "focused thinking/processingtimes": one project for a two-hour chunk twice a day (still haven't decided if it's best for me to work on one project per day or two – if one's on a deadline, the deadline ALWAYS takes precedence over a non-deadline system), chunks composed of thinking and processing, sometimes with actual words put to page, other times not. Still in a state of flux but the state of flux is moving in the right direction.

One Obsidian caveat: I'm not sure that I would recommend you use Obsidian without your own systems in place which it can augment nor would I recommend it if you're not predisposed towards more visual, tangentially connected thinking best represented in mindmap form. For me, it's been a revelation – a means towards frictionless creation; for others, it might gum up the works.

Another heatdome day awaits.

Obsidian / Processes / Socializations

The month of trying new things continues: new projects and, at the moment, new processes and workflows. (Figured the timing was right to give it a go.) Combo of recent TSR interview with Nick Sousanis and the writing/composition of SPOKENSOFTLY demonstrated, to me at least, evidence that it was time for something new.

Biggest change has been – after a few days of hem/haw – shifting from writing in iA Writer to using Obsidian ("A second brain for you, forever" / "... a powerful knowledge base") networked notes app for everything. Since I had been working with mindmaps, both in interview prep and in SPOKENSOFTLY composition, I could tell that the representation of my thinking was moving in this networked, Zettlekasten direction.

(For a good discussion of the Zettlekastan method, I recommend Cal Newport's recent chat with The Unmistakable Creative's Srini Rao)

And, though it's not without its idiosyncracies – the lack of full-screen editing on the iPad is problematic, I'm getting used to it by, counterintuitively, adding more panes to the screen. The Daily Notes plugin, a sort of mental catch-all, has been a boon; perfect space to be writing these pieces.

As I continue to learn my way through Obsidian – which has, so far replaced Drafts, iA Writer, and, potentially, MindNode in my workflows – I'll hurl thoughts into this space, such as they are.

A busy socialization week ahead: two SOCIALIZED RECLUSE interviews coming up. Still planning to experiment with a different type of TSR episode – though it might simply constitute more episodes, IDK...

The day's run and more familial small talk await. Happy Sunday.

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Nighttime Plunge / That Comics Thing

Appear to be in another moment of shifting basal insulin requirements, having dropped more than 60 last night and more than 70 the night before: current operating theory being that, with my afternoons now able to include a second chunk of work (featuring That Comics Thing – I've found that I work best – for the time being – if I work multiple projects each day – though Thursday was spent in a rage over my inability to hotwire a lawnmower) my brain goes to sleep on empty. Also worth noting, the last two nights have been the only two nights in recent memory in which I've actually dreamt. DeepSleep+Brainwork = happy blood sugar? This is the theory for now; as Josh said on THE WEST WING, This is how it works today.

WRT That Comics Thing: no clue if it will ever happen or if I will eventually give in and turn it into a novella series but I so very, very, very much want it to happen as a comics thing (something I've been noodling long before Substack comics became a thing, a thing which I have thoughts about – less about newsletter comics (love those – that's what That Comics Thing is intended to be, sort of) and more about my general cringe whenever I hear "...on my Substack"). Writing it, That Comics Thing, in script form so, if I do throw in the collaborative head-desk towel, it shouldn't take too much reimagining to transform it to prose… in theory, anyhow.

The day's run + in-lawn with key awaits.