Rhythm and cadence have occupied my mind this month. I am trying to pay attention to the rhythm in various things such as literature, how I do creative work, and how I like to take breaks. By paying attention to the natural rhythms I am trying to build a new rhythm of sorts.
Rational thinking, which dominates my brain, wants to set the metronome first and then cast the rhythm. I certainly tried to do so with this newsletter last weekend. I set the metronome to a weekly cadence — which I failed to do last week. I should have probably set the metronome after the rhythm has set.
Staying with the metaphor a bit longer… setting the metronome first would work only if I was trying to play someone else's music. What I am trying to do is find my own tune in exploring thoughts, ideas and skills. But nothing I am doing is new: blogging, podcasting, reading and thinking. Others do it more and better. It feels easier to imitate.
I see other creative people who I admire produce so much work and it makes me think I can do it too. But I need to remember that I spend 40 to 50 hours a week doing my day-job which is also creative and very analytical and takes a lot of mental energy. It also pays the bills. I can not share a large majority of the work I do in my day-job because we are under strict NDAs with our clients. So it seems that the work I can share is small and slow.
I don't want this to be an excuse. So I have started a time-block Plan from 6 AM to 6 PM for both, my professional job and my personal creative work. It is a challenging schedule but I deviated from it on only a few days in the last two weeks. By all measures it is working.
Here is the stuff I have written in the last two weeks:
# Van Neistat
I discovered Van Neistat's new youtube channel. It reminds me of one of my favorite short movies on YouTube called 10 Bullets.
# Fiction and Non Fiction
I've been reading too much non fiction and discovered a hunger for fiction, like I was starved of something essential. I tried to explore that idea. I have to admit, my writing is not great in this one. As I read it now, it feels like I wrote before the idea had fully crystalized.
# Rhythm
I explore another rendition of the Rhythm thought with which I opened this letter. This time I hit up the writings of Ursula Le Guin.
On the podcast front I am nearly finished writing the copy of my next episode. I am also close to having my recording studio set up so I don’t have to juggle the home computer that my wife also uses for her work. I should post the episode soon. You can find it on most podcast networks. Search for Sighthound Studio.
Link References:
10 bullets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49p1JVLHUos&t
Blog post - Van Neistat: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/3/21/van-neistat
Blog post - Fiction and Non Fiction: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/3/14/gcx3r3jv8u5l9km0h8nsvqw90myaty
Blog post - Rhythm: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/4/1/rhythm
Podcast: http://sighthound-studio.com/podcast
Rational thinking, which dominates my brain, wants to set the metronome first and then cast the rhythm. I certainly tried to do so with this newsletter last weekend. I set the metronome to a weekly cadence — which I failed to do last week. I should have probably set the metronome after the rhythm has set.
Staying with the metaphor a bit longer… setting the metronome first would work only if I was trying to play someone else's music. What I am trying to do is find my own tune in exploring thoughts, ideas and skills. But nothing I am doing is new: blogging, podcasting, reading and thinking. Others do it more and better. It feels easier to imitate.
I see other creative people who I admire produce so much work and it makes me think I can do it too. But I need to remember that I spend 40 to 50 hours a week doing my day-job which is also creative and very analytical and takes a lot of mental energy. It also pays the bills. I can not share a large majority of the work I do in my day-job because we are under strict NDAs with our clients. So it seems that the work I can share is small and slow.
I don't want this to be an excuse. So I have started a time-block Plan from 6 AM to 6 PM for both, my professional job and my personal creative work. It is a challenging schedule but I deviated from it on only a few days in the last two weeks. By all measures it is working.
Here is the stuff I have written in the last two weeks:
# Van Neistat
I discovered Van Neistat's new youtube channel. It reminds me of one of my favorite short movies on YouTube called 10 Bullets.
# Fiction and Non Fiction
I've been reading too much non fiction and discovered a hunger for fiction, like I was starved of something essential. I tried to explore that idea. I have to admit, my writing is not great in this one. As I read it now, it feels like I wrote before the idea had fully crystalized.
# Rhythm
I explore another rendition of the Rhythm thought with which I opened this letter. This time I hit up the writings of Ursula Le Guin.
On the podcast front I am nearly finished writing the copy of my next episode. I am also close to having my recording studio set up so I don’t have to juggle the home computer that my wife also uses for her work. I should post the episode soon. You can find it on most podcast networks. Search for Sighthound Studio.
Link References:
10 bullets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49p1JVLHUos&t
Blog post - Van Neistat: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/3/21/van-neistat
Blog post - Fiction and Non Fiction: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/3/14/gcx3r3jv8u5l9km0h8nsvqw90myaty
Blog post - Rhythm: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/blog/2021/4/1/rhythm
Podcast: http://sighthound-studio.com/podcast
-Abhishek Mukherjee
www.sighthound-studio.com
www.sighthound-studio.com