A Guide for the Nicheless Writer

The Practical Polymath #51

Hi Friends, 

Greetings from Brooklyn! 

I’m three weeks into my sugarless month. I’ve noticed that my energy level is constant throughout the day, I feel much more focused and wake up less tired in the morning. I have no evidence whatsoever to establish causality so this might all be pure auto-suggestion.  

See you in two weeks!

Florian 

---

A Guide for the Nicheless Writer

I wrote forty six pieces last year. I still have no idea what I’m writing about. 

When the time comes to put pen to paper, deciding what to write about feels like standing in front of the jam shelf at the supermarket. 

Creativity thrives in constraint. So if a topic was not going to be my constraint, then what could it be? 

I thought why not look back on what I wrote and identify common sources of inspiration. I listed the titles of my forty six pieces in a spreadsheet tagging each one of them. I found three seeds that recurrently seemed to sprout into writing. 

Pet Peeves 

Things that annoy you are gasoline for writing. 

One of those things for me is the systematic misattribution of quotes to famous people. No, Gandhi never said “Be the change you want to see in the world”. He said something similar but it was a lot less Tweetable. I once spotted a quote that looked a little dubious and reached out to the editor to inquire about the source. He replied very nonchalantly that “it’s hard to prove quotes in any direction”. How convenient. It drives me nuts so I couldn’t pass on an opportunity to write about it.  

Whenever I feel uninspired, I think about my latest rants. 

Mundane Moments

Most of what I write about is rooted in extracting a slice of meaning out of routine events. A conversation with my son, a visit to a museum, a walk down the neighborhood, a visit to the doctor. 

It’s fascinating to me how much writing alters how you see the world. From passively going about your day, you turn into a forensic scientist scanning your surroundings for a bit of insight where no one else would bother looking.

Engaging Experiments 

Writing is a great excuse to conduct weird experiments. 

No inspiration? No problem. Try something out for a period of time. Turn yourself into a lab rat. 

It doesn’t even have to be serious. The more absurd the better. One of my favorite experiments was writing emails to my future self by scheduling them to land in my inbox months into the future.  

When you can’t wait for inspiration to strike, turn yourself into a lightning rod.   

So if you haven’t figured out what to write about, don’t fret. Just figure out the seeds of your inspiration and let those flourish into your future pieces. 

---

Weekly Wisdom

📚 Book of the Week: I’ve started reading The Dawn of Everything and it’s one of those rare books that rewire how you see the world. The authors spent ten years taking on the modest task of debunking the history of humanity as we know it. For example, indigenous Americans were very critical of the lack of freedom and disregard for equality characteristic of their invaders’ institutions. Despite being widely reported by European missionaries, this critique seems to have been dismissed by historians perhaps because it doesn’t quite fit with the narrative that principles of equality and liberty were born out of European civilization.  

🌕 Evolution of the Moon: This video showing the evolution of the moon covers 4,5 billion years in about 2,5 minutes. It’s strangely soothing. Give it a try.

Lateral Thought 

“Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark.” 

Annie Dillard