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Writing Slowly

My name’s Richard. I live in Sydney, on the traditional land of Bidjigal people of the Eora nation. Here I write about writing and reading (and what I do when I'm not writing or reading). I'm writing slowly but may at some point speed up. Connect with me on micro.blog or at Mastodon @aus.social@writingslowly. On Reddit, I'm @atomicnotes.

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    💬“Peace of the sort that brings wholeness, harmony, and health to our lives only happens when chaos, confusion, and conflict are included and transcended.”

    • Harrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology.

    Read more.

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    Work as if writing is the only thing that matters

    “Work as if writing is the only thing that matters. Having a clear, tangible purpose when you consume information completely changes the way you engage with it. You’ll be more focused, more curious, more rigorous, and more demanding. You won’t waste time writing down every detail, trying to make a perfect record of everything that was said. Instead, you’ll try to learn the basics as efficiently as possible so you can get to the point where open questions arise, as these are the only questions worth writing about. Almost every aspect of your life will change when you live as if you are working toward publication. You’ll read differently, becoming more focused on the parts most relevant to the argument you’re building. You’ll ask sharper questions, no longer satisfied with vague explanations or leaps in logic. You’ll naturally seek venues to present your work, since the feedback you receive will propel your thinking forward like nothing else. You’ll begin to act more deliberately, thinking several steps beyond what you’re reading to consider its implications and potential.”

    • Tiago Forte’s summary of How to Take Smart Notes, by Sönke Ahrens
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    A spiral design by Google Bard, in the style of a woodblock print

    💬 “The real issue with speed is not just how fast can you go, but where are you going so fast? It doesn’t help to arrive quickly if you wind up in the wrong place.” - Walter Murch, In The Blink of an Eye.

    Found at Austin Kleon’s post, Hurry Slowly

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    💬“At what point does something become part of your mind, instead of just a convenient note taking device?”

    A question discussed with philosopher David Chalmers, on the Philosophy Bites podcast.

    🎙️Technophilosophy and the extended mind

    So much of this depends on what ‘the mind’ means. Meanwhile, we do seamlessly interact with our note-making tools, to achieve more than we could without them.

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    Give it, give it all, give it now

    Annie Dillard on the writing life 💬

    A quote by Annie Dillard, presented as though badly typewritten. It says, One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

    See also:

    Image made with the Shift Happens typewriter

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    Manton Reece has updated his excellent and inspiring book on Indie Microblogging.

    This 1660 description of the Royal Society well describes micro.blog methinks:

    💬 “Their first purpose was no more, then onely the satisfaction of breathing a freer air, and of conversing in quiet one with another, without being ingag’d in the passions, and madness of that dismal Age”. The fediverse is an opportunity learned societies can’t ignore

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    📷 Day 27: embrace (Matt, aka @mroutley) #mbsept

    This pub gets a big tick! (It’s obviously the only pub in Bodalla).

    A view of green paddocks and distant forested hills from the verandah of a country pub on the South coast of NSW. A sign reads: Voted best pub in Bodalla. The Australian flag flies above.
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    📷Day 20: disruption #mbsept

    Sometimes you have to protest to stop the disruption.

    “Let’s dream new blueprints for the world we want to live in.” 💬

    A demonstrator at a Sydney climate change protest holds up a hand-written sign that reads: Let's dream new blueprints for the world we want to live in.
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    📷 Day 14| statue #mbsept

    Food for thought.

    An ancient Greek marble statue of a woman regards a museum sign with a quote from Plato's Republic, which reads: Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.
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    As 9/11 is commemorated again it’s worth reflecting on why some people are wary of US foreign policy. This 9/11 is also the 50th anniversary of the Nixon/Kissinger coup in Chile.
    If you think human rights is all ’liberal crap’, as Nixon did, that right there is why we remain wary.

    “¡Nunca más!” 💬

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