i live in a binary reality. you do, too, but you don’t realize it. well, you realize it or you don’t.

but that’s a discussion for another day. today’s thought is how to divide people. or perhaps more accurately, how people divide themselves without any interactivity and the subsequent results.

i am what i would call a polarizing personality. if you have met me, you either like me or you don’t. usually a lot of one or the other. you are not indifferent. i find this to be curious, since most people are willing to fight to the death that they don’t think of things in black and white, as i do. makes me rather curious, though. i’m open to suggestions as to why this is the case but i’m going to explore a few of them. i believe that people react this way to everyone but that they are not prepared to actually display it. i’m not sure why but i think it has something to do with an ancient concept called tact.

i don’t do tact, though, so i don’t tend to receive it.

i have narrowed impressions down to a short list of factors – speech, thought, action, aura. it’s going to be one or more of these that do it.

people react to the way that i speak. i know this. it has been mentioned repeatedly. i speak like i write. and you can see how i write. it’s not how you expect words to be handled. oops. i don’t know why that would make people love or hate me, though. moving on.

thought. ah. that’s a more dangerous proposition. thoughts are the realm of dissent. there are two schools of thought, pardon the reference, that exist. one is that all thoughts are equal and that people have something valuable to contribute. the other is that thoughts are meant to be just that, thought, then processed, defended, and spoken. it’s not that i don’t believe that you have something valuable to say. i just don’t think it’s a given that everything out there is worth listening to. i’m not going to change my mind unless i have a very good reason to do it. it’s not that it’s not going to happen. it’s that if i’ve bothered to think something, i’ve got a very solid ground for it. and that means that to shift it, it’s going to take some doing. and i’m easily bored. i don’t like debate and argument. i simply want to act, to enjoy, to exist, and to teach.

which brings us to action. i act without regard for tradition, common thought or practice, or some antiquated view of right and wrong. can you say that you’re that free? this could have something to do with the black-and-whiteness of it.

and the aura.

do you feel what i feel?

is it confidence? arrogance? enjoyment? hate?

your turn. black or white?

i think there is a common misconception about how the writing process happens. i’m not going to give you the definitive version of writing-for-the-masses. but i shall give you mine. and i believe that the first part, at least, is common to most good writers.

i was told recently that i didn’t know how to write. by someone who has never written a book, no less. i was not offended. it’s like being told that you don’t know how to drive by someone without a car or a driver’s license. there’s no frame of reference. i’ve seen this person’s writing. it’s a shoddy mess of anachronistic words mingled without systematic attention to grammar and without content of any imaginable sort. oops.

so how do i go about writing?

lately, as you can see, i have written very little. but i can still remember how it’s done.

the first step is, curiously enough, sentimentality. mood. feeling. you cannot write in a vacuum. it would be nice, to be sure, but that’s not how these things work. you simply must feel like writing or it is a waste of time to even try the exercise.

after that, the real work begins.

there are two paths that can be taken, then. and yes, this is a step-by-step instruction on the method of writing.

the first path is that you have a topic in mind. the second is the search for topics. if you take the second path, the easiest way to go about the procedure is this – lie down, close your eyes, think of something that you like but don’t really care about, then follow the pathway from there until you have something to say. don’t pick political thoughts or current issues. pick something trivial. it’s the best starting point. try potatoes. or cranberry sauce. or blueberries. or leaves. you’ll get from there to the siege of jericho in no time, i assure you. and you will have something more worthwhile to say for the journey.

now that you have a topic, the hard part is here. the beginning.

don’t skip this step. people will tell you to write the middle and then the end and then the beginning. or the middle and then the beginning and the end. it’s a worthless and time-wasting suggestion. write the beginning. if it takes you an hour to get started, that’s perfectly fine. a title might help. it might not. if you need a title, start there. if you don’t need one, don’t waste the time. start with your first sentence, then the next. the first sentence is not supposed to explain your argument. or introduce your argument. it’s supposed to say something. make sure that it does. and that your reader is not bored. boredom is bad.

then continue until you have finished.

simple, right?

more later.