{"id":72,"date":"2015-01-23T20:28:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T01:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=72"},"modified":"2015-01-23T20:28:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-24T01:28:00","slug":"something-brilliant-because-its-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/something-brilliant-because-its-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Brilliant… Because It’s Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was busy editing AVENGARDE, and I came across a line of dialogue that was super (extra cringe-worthy) corny. \u00a0I deleted it and replaced it with: SOMETHING BRILLIANT, BECAUSE IT’S EASY and moved on. \u00a0I like marking mistakes and not diving into them immediately, because they’ll simmer on my mind’s back-burner and when I return, I might have come up with a solution.<\/p>\n

But I returned to this snarky comment to myself and really looked at it, it threw my brain for a loop. \u00a0Why\u00a0<\/em>would I write something like that to myself? \u00a0What<\/em> would compel me to unconsciously jot such a thing in the first place?\u00a0How<\/em> long has it been since I’ve showered??<\/p>\n

The introspective questions this quote begat are\u00a0as follows:<\/p>\n

1) what is a writer expected to do for himself?<\/p>\n

2) what is a writer expected to do for his readers?<\/p>\n

!!Mountain-interlude!!<\/p>\n

\""Look<\/a>
“Look at the wind, folks!”
“Oooh”
“Ahhh”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can answer both of these like that annoying kid who always raises his hand. \u00a0A writer is expected to be\u00a0brilliant,\u00a0<\/em>by both his readers and himself. \u00a0It’s a decidedly intimidating\u00a0thought.<\/p>\n

Brilliance is an interesting thing to define. \u00a0What some folks consider brilliant, others scoff at, and vice versa. \u00a0It’s a subjective world, but it’s the world in which we live. \u00a0My ‘problem’, and the source of my snarky reminder to myself, lies in the ease of reading, as opposed to the ease of writing. \u00a0Well, hopefully you can read, otherwise what are you doing on my blog page? \u00a0Looking at the mountains? \u00a0Oh, okay, that’s cool…<\/em><\/p>\n

A brilliant piece of text inspires deeper thought. \u00a0They’re abstract illusions of depth that stimulate the mind to pursue various mental pathways. \u00a0If the text is well-constructed, then the pool is open waiting for readers to dive in. \u00a0Will they find the bottom? \u00a0Who knows. \u00a0HOWEVER, you can bet that the lines we read for the first<\/em> time certainly weren’t so clear in the author’s first<\/em> iteration. \u00a0And herein lies the problem (well,\u00a0my<\/em> problem..)<\/p>\n

I read brilliant stuff and because it’s easy to read, I assume it’s easy to write. \u00a0And then I assume that I can sit down and tap out a world-altering sentence and, of course, rainbows will shoot out of my keyboard etc. etc. \u00a0I’m stymied and confused, but I shouldn’t be. \u00a0And that’s because brilliance is a seed in the first draft. \u00a0It needs a hell of a lot of nurturing and pruning and delicate care before it can actually live up to its own potential.<\/p>\n

So when you find yourself expecting great things immediately, know instead that your actions presently<\/em>\u00a0should sow\u00a0the seeds for great things to come.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. \u00a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brilliance is an interesting thing to define. What some folks consider brilliant, others scoff at, and vice versa. It’s a subjective world, but it’s the world in which we live. The problem lies in the ease (for most) of reading, as opposed to the ease of writing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,27,50,52],"tags":[61,65,69,132,203,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/03\/26\/the-bloggeth-returneth-glorious\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":0},"title":"The Bloggeth Returneth. Glorious!","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Needless to say, juggling the two roles is going to be difficult. They're two sides of the author-coin. Why, cruel world, do you insist I use both hemispheres of my brain?!?","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Business\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/07\/title-of-post-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":1},"title":"[title of post here]","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Small things direct our lives, I realize. Minuscule impulses. An unimportant walk to the icy sea, a casual glance to the dark shadows, a tingle of curiosity. And like lightning out of a clear sky, the world is irrevocably changed.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Social Obligations\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1214,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/05\/24\/daniels-10-minute-rule\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":2},"title":"Daniel's 10 Minute Rule","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I meet a new writer, musician, artist, or any other creative type, the foremost question that intrigues me is: \"how do you keep yourself on track?\"","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}