Observations, WIP

Or: A Writer’s Field Notes on Creativity, People, and the Stuff Nobody Asked Me

Passages

“Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.”
— John Lennon

Before You Read Any Further

This is not advice. I’m not qualified to give advice. What follows is a running list of things I’ve noticed: about writing, about people, about the distance between what we say and what we mean. Some of it might be useful. Most of it is me arguing with myself and writing down whoever won.

If something here sounds wrong to you, it probably is. For you. These are my observations, shaped by my blind spots. Steal what works. Leave the rest on the table.

This is a living document. It grows when something clicks. Entries get cut when they stop being true. Nothing here is permanent, which is sort of the point.

What I’ve Learned So Far

Planning and organizing are the masturbation of work: you feel like you’re accomplishing something in the moment, but afterward you’re unfulfilled.
Don’t spend your whole life trying to get into a party with the people you hate.
Stop fixing up a house you don’t want to live in forever.
Trust the coin flip. Your reaction to the outcome tells you everything you already knew.
Nobody brings you a casserole for the ballet bun.

Books, People, and Things I Stole From

If I mentioned it above, it probably came from one of these. Or from someone smarter than me who said it first.

Lennon, John. Interview with David Sheff. Playboy, January 1981.

If any of this was useful, the permalink is: paulscott.blog/observations-wip

About the Author

Paul Scott is a writer who pays too much attention to things.

*Cover Image: Patrick Fore
*Second Image: Aaron Burden