Tag: writing

You Can’t Have It All

Carl Setzer1 Comment

One of my digital friends, Bernie, wrote this blog post featuring Maria Popova, a writer I admire greatly. In the article, Popova writes about the grief feels upon the passing of her beloved friend Emily Levine. She explores how poetry impacted that journey, and how it can help us all manage the finitude of our lives. I love her line “[N]ow that Emily has returned her stardust to the universe…” as a descriptor of death. Makes me think of Carl Sagan’s line that we’re all made of “star stuff”. There’s infinity within our finite nature. So very Zen, I guess.

Anyway, I highly recommend Maria’s post, and all of her work.

“You Can’t Have It All”, the Marginalian

Blogging Advice

Carl Setzer1 Comment
blog icon information internet

My blogger friend, Pooja, wrote this post today: “BLOGGING ADVICE YOU SHOULD IGNORE“. If your blog is important to you, check out her advice.

Here is one I want to highlight:

  • Don’t spam! Instead of feeding the engine garbage, put out the best content you can. Another way to think of this is “think long-term”.

Anyway, it’s a good post and worth reading.

Communicating The Bare Necessities

Carl Setzer
clear communications

This morning I was talking about the importance of brevity in communication. Elegant prose has its place, of course. But when you’re communicating information, say in a corporate environment, in the blizzard of information that is today’s modern landscape, crisp, clear language is critical. Bullet points, sentence fragments, focus on key elements, don’t bury the lede.

“Wait”, you might say, “isn’t this guy studying web development? Why’s he going on about writing and communication?” Well, remember what purpose a website serves: communication. It’s a delivery mechanism for information. Interactivity, color schemes, layout all need to serve the function of the site. Cool features, in and of themselves, at best are distractions unless they serve the reader/viewer.

So, with that, remember, when it comes to most “business writing”, focus on the bare (bear?) necessities.

Today’s Haiku: Verbal

Carl Setzer4 Comments

Woolly Muses, a blog I’ve followed for awhile, posted their contribution to today’s FOWC (Fandango’s One-Word Challenge), with the key-word “verbal“. I enjoy these challenges, and I believe they solidly grow my creativity.

So, here’s my contribution:

words dance off my pen
verbal graces in sunlight
moving through silence

Today’s Black History Month Meditation: Rita Dove

Carl Setzer

Great advice for the new poet…and for the old. Of course today we always have our phone with us, capturing our thoughts, poem scraps along with photos. There’s research supporting pen-and-paper’s superiority, for what that’s worth. Ultimately, the best solution is the one you use. As long as you’re confident in capturing your ideas, your brain can focus on creation. 

Anand Giridharadas’ TED Talk: A Letter To All Who Have Lost In This Era

Carl Setzer

I love well crafted writing. Mr. Giridharadas’ letter, read below, gracefully captures one of America’s most painful divisions. I, like him, get very excited by all the possibilities within the coming culture. I forget, also, the many who find their identity challenged, status eliminated. Perhaps illusions shattered. Many of us find it easy to gaze down our spectacles at these people. Doing so damages our witness, denies the hope that I long for. What place exists for these folks? And if we truly value compassion, we need to look at this with a honest, self-aware gaze.

 

 

“Too much”, or “I need to focus”

Carl Setzer

​I love to write. I love blogging. Yet there are challenges. Distributing my focus lowers my effectiveness. That troubles me. And yet, though each site has meaning to me. But each site has costs, economic and otherwise. Every time I focus on one, I can’t focus on another. 

I haven’t had an objective, much less a strategy on any of my sites. I love to write poetry, about Seattle, about sustainability, geek culture, about so very much. Each site has value to me. I hate the idea of neglecting one at the expense of another. Yet I also hate writing substandard stuff. I prefer to be proud of what I put on the internet. 

This time in history has so many choices; a blizzard of potentials and possibilities. And I hate letting go of those potentials. Any of them. Yet I know that must be done to achieve ANY of them. How does one choose which baby to let die?

Perhaps overly dramatic, but it captured the sentiment I’ve been struggling with.