"Meta"
Sean Moore
Wherein I talk about talk.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what Belligerent Mars currently is and could be. Certainly now that I’m writing with some regularity, but this was also the case before, long before, in fact, I started posting (Belligerent Mars, in fact, came into being in August - nearly half a year before I finally worked up the nerve to start polluting the internet with more sub-par writing). I think a lot about the topics, the style, the voice of this site. But I spend even more time thinking about the proper way to distribute my writing, how it should be packaged and parceled before being sent out into the world.
The problem that I’ve found with many blogs, a problem that I’ve surely fallen prey to just as easily as the next writer, is that the sites are exceedingly ephemeral. Most of the topics and discussions that echo throughout independent sites on the web become out-of-date within a matter of days, if not hours or even minutes. As someone who is a voracious reader of independent writers – after all, to become a better writer, there is no simpler (and more challenging) task than to read prolifically – I do worry about this almost built-in irrelevancy. Sure, it’s a great impetus to keep publishing new things, but it’s also a little unfortunate that the archives of many of these sites are littered with pieces that no longer matter. That’s something that with Belligerent Mars I hope to avoid.
Of course, there are exceptions (there always are). Great writing, no matter the topic, makes up for this wilting that most writing experiences. Some of my favorite online authors – John Gruber, Merlin Mann, and Michael Lopp, to name a few – succeed in having their older works feel timeless because they are filled with such excellent prose. Never mind that it’s a piece on pre-iPhone Apple; good writing is good writing, and especially when it’s combined with thoughtful insight that goes beyond the what of today and into the why of tomorrow, pieces are no longer crippled by their feeling of “nowness”. that’s something I certainly hope to strive for.
I’m no fool though, in thinking I can count on my writing ability to suddenly become top-notch. And so, I originally envisioned Belligerent Mars as a site that, to the best of my ability, would avoid the seasonal and over-hyped topics of new product releases and rumor-mongering that afflicts much of the technology-related websites the world over. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of writing – after all, I read pretty much all of it, and even then I never seem to get enough of it – but I also recognize that posting timely, frequently, and (given the short amount of time writers typically have to post something in the name of newness) to my own standards of writing would be impossible. I am (wait, sorry - was) a full-time student, and there just isn’t enough time for me to do that effectively.
Instead, what I initially conceived was a weekly higher-level topic on some aspect of technology or aspect of design; perhaps informed by recent events in the world, but not about them. Rather than focusing on the “what” of the latest hotness, I’d be more intereseted in discussing the “why”: the decisions that were made, or could’ve been made differently. Every week would have a major theme that would address one of these topics. Think of it like a three-act play: Monday, would be the exposition, setting the stage and relating to current events, while perhaps discussing some design decisions; Wednesday, the climactic peak, getting deeper into the topic at hand and uncovering other possibilities; and Friday would be a resolution, a tie-it-all-together, and perhaps a look toward the future. The rest of the week would focus on minor topics, and perhaps shorter pieces - testing out the water forfuture topics, or getting whatever happens to be at the forefront of my mind out and into the open.
That was the goal, of course – and like many goals I set, I’ve certainly fallen short. Belligerent Mars has had a somewhat weekly topic set, for the most part, talking about inconsolable fears and social networks and high technology and the like. But the site, so far has missed that story arc, that rise and fall that characterizes great storytelling, as well as great writing.
The biggest reason – the most acceptable reason, if you ask me – is that I just needed to get started and write. As I wrote in my very first post on the site, all the dieas, all the hopes of perfectionism in writing, style, and content were holding me back to such a degree that I never even got started. It was my conscious decision, first and foremost, to put aside these loftier goals in exchange for jsut getting something, anything, out there, stinking pile of shit that it may be. The plan was to come back to it after having a few months of writing under my belt.
Perhaps a more truthful reason, though, is that it’s just plain hard. It’s incredibly hard to write something you actually think is worth reading on a daily basis. It’s hard to just get started. Throw in a plan to tie-in a week’s worth of writing that should flow together and feel cohesive, and suddenly that goal has become somewhat preposterous.
That’s not to say that it can’t be done. In fact just the opposite. The real trouble was finding the time and energy to do something like this. I’ve been exceedingly time-constrained these past four months – if you’ve ever gone to college, you know how quickly time disappears. I’ve certainly surprised myself by how quickly I can write up a piece if I set my mind to it and I’m actually interested. But to do what I originally set out doing, I’d need a much longer set of uninterrupted time to do some real writing, and more importantly, to just think. It’s hard to find a stretch of four uninterrupted hours in the midst of studying for exams, homework, and design projects.
Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I’d like to give the original idea a real go: devoting a weekend afternoon entirely to thinking and writing, and doing my best to do less of the sort of last-minute stuff that has so far appeared on Belligerent Mars. I’d like to give some time to my work to allow it to breathe, to give myself a chance to edit it, and to hone and polish it to a degree I really find satisfactory.
I wouldn’t call that a promise. But I would call it a start. I hope you’ll join me as I continue to find my voice, and of course, if you have any suggestions or ideas, feel free to get in touch.