The sixth issue of Slanting Nib & A Keyboard newsletter is out today. It features a few essays that depict what libraries mean to a few writers and what, according to them, they should mean to everyone else. A mix of prominent personalities out to corroborate, with their powerful words, the significance of library, and how a library is many things -- now that's something I wouldn't want to miss.
So, do give it a read online. If what you read interests you, do subscribe. If you are already subscribed and have been enjoying the issues, please forward them to your friends.
I subscribed to Pocket Premium today. Recently, I have been reading a lot of articles on the web. And most of the times, it is on Pocket. I save the recommended articles from newsletters, blogs or Twitter to be read later and catch up on them towards the end of the day. Or when I have some free time at my hand.
What's in the Premium option that made me upgrade from the free tier, you ask? Well, first of all, I wanted to support a service that's part of Mozilla family. I've been a long time Instapaper user, but since Mozilla acquired Pocket, I have been using the later as my primary read later service.
I have also been using Pocket extensively to find the right articles to be included as part of my newsletter. I read a lot, heavily curate and include just a few of them. So my Pocket list and archive are always full of some great writings from many brilliant sources. I do not want to lose any of these wonderful essays.
I wanted to make Pocket a sort of my online reading library -- it's even better if it's permanent as Pocket promises with an upgrade to Premium. The upgrade also offers full-text search which comes handy when finding that one article that talked about some peculiar topic. The biggest draw was the unlimited highlighting. The 3 highlights that the free option offered was limiting when each long read that I saved was full of thoughts worthy of absorption and introspection.
I have paid for a year; the pricing that it offers in-app is worth my current extent of the use of the service. I will re-evaluate after a year again. For now, Pocket stays the service of my choice.
I didn't want to read another self-help book. But this one had been recommended to me for so many days, so many times that I had to read this once. Going in, I absolutely knew what to expect of the book. I got just that. It just was structured well enough to keep me going.
James Clear has got a nice framework in place -- make good habits obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. One can understand why that is important. He also presents it with enough examples and detailed description. I just wish it was shorter. A few chapters feel repetitive and only to be there to meet the page count goal. We could trim almost a third of the book and it would still be equally effective.
Anyway, the rating is for the simple way James presents the framework. There's something to be learnt from this, for sure.
I recently wanted to attempt meditation again. I have already tried getting into a habit of regular meditation sessions many times before this. However, as always, even this time, I couldn't go through the sessions for any significant duration of time. I can't seem to understand what I am missing.
Maybe my mind is just not wired to be able to get something out of the process. Or maybe my surrounding, my current lifestyle is too chaotic to lend me space, the time to meditate. Thoughts always rush into my mind. From work. From home. From things done well. From things not yet done. I would never get into the zone where I am listening to my breathing. Maybe I am just too distracted within.
And the fact that meditation can probably help me overcome that inattention is also why it is even more frustrating that I can't appreciate this practice. I have heard many people claim how meditation calms their mind. Get the clarity of thoughts. Focus. So I feel this can help me be not this distracted. But then while I am meditating, I feel helpless to control how my mind wanders around.
I have tried multiple apps. I have tried guided sessions. Nothing seems to help. At times, I am even judging the voice that guides me. And I just sigh in disappointment.
I gave meditation a real try. It's not that I hate it. It's not that it's hard. It's just that my brain does not want to do this. It's really pushing back.
I was nodding incessantly as Grey spoke about his frustration of not being able to appreciate the benefits of meditation. I feel equally frustrated when I hear someone talk about how the sessions leave them more mindful, more relaxed. It just doesn't do it for me.
I spent the last weekend idling around; I did not do anything that I have always considered "productive". No reading novels. Or catching up on my read later lists. Or writing. Or working on the short story in progress. Nothing. I spent the whole two days lying on my sofa, enjoying a movie marathon with my family. I did all that without judging myself, as I had recently decided.
It's so easy to idle the whole days away. As James Clear has said, "our real motivation is to be lazy and to do what is convenient". It's only understandable then that it takes too much effort to break this built-up inertia of not doing anything. Time, then, is spent generously lazying around, scoring easy joys.
The thought also reminds of this exchange between Dan Buettner and James Hamblin during one of their interviews.
Buettner: In the long-term view, you’re better off buying experiences than some new gadget. Buying things does produce some spike in joy or appreciation, but that wears off over time. A good experience actually gains luster.
Hamblin: Despite knowing that, when I actually go to spend money on traveling or even just tickets to something, I think about how soon that will be over and gone. And if I buy a couch, I have it for years.
Buettner: But the joy from the couch wears out. You’ll still flop down on it, but it won’t provide that bump of joy.
With time as the most valuable currency, what is, then, the parallel in real life to the "gadget", the thing that time can buy? Is it the worthless, hollow hours that one spends on streaming the same, old movies or TV shows? Or is that an experience?
What Buettner refers to as joy when talking about the product vs experience discourse, is satisfaction when moved over to real life. We should judge if the activity is an experience by the longevity of the satisfaction it brings.
There's no doubt that a whole day of movie marathon can lend momentary joy. But does it do that without being a burden on your mind? If so, then it is an experience. Else you have just carelessly wasted the most valuable currency for owning a thing and it will soon stop giving you joy.
What are other examples of such experiences that time can buy?
Another issue of Slanting Nib & A Keyboard newsletter is out today. It features essays that provide a brief history of how punctuation evolved, its significance, some valuable tips and witty guidelines on using the marks.
This week's issue also introduces a slight twist in the featured author's section. With every issue going ahead, I will feature specific writing from the writer being featured instead of a broad collection of works from him. It can be a short story, a poem or an essay.
Again, do give it a read online. If what you read interests you, do subscribe. If it doesn't interest you, do let me know what doesn't work for you. I would love to hear it all.
I have published 5 issues of the newsletter and I have set the tone for the newsletter now. Setting the tone was the next mini-milestone for me. The newsletter has already been featured by Inbox Reads and Thanks for Subscribing and I couldn't have asked for more. Now, I wish to continue the journey and focus on how I can interest more people to subscribe. Your feedback will, for sure, help.
“I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along - and I must say I had a good time using them.” – Tom Wolfe
A lot has been said and suggested by authors, amateur and experienced, on how we should and should not use punctuation. Setting aside the perpetual debates around specific punctuation marks, the importance of punctuation in making writing intelligible for a reader is never in doubt.
This issue features essays that provide a brief history of how punctuation evolved, its significance, some valuable tips and witty guidelines on using the marks.
Richard Nordquist at ThoughtCo. takes us deep into the meaning and importance of punctuation. More than being an essay about a brief on punctuation, it details the history of punctuation, its relevance before and after the introduction of printing, and the recent trends in the use of punctuation. Dr. Nordquist has it all covered.
The beginnings of punctuation lie in classical rhetoric—the art of oratory. Back in ancient Greece and Rome, when a speech was prepared in writing, marks were used to indicate where—and for how long — a speaker should pause. Until the 18th century, punctuation was primarily related to spoken delivery (elocution), and the marks were interpreted as pauses that could be counted out.
Benjamin Samuel at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency describes the great power comma possesses in our writing. Backing his argument with some pertinent examples, he delivers his point with an abundance of wit and tinge of humor that is a signature of every article at McSweeney’s.
If nothing else, one ought to know how to treat a comma. Abandonment or abuse of the comma muddles discourse, and this lack of respect is akin to neglect, to a lack of appreciation, to an unreasonable rejection of the very foundation of all worthy human interactions. (…) It simply cannot be said too often that punctuation, not just the noble comma, is crucial to communication and comprehension. Truly, a poorly constructed sentence can set worlds crumbling, can alter perceptions irreparably.
“If the rules you learned about commas and semi-colons don’t mean much to you, forget them and try this.” That is how Kim Cooper begins this helpful guide on punctuation published for Writing Center at Harvard University. This is a handy list of suggestions on how one can check the selection of punctuation like commas and semi-colons, dashes and hyphens as part of her writing.
If you don’t want your reader to pause, there shouldn’t be a comma, there, because as, this demonstrates it’s very difficult to figure, out, what you’re saying when your punctuation, makes the sentence unreadable. Your sentences shouldn’t leave your reader hyperventilating from the constant shallow breaths that over-punctuation requires. Nor should they be gasping for breath at the end of a long, unpunctuated sentence. (Consider yourself responsible for your readers’ cardiovascular health.)
Caleb published a short dark story “Swarm Creatures” as part of Carve magazine’s Summer 2020 edition. He has woven the story wonderfully with some intricate, mysterious elements. With his vivid imagination and a fascinating way to word it, he gorgeously mirrors the darkness and the messy calmness of the swarm with mind within the central character.
The swamp is impressive, a gargling pool stretching as far as we can see from our backyard, tall ghostly trees sticking out of it and obscuring the horizon. We’ve been renting the same house two years but never explore too far back, some sense of reverence holding us.
This is a pretty comprehensive guide to punctuation, though primarily focused on the current style of American punctuation, meticulously created by Jordan Penn. It also has clear examples of how American style differs from the British style. In Jordan’s words, he “consulted dozens of authorities, both online and in print. Where the authorities disagree, I either have explained the various positions or have presented the style I believe to be most useful”. This should be a pretty handy reference guide for anyone writing at any level.
One Final Inspiration
"I wonder if you're like me, if you collect and squirrel away in your soul certain odd moments when the Mystery winks at you.” —Denis Johnson
Have any recommendations or feedback for me? I’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply, or you can even email me.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
-Amit
Is 20 percent project still followed at Google? One where every employee is recommended to spend 80% on the official job and 20% on the project of their choice? I wonder because every time we hear about the success of this particular experiment at Google, we hear about the same old handful of products. Mainly AdWords and Gmail.
Have there been no other successful products from this experiment? If yes, why don't we hear more about them? If no, what has changed at the company? Has it grown too large to back small, hobby-like products? Is the environment not conducive for the small, hacky projects?
Marissa Mayer had famously quipped regarding the project, "I’ve got to tell you the dirty little secret of Google’s 20% time. It’s really 120% time".
Maybe as the companies grow, the employees lose the sense of closeness, the sense of attachment they felt earlier. The sort of dedication that Mayer referred to just can't be expected from an aloof employee.
Twitter is a lossy compression medium. You compress an idea into a few phrases, and people must expand it, often getting something else.
The next issue of Slanting Nib & A Keyboard is out now and should be in your inbox if you have already subscribed. It features a few brilliant essays from some well-known voices on the importance and effectiveness of writing styles.
If you haven't yet subscribed, do give it a read online. I appreciate each and every bit of feedback I receive -- it helps me stay motivated to keep doing this every week. I have been extremely delighted with the feedback I have received until now on past issues.
On a personal front, I am reading a lot more to curate each issue of the newsletter and there's nothing more positive that can come out of this whole exercise.
