I thought writing more notes would help me write more posts. I was wrong.

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Shortly after I started the lowercase esports podcast, I came to the conclusion a one-man-show podcast that episodes needed to have some sort of structure. Without some sort of very basic order, I found I could not keep the central idea of the episode in mind without forgetting key parts of my argument which, in turn, would shred the quality of the result.

For a time, I tried publishing smaller posts. When an important source would link to something on Twitter, I would throw that tweet into a post and summarize my appraisal of the information or insight that was linked. I was lured into false sense of improving about these posts.

Ultimately, I felt I couldn’t cannibalize the content of my podcast by analyzing my sources two or three paragraphs at a time and publishing them to the blog as if I were shooting from the hip.

I resolved to making notes for themed episodes were I would need to bounce from one major idea to the other.

Of course, I needed someplace to put those notes. I bought a few ruled notebooks and ordered a leather notebook cover.

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A short aside as I mention equipment: if you’re serious about writing, get a real implement to write with. Separate it from your normal writing procedure. Don’t use it to sketch with. Don’t use it to write on Post-It notes. Don’t use it to sign your name with. Only use it to write.

And buy a fountain pen. Even a low-end fountain pen like the Preppy is an incredibly solid pen that only a moron or a child could ruin. As The Art Of Manliness puts it:

It makes you feel like a sir. I’ll admit it — one of the appeals of writing with a fountain pen is that it just makes you feel awesome. There’s something about writing with the same implement that Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill used that makes you feel like a true gentleman and scholar.

My initial method ended up being the note taking procedure of choice: every time I had a thought I wanted to save for later or read an article I had an opinion about, I wrote it down in that notebook.

After a few days of exclusively writing notes about various esports happenings and potential goings on, I stopped worrying about the performance of my posts. After a few more days, I stopped posting regularly. Why?

I felt more satisfied being able to recall details about my archived thoughts than I did when I was carelessly pushing articles into the ether.

Now, that might ring out as a tad defeatist, but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t. Self-deprecation is something of a way of life for me. I can also tell you it’s helped me develop into quite the social butterfly.

Being satisfied with my working material has invariably led to more confident podcasts. Monologues that used to be scatterbrained are now marginally more focused than they used to be.

Now, even though I’ve finished my first notebook, I still haven’t cracked the code on consistently keeping everything I’ve written out by hand in my mind as I record the podcast. I still have to refer to my notes if I don’t want to reorganize the episode according to what returns to the top of my head as I talk through the subject matter, but I’m feeling better about what I’m doing with the podcast.

So… what about publishing my notes… as posts?

Now, that could work.

Braindump: 26 July 2016

I originally posted this to Facebook, but I don’t think it’s worth posting to Medium. So here’s this. If you find me on Facebook and we haven’t had a face-to-face, don’t expect an add. I try to keep things separate that way.


Updates of all types in varying degrees of relevance in no particular order:

  • I went to EVO. It was good. Vegas wasn’t nearly as bad as the weather around Richmond lately, though. At least it didn’t feel as bad. There was more of a breeze there than there is here. I’m not sure why that is. There was a lot of people there. I ran seven pools between Friday and Saturday. Has definitely sealed its place in my annual routine.
  • A friend of mine runs a tournament called Smash Attack in NY. I want to go up there in August. Nothing finalized yet, but am currently taking suggestions for a whirlwind walking southern hick tourist tour of Brooklyn.
  • During poker time on vacation, I stacked this one woman twice. As she’s considering moving in one of the times, she asked me if I had something against her. I told her I’m just trying not to screw up. She calls, I turn over quads, the table sings a unison note of surprise. I stack her for probably $90. She proceeds to target me for the remainder of the evening, passive aggressively mentioning to the seat next to her how “you’re just not supposed to assume he has quad jacks all the time until he does.” Later, she reloads a third time. A few hands later, after the button passes me, I stand up and begin stacking my winnings to head over the cashier. “You’re leaving right after I buy in again?” I tell her “Lady, I have a plane to catch and I should probably share the book I’ve been reading all night with everyone at the table.”
  • I’m going to reorganize my friends list on here. Maybe I will log in more often. I still don’t like Facebook. It’s okay. Nobody likes Twitter anymore and I’ve always been the slow, pedantic hick that can’t catch up. Everybody wins. It’s fine. If you’re the type that gets offended when someone unfriends you, please refocus your offense into something else.
  • I am playing Pokemon Go. Team Mystic. I catch Pidgeys and Zubats more often than I’d like. Mildly losing interest. Hoping Nintendo won’t screw up Fire Emblem when they bring it to phones.
  • Politics are happening. Here’s your friendly reminder not to be a douchelord or douchelady during this time. Also to support C-SPAN, because 90% of things on other news channels are bad.
  • Additional politics suggestion: watch the UK Parliament do this thing called Prime Minister’s Questions every Wednesday. You’ll start to wish POTUS (the current one, either of the standing candidates, whoever) could do that on a regular basis instead of hiding behind their Press Secretary.
  • October doesn’t seem that long ago. Sometimes I think about it and I have to mentally check the math—the first thing that comes to mind is ‘six months ago’ when it’s closer to ten months. It’s as if the summer has dragged on too long. Or something.
  • Why does Facebook not support Markdown? Sakes. How do people handle all of this plain text? Cue headache.