by pinback » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:35 am
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Ben, why did Mango Bay fail?
For me to write, two factors
must be present, or it's just not going to happen.
Factor 1 is:
I must have something I want to say. At that time (and essentially, for most of the past year) I have had nothing I've wanted to say. My fire for self-expression burned out sometime around 2000, 2001, and since then my writings have all essentially been diary-like retelling (and occasionally embellishing) of daily events. But even that, I can't do unless any interesting daily events actually happen to me. It's too difficult for me, for instance, to come up with new ways of saying "got up, dicked around, ate, had a few beers, watched Iron Chef, went to bed". And that's what I was doing when I started Mango Bay. Now, once I headed off to Arizona, and then with my latest move to Virginia, there
have been events which might have warranted retelling, but then Factor 2 comes into play, which is:
Factor 2 is:
I must not be horribly depressed. When I am horribly depressed, engaging in any sort of activity,
particularly a creative endeavor such as writing, is nearly impossible. The secondary thought, sure, is "ehh, why would anyone want to read about my lousy, stupid self", but far more relevant is the thought that even putting finger to keyboard is opening up a whole new realm in which to suck. As I've said before, any activity is another chance to suck, another chance to fail, and we (me and my inner demons)
cannot have that. So rather than do anything, we do nothing at all. And for most of the past several months, I have been horribly depressed. (This is not a "whiny" post, mind you, but an explanatory one. The whining can be done in a separate thread, so as to give the impression that this BBS has more activity on it than it actually does.)
So, why did Mango Bay fail (and why has SNT remained dormant for the vast majority of the past half-year)? Because at any time, one (and usually both) of those factors have been present.
Thank you for joining us.
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Ben, why did Mango Bay fail?[/quote]
For me to write, two factors [i]must[/i] be present, or it's just not going to happen.
Factor 1 is: [b]I must have something I want to say.[/b] At that time (and essentially, for most of the past year) I have had nothing I've wanted to say. My fire for self-expression burned out sometime around 2000, 2001, and since then my writings have all essentially been diary-like retelling (and occasionally embellishing) of daily events. But even that, I can't do unless any interesting daily events actually happen to me. It's too difficult for me, for instance, to come up with new ways of saying "got up, dicked around, ate, had a few beers, watched Iron Chef, went to bed". And that's what I was doing when I started Mango Bay. Now, once I headed off to Arizona, and then with my latest move to Virginia, there [i]have[/i] been events which might have warranted retelling, but then Factor 2 comes into play, which is:
Factor 2 is: [b]I must not be horribly depressed[/b]. When I am horribly depressed, engaging in any sort of activity, [i]particularly[/i] a creative endeavor such as writing, is nearly impossible. The secondary thought, sure, is "ehh, why would anyone want to read about my lousy, stupid self", but far more relevant is the thought that even putting finger to keyboard is opening up a whole new realm in which to suck. As I've said before, any activity is another chance to suck, another chance to fail, and we (me and my inner demons) [i]cannot[/i] have that. So rather than do anything, we do nothing at all. And for most of the past several months, I have been horribly depressed. (This is not a "whiny" post, mind you, but an explanatory one. The whining can be done in a separate thread, so as to give the impression that this BBS has more activity on it than it actually does.)
So, why did Mango Bay fail (and why has SNT remained dormant for the vast majority of the past half-year)? Because at any time, one (and usually both) of those factors have been present.
Thank you for joining us.