Writing 100 Articles In 100 Days. What Did I Learn?

Photo by Michael Competielle

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

 — Saul Bellow

Today is day 100 of a 100-day writing challenge. The idea was to attempt to write 100 original articles with original photography and publish them. The topics and context we not of importance. In reality, honesty and self-reflection was the priority of this writing exercise. 

Never having written anything before I was presented with a challenge lacking in familiarity and comfort. What was I going to say and how was I planning to say it? 

Looking Inside Myself 

As I began to look inside myself I recognized I needed to find the voice. Being introspective of yourself and displaying your thoughts and emotions leaves you a feeling of exposure and nakedness. It was the warmth of connection and encouragement I received from my readers and writing partner that kept me on track and forthcoming.

Wild flurries of emotionalism flew out of me as I henpecked away word by word, sentence by sentence formulating subconscious thoughts into tangible content. 

When I was in my comfort zone was when I faded off into a meditative state tapping away words that came out of me like I was telling a best friend an innermost deep story. Hours later I’d reread what I’d written and often questioned who was the author, confident it clearly wasn’t me. I’d plagiarized my own words. Hacking into the databanks of my inner psyche. 

Time and Space

The best time to write was early in the morning. My dogs would be snoring, the outside world is relatively silent and I could immerse myself into this transcendent writing flow.

My photographs were my inspiration as I’d write based on the emotional impact I felt from the experiences of exploration into self-discovery. 

Researching my thoughts and looking for supporting content would leave me exploring rabbit holes of discovery as I learned more from becoming a writer than I had from being a reader. My mind an absorptive sponge ingesting and processing massive quantities of data. I forced myself to go out and find inspiration and everything I found became inspiring. 

Tapping away letter by letter I’d lose myself in the moment. Time would pass often quickly as I transported myself into another place in time. Gravity and it’s holding power diminished as I wrote and explored the outside world. I no longer walked on the ground but on a layer of air, slightly elevated above the surface of the world. Airy and light yet not quite floating. 

Time has become more precious than ever before as I respect every moment, recognizing time as our most priceless resource. My relationships with the outside world have felt a bit removed from those that don’t create or can not absorb. The nonreaders are the nonthinkers. Vessels of lifelessness missing the purpose of life and connection. 

Who Is This Crazy Guy?

My discoveries as I wrote in this meditative style yielded wildly varying articles that began to weave the fabric of my consciousness. Patterns of words and phrases were repeated from article to article with differences in meaning and relevance. Each philosophy and theory cumulatively assembling into an enlightened version of me.

As the articles were published new connections were made with friends that began to read my content. The highlight of the writing exercise was when a brilliant inspirational idol shared one of my better posts on Twiter.

As time passed by day by day, articles were published and readership increased. Topics of creativity were well received as were articles on mindfulness.

As I wrote more and more my connection to my mind and soul was enriched. Self-discovery and self-awareness were constant topics I learned the most about myself.

During the hundred days, I found not only could I effectively write but it was simple to get lost inside my conscious. In the next 100 days, you’ll a new level of exploration and discovery. My connections to myself and my mind’s eye have nurtured my world of literary exploration.

Good, Fast, Cheap. When You Always Go For The Cheapest Option, Your Options Become Limited

Photo by Michael Competielle

“I’m an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers… They use my tools.”-Robert Moog

Starting in 1964 Robert Moog began building handmade analog synthesizers that helped revolutionize electronic music. Operating for almost 30 years until the company was sold in 1993 Moog synthesizers were synonymous with warm analog tone. The company closed and the assets were warehoused and eventually auctioned off. 

Bob purchased back the rights to the Moog name and again began hand-building analog synthesizers in 2002. After 55 years the legacy of Bob Moog continues.

Musicians from Wendy Carlos to Keith Emerson to Trent Reznor have composed brilliant music thanks to the unique sound Moog synthesizers generate. 

While the hand-built quality of a Moog is second to none they are also known to be very expensive. Due to the manufacturing process and time it takes to build each model, they are generally stock items often in limited quantities. 

The Project Management Iron Triangle

Each side of the project management triangle is labeled cost, scope and time or alternatively cheap, fast and good. Dating back to the 1950s the theory has been utilized in project and product management as a metrics tool. Reduce the cost of a product and the quality or speed will be affected. Increase the budget and the quality or speed will increase. 

A simple formula that works in most scenarios. 

Why Going Cheap First Limits Your Options

When you make purchasing decisions primarily on price alone you will affect the quality or time it takes to make your product. When we always base our decisions based purely on cost or cost savings we are limiting one of the two remaining options. Fast and cheap will yield a product of decreased quality. 

With an overabundance of cheap goods on our store’s shelves, it doesn’t take much expertise to determine the quality of the products are generally of lesser quality. 

Where The Gap Is Closing 

With manufacturing firmly planted overseas cheaper goods are being produced with an increase in quality and quantities that argue that the theory of the Iron Triangle is a fallacy. The fact of the matter is that is untrue when you look at the product in its entirety. 

Are the employees manufacturing the goods being paid a fair living wage? Probably not. What about the acquisition of the product’s raw materials? Certainly a place to cut a few corners. And what about the environmental impact of the decreased wages, sourced materials, wastes and environmental impact of transportation. 

Most of these reductions are hidden from the consumer and are only highlighted when you do some research. 

Buying cheap is certainly not the correct answer to obtaining the best products. Quality products that last longer and built with care and consideration of the product’s societal and environmental impact are clearly the better choice regardless of price. 

Buying products that can be resold, traded or gifted away when we no longer need them will help to reduce wasting resources. Quality products require a qualified workforce to manufacture, service and repair. By reducing the number of products we consume we can afford to pay more of higher quality products. 

Shopping for products off the buy it for life list is a great start. On the list are products that may not be the cheapest but certainly are of the highest quality and availability. 

Buy better, buy less. Sell, trade or gift unneeded products to reduce consumer demand. With a reduced need for quantities and a willingness to pay a bit more, manufacturing will adjust to the demand which will be quality. The primary reason we should be purchasing any products at all. 

How “Permitted Bootlegging” Revolutionized The World Of Innovation and Creativity

Photo by Michael Competielle

This is not a story written about Prohibition or distilling grain alcohol, this is a story about encouraging people to develop their pet projects into life-changing experiences. 

Most of everyone’s job has requirements that are often narrowly impossible to accomplish. Sales quotas and product yields are designed to increase exponentially based upon increasing profits while often disregarding relevance. Unnecessary stresses are placed on employees following rules and protocols and little thought is placed on innovating or creativity. 

Brainstorming and value engineering resources are often placed on solving existing problems leaving little time or energy to nurture ideas that could potentially rewrite the destiny of a company. 

Failing Quickly Yields Future Success

In 1968 3m scientist Dr. Spencer Silver was developing a super strong and sticky adhesive that quite honestly wasn’t very strong. In fact, the opposite happened when accidentally designed a low tack reusable adhesive. 

Silver felt that his adhesive had a special purpose and he, therefore, spent the next 5 years pitching the product to various 3m departments hoping someone would find a commercial use for the adhesive.

It wasn’t until 1974 when a 3m colleague Arthur Fry who had attended one of Silvers seminars that a potential use was conceived. Fry thought the adhesive would be perfect to use as a sticky yet removable bookmark for his hymn book.

Fry decided to further develop his concept by using 3m’s Permitted Bootleg policy. It was the availability of this policy that helped Fry and Silver to work together in secrecy on a pet project that would soon be the most innovative stationery and design product. 

It took 12 years from the accidental discovery by Silver and further developed with Fry until the commercial release in 1980 of the Post-it Note. Little yellow pads of paper held together with an adhesive that bonds well yet are removable and reusable. 

Encouraging Innovation Through Bootlegging

It’s companies that have developed a mindset that encourages creativity and free thinking that ultimately is most innovative. 3m, Hewlett-Packard, and Google are examples of companies that allow employees a certain percentage of time to work on their pet projects. 

The term ‘bootlegging’ is used because while the R&D happens on company time with company resources, the projects are usually kept in secrecy during this innovation development stage. It’s this acceptance of secrecy that innovation can be nurtured as this bootlegging period of developing is exercised without formalizing the project, sharing with managers and often breaks a companies rules and conventions.

It’s these risky scenarios where development can overcome obstacles. Teams have freedoms and liberties towards their projects creative process and the success of Permitted Bootlegging has yielded additional successes such as Gmail, Google News, and BMW’s 12 cylinder engine. 

It’s from these creative minds that we’ve learned to more innovative. Post-it notes are used by project teams to develop ideas, maintain goals and find solutions. By using permitted bootlegging and post-it notes to visualize your plan we can make great strides in designing our future while encouraged to take risks. 

The Best Articles I’ve Written Are The Ones That Nobody Reads

Photo by Michael Competielle

“There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.”

Jim Lovell

The world moves around me like a cosmic vat of fragmented debris. My mind requires stimulation and challenges to avoid death by boredom. Television and films have become stagnant of purpose and risk while auteurs struggle to exist.

Music venues have elevated ticket prices to audacious amounts while strangling artists’ abilities to remain lucrative and remain devoid of creativity or taking risks. Boring arena tours with overpriced meet and greets are the norm. Aging has been artists who are echoing their past to the allegiant fans stuck in a proverbial timewarp feels like a money subterfuge.

Stripper anthems and rapper idioms are proven profit makers exacerbating the dumbification of our floundering society. Venues are serving corporate conglomerate beers, soft drinks, and processed foods to aid in declining the health of the patrons while posting adverts for medical centers and pharmaceuticals to help pay the bills.

Why I Suck

I’ve no desire to follow the masses. I’m currently fighting with my blog’s AI SEO algorithms telling me my article currently sucks. I’d guess the algorithm was written by tracking the top 1,000 keywords utilized by top publication rags a clickbait.

As I ponder my future as a successful writer I’m researching some titles I feel are sheerly brilliant that could titillate the herd.

  • 7 Ways Gordon Ramsey Can Teach You Emotional Intelligence
  • How Lindsay Lohan Excels at Defensive Driving Skills
  • How Vanilla Ice Can Teach You To Understand Copyright Laws and Write a Hit Song
  • 9 Ways to Find Love…Again By Studying Zsa Zsa Gabor
  • and the list goes on

Save The Brain Cells

As I work to keep the neurons of my brain enriched by stimulating it with art, well-articulated literature and scientific studies I’ve recognized our societies lacking in autodidacticism. It’s doubtful I’ll gain much traction with this quintessential diatribe of creative expression but I’m certain every time I reread it I’ll giggle to myself on how profound exercising the brain really is. And the fact many will need a dictionary to fucking read it.

Relationships And Letting Everyone Down

Photo by Michael Competielle

I’ve attended many concerts where I felt let down and I was wishing it would be something else. Not that it’s their duty to please me, but at the same time, I think a lot about what it’s like through the eyes of the consumer, the fan. I want not to pander to the audience, but to be aware of them.

Trent Reznor

How many people did you please today? I’m hoping the number outweighs the sum of people that you let down. Each morning I awaken with the goal of placing my best foot forward by being mindful and empathetic. Each minute of each day ticking by as we head towards our end.

Focusing in the moment we attempt to prioritize others while we maintain complacency in our priorities. Relationships require us to give and take to feel complete and whole. Our best way to take is by taking the words and emotions of others and understand their perspective.

As we identify with the other person we can attempt to feel how they feel. Often our understanding needs to be based on perspectives that are impossible for us to understand. Gender, race, ethnicity and financial situations are difficult traits to learn perspective. When we place ourselves into what we believe to be the other’s perspective often we’ll miss the reality of a situation.

Tainted Love

Falling into love with ideas and ideals is disastrous. Reality is paramount in accessing and proper function of a long-living relationship. By being supportive and genuine in other people’s successes and failures we build an impenetrable bond. Sharing in the riches of the fortunes of our relationships we build ourselves up together and grow.

The bitter taste of jealousy by a self-centered relationship becomes a toxic chemical cocktail that poisons relationships. If we focus on our insecurities by turning them outward, we can spoil an otherwise nurturing connection. We can not rely on others to make us happy while we shouldn’t need to rely on others to create ours.

The Big Let Down

When we recognize the negativity exhibited towards us in a tainted relationship generally has little to do with us directly we can begin to focus on the issues. People will want others to create their happiness and fulfillment without recognizing it’s the power of connection and give and take that develops solid bonds.

If you spend your life waiting for that perfect person to please your chances are you’re on a path to the big let down. The best advice in relationships is honesty and being forthcoming with your feelings and emotions. The power of the bond will elevate the relationship to a higher level of connection and development.

Maximizing Your Creativity By Economizing Your Day

Photo by Michael Competielle

How do you know you’ve maximized your day and economized projects to succeed? By prioritizing our day based on establishing small achievable goals while focusing on completing them we can see progress quickly. Morning seems to be a moment in my day where I can be productive and creative optimizing my limited time.

Writing has become easier when I have planned my thoughts prior to even opening my computer. Being I write based on my life experiences, I make sure I document all of them with photographs. When I’m writing about my experiences words begin to follow as I’m describing my recollection of stored details.

To obtain inspiration I love stepping outside into city life to enter into culturally diverse environments. Most cities’ density and mixed uses forsters a culmination of cultural heritage that inspires inspiration. Walking and interacting with diversity help define differences and expands our knowledge.

People watching and focusing on their details

Mornings in a city is a brilliant time to people watch. Window seats in coffeehouses is a favored spot as you can view people candidly observing their body language and movement. As we pay attention to finite details and memorizing them we build attention to details. What makes brilliant writing? Attention to detail and perspective.

When we have clarity and focus on details stored in our memory banks, writing becomes easier. We no longer have to struggle to find words and descriptors to expressive ourselves. As we optimize our writing time while getting into our flow, fully-fledged concepts become paragraphs of precise descriptive narration.

Morning writing lessens environmental influences as we haven’t yet stepped into the outside world. Our thoughts and words are yet to be tainted by the complexities of our day. Allocating morning time towards writing, the compressed availability of free time places pressure on clear and concise phrasing.

Who Wrote This Shit

When I get into my zone, words materialize a rapid pace with fluidity. Minor typos and proper punctuation matter less than getting the words out as if I’m telling a friend a story. Once I get close to what I feel is the end of the article, I’ll reread it to determine how well to flows. When I know I’m writing well the sentences read well. If I’m on track I’ll read the article and question the identity of the author.

It’s in those moments when I’m most creative and thorough that rereading the text makes me question who the author was. It’s that inner voice who comes out and tells the most engaging stories in the briefest amount of time. The economy of time and focusing on small goals have expanded the amount of content I can write about while detail in a focused moment.

Reimagining Landscapes With A Cacophony of Soundscapes

Photo by Michael Competielle

“The final question will be: is the soundscape of the world an indeterminate composition over which we have no control, or are we its composers and performers, responsible for giving it form and beauty?” 

― R. Murray Schafer, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World

As my writing exercise is winding down my experiences from the experiment has charged my creativity. The next 100 day series of challenges is moving into compositional sound recording with the added element of composing to an image and creating visual soundscapes.

The exploration of finding content in which to use to make a connection of our sense of sight and hearing is nothing new. From the days of theater or musicals through talkie films and modern-day media, sound to visuals has gelled together well. We have learned to feel a connection to a character’s emotions by using sounds of music to stage the scene as we are lured into the content.

Our minds can make connections to our emotions independently to our conscious thoughts bringing us to a place where we are immersed into the body of others, feeling what they are feeling. The spoken word isn’t required to toy with sadness or despair. Often a single reverberant piano note will bring us to a place where we feel pain and suffering.

There are many, many nouns for the act of looking — a glance, a glimpse, a peep — but there’s no noun for the act of listening. In general, we don’t think primarily about sound. So I have a different perspective on the world; I can construct soundscapes that have an effect on people, but they don’t know why. It’s a sort of subterfuge -Walter March

Hearing Emotion

The classical composers recognized by varying the connections of musical notes compositions could envoke emotion. By altering the individual notes in a phrase or chord, alters the feeling of the composition as our feelings are along for the ride. 

When we actively participate in focused listening we begin to hear the subtle nuances in sounds. Winds and rain have tonality that can paint a visual painting that takes us to that place. Rolling waves, babbling brooks to crashing waterfalls are all movements of water, however, they all have a unique audible sound that paints the picture. 

Whimsical sounds will place us in a happier mood unlike the dissonance felt from fingernails on a chalkboard. The subtle nuance of sounds of we listen closely is meditative and educational.

Intellectuals favor instrumental music as it will allow the imaginations under the wild as we define space and time. Our minds will listen for the clues and begin to develop a spatial perspective. 

Wind and leaves mean trees. A Forest? Moving water could identity a creek, stream or an ocean. The timber and intensity of the sounds become our clues. Crashing water could be oceans waves or a waterfall. 

As we listen to sounds intently we begin to spark our brain to make connections to the visual. Like an expressionist painter, we paint shapes and colors as we build the landscape from the elements of the soundscape. Our minds make the connection as we visualize the scene like reading brilliant literature. 

The World Is Changing Towards A Better Place

Photo by Michael Competielle

Wandering through New York City yesterday you can’t help but become immersed in excessive consumerism. Everywhere you look in NYC you are being sold to. If you can fit an advertisement certainly it’s there. 

Songs have been made about the lights on Broadway in Times Square. The hub of the tourist trap. Certainly, without the constant bombardment of advertising and high pressured sales would this Mecca survive? Corporate profits pay huge costs for billboard space on pricey real estate. Another age of decadence. 

Photo by Michael Competielle

But when you briskly walk past the nonsense and look for a bit of normalcy you can find whatever you are looking for in the greatest city in the world. 

Priorities 

Food is my favorite daily priority. As I’m now on a plant-based diet for well over a year now I’ll always search a neighborhood for what vegan options are available. I favor restaurants that have made the decision to only be vegan and vegetarian over restaurants that cross-pollinate plant-based food with animal products. 

I’m not sure I would say a food snob as it’s a doubt that’s the proper definition however I will say I’m becoming an educated consumer. Businesses that commit themselves to not offer animal-based products are increasing. The options available are growing exponentially as consumers are learning about the environmental and health issues of animal-based diets.

Photo by Michael Competielle

Passion In Philosophy 

Walking into P.S. Kitchen in Hell’s Kitchen we were warmly greeted and quickly seated in the chic bar area. We were a bit early for dinner and so it was the perfect time to sneak in before the dinner rush that would soon follow. 

Seated at a high top we ordered a few cocktails and an appetizer. The ambiance of the room was warm and inviting and the staff was cheerful and helpful. As we sipped our drinks we began to see the diner crowd lining up and decided to have our meal in the bar area which is my favored placed to eat due to the ease of interaction with others. 

Reading over the menu I was overwhelmed with the depth of the menu which offered well designed vegan creations of favored dishes. As I read the menu I couldn’t help but look at the reverse side and instantly fell in love with the restaurants’ philosophy. 

Photo by Michael Competielle

Our world is changing. We are on a rapid trajectory towards destruction as prices of goods and services are rising along with the Dow Jones. The separation of wealth continues to cripple families as welfare and social services have diminished along with living wages in favor of corporate wealth and excessive profits.

When a company decides to turn itself upon the crowd and walk fearlessly in the opposite direction, caring not only about their customers by offering carefully chosen ingredients to answer the concerns of the vegan demographic, but to also focus on gifting away their profits we must embrace these trailblazers. 

Focusing foremost on animal welfare by operating a vegan restaurant followed by donating the profits to help Haitian women with employment, healthcare, and education the humanitarian loop is fulfilled. By taking profits from patrons dining in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and sharing with one of the poorest helps to define the future we need to build. 

Ready or Not the excessive abuse of the planet’s resources from people to the soil needs to be improved upon. We need to educate ourselves and understand the impacts of the damage we are doing. The future is now and thankfully there are those that are paving the pathway.

“The future depends on what you do today.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

Be Yourself, The Rest Will Follow

Photo by Michael Competielle

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

 —  Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s lonely in here. My mind races with thoughts and concepts I struggle to explain. Creative ideas take a number hoping to be next in line, a sold-out show it’s standing room only.

A sense of belonging could be warm and comforting if the connection were real and the dialogue reciprocal. It’s the few that understand, those who bend light and medium to create the imaginative. The grandiose experience. 

We feel they are odd, strange and disconnected. Yet it appears we are all engaged with the electronic impulses that energize our flow. Colors and sounds, molten and dark. The embers of creativity fueled by inspiration. Words become paintings and noise becomes art. As we reimagine this dismal place a stomping ground of self-expression.

The rhythm of prose a collection of exacting words, painting the foreground of our creativity. Crazy, wacky, odd and weird, we find solace in our medium. Our emotions left on the canvas as we nakedly shy away, bizarre and antisocial.

Crowds praise and encourage us while we secretly cower in fear. Not to be judged only to be misunderstood.

“ Art and life really are the same, and both can only be about a spiritual journey, a path towards a re-union with a supreme creator, with god, with the divine; and this is true no matter how unlikely, how strange, how unorthodox, one’s particular life path might appear to one’s self or others at any given moment.”

Genesis P-Orridge

We chose who we are and represent ourselves often poorly. Not feeling complete within ourselves we need to express ourselves outwardly. The sounds of our creativity speak volumes in our minds yet sound hollow to the ears of the status quo.

What aspect do others understand we do not know. However, our intellect and judgment is only encouraged by those who understand. 

Trivial matters pain me as I lose irreplaceable time. Infuriated as I see the wasted days fade, filed as history. Tomorrow I shall overcome, stepping out into the light and embrace my struggle to be the only thing that matters. Me. 

A Warmth She Radiates

Photo by Michael Competielle

I love to awaken and see that she’s there

Fuel to my soul her warmth from within

We don’t need to touch or even get very close

It’s her energy I’m feeling that breeds 

I struggle to see her details as she blurs my vision

Silently we caress as she leaves her mark

For she is my power, my savior, from despair

Sadness settles over me 

When she fades off in the distance

Reflections of her cast shadows on my doubts

Her brilliance beads moisture from beneath the skin 

Life and energy we grow a bountiful bond

For she is my true love

A lifetime connection 

I long for her return 

Our bond from deep within