My Blog Moleskine.
My blogging practices have evolved a lot lately, especially now that my entire life is structured differently (being in college and all). i’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of my blog, especially since I made several design improvements over the past few weeks. I thought I’d give a brief outline of how I blog and my thoughts and ideas for the future of the blog, content wise.
How I Blog
During the 3 week intensive workshop in Language and Thinking I took in August as part of my matriculation into Bard College, my instructor had us write, by hand, for five minutes each morning – a free write, no limits, no directions, just write. I enjoyed putting pen to paper, I have never enjoyed it so much in my life. I hand write almost everything these days, from essays to blog posts. I urge you all to try writing freely for five minutes each morning – it helped connect my thoughts with my pen. I have a Moleskine dedicated to blog posts. Not every post I write in the notebook makes it to the blog. Hand writing gives me the opportunity to get all of my ideas out freely, and hand writing makes a great first draft – it is, in my opinoin, much easier to edit my own writing when going from pen and paper to the computer. After I hand-write a rough draft, I type it up directly in Wordpress, and modify specific words, add subsections and images, and check the overall spelling and grammar of the post. When I hand-write, my honest opinion comes out, my exact thoughts. I also try to write my first draft away from the computer, so the post contains my true, honest thoughts (the computer is also really distracting). Whereas when I write on the computer, it feels detached. Blogging has greatly improved my own writing (in and out of school), and I’m willing to bet that it will have the same effect on your writing too.
Future of the Blog
THis is a personal blog, it’s not for tech news and reviews (that’s what my podcast, Nerd News Radio, is for), but it is for content relating to my life. At times, a review of some sort may pop up, only if it has a direct impact on the way I conduct my life. In the future, I see myself writing more about technological philosophy and politics. Now that I am separated from the EduTech program I created in high school, I will probably write less about academic technology, but we’ll see. I also added Skribit, a “blog topic suggestion application,” to the blog, so please, make suggestions!
Conclusion
Now that I started writing by hand, I find it much easier to sit down and focus on writing a blog post without the distractions of the Internet (don’t worry, I still love the Internet, but at times, it needs to be quiet!). I used to hate writing with pen and paper, but today I love it, so give it a try. Please give me suggestions, I want to hear what you think about the blog and what you would like me to write about.
How do you blog?
Kabren Levinson is fist-year student at Bard College. Throughout high school, Kabren has worked in various technological, political, and artistic positions. He has worked as an intern at the MIT Media Lab Computing Culture Group and during his senior year of high school, he developed an Academic Technology program at the Cambridge School of Weston. He has been podcasting for over three years and has been blogging for two. Kabren is a philosopher, technologist, and artist.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Kabren,
I have been following your blog ever since we met at Nobles last year. I have really enjoyed reading about your project (which was amazing by the way) and now about your college experience. I’m sorry I haven’t commented before, but I promise I am an avid reader.
I find it interesting that you write by hand. I don’t write anything by hand any more. I type faster than I can write and my mind moves too fast. Plus I like how easy it is to edit on a computer.
When I taught 6th grade I would have the kids free write everyday for five minutes. I think that is a great and helpful idea. Thanks for reminding me of it. I’m going to give it a try – by hand. I’ll try to check back and let you know how it goes.
-Liz
Liz,
Writing by hand has definitely helped me get more in touch with my thoughts, it is about the practice of writing, but it’s also about the act of connecting your thoughts with your pen, which works – I’ve never truly been able to connect thought with the computer. I agree with you about editing on a computer, but writing by hand makes a beautiful first draft – when you type it up, you have the first opportunity to make changes.
Glad you’re enjoying the blog! Tell your friends!
-Kabren
Hey Kabren,
I always have a lot of thoughts going through my head. I tried many times to write down them as they are rushing into my head, but honestly I couldn’t. I just found out I’m writing too slowly (or I’m thinking too fast
). Consequence is I couldn’t write and feel frustrated. When I was 12-15 years old I always had a notepad in my pocket to write anything. I should may be concentrate more. But I found another way which is helping me a lot to write AND proprely sort my ideas : computer + text editor (and more recently desktop wiki’s – Voodoopad on OS X, and Zim on Ubuntu to name them). I’m using a lot today a computer to write quicknote but also deeper articles I would post on my weblog.
I’m always amazed at people (like you, now) who can seat and write. Amazed because even in one minute, 10 different topics I could write are coming into my mind. Like I’m overflowed :p However I’m trying to find moment during the day to write down or everything gets stuck and I get lost trying to remember everything.
This my way to blog or at least to write =) May me not the best way, but my way to at least put my thoughts on e-paper.
Olivier
Olivier,
Same thing used to happen to me – my thoughts would just come too quickly, but after writing by hand for a while, my thoughts have slowed down, not to say I don’t have as many, but I’m able to control them more.
If you just write, you’ll find it easier to sort out your thoughts, that’s what happened to me, anyways.
-Kabren
Kabren,
I loved hearing you talk about putting pen to paper. I feel that I do less and less of that these days, but the physicality of writing is something special. By the way, this is the first time I’ve ever left a comment on someone’s site! Thanks for the intro on cloud computing too.
Marilyn
Marilyn,
Thanks so much for your comment, and welcome!
Glad you enjoy the post – writing is something so great and is often lost these days.
K.
hi
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good luck