Nov 3, 2009
My only comment on the whole NaNoWriMo debate, heavily couched in something else: The “novel” part of NaNoWriMo is meant in jest. If you read what founder Chris Baty wrote about the topic, he admits that you’re not supposed to walk away from November with a book deal. The whole point is to capitalize on constraints to clear out the cobwebs. Even though you haven’t written the great American novel, getting 50,000 words out and onto the page probably isn’t a bad start. We all know that limitations are a great way to kickstart your creative motor. Can’t sit still long enough to write a blog post? You can probably manage 140 characters. Once upon a time, I was a photographer. I was going to be a photojournalist. I was even pretty good for a while. Long story short: I still have a closet full of professional photo gear, but I don’t take it out too often. Sometimes knowing that you have all the tools you could possibly want leaves you feeling more uncertain than anything else. If I’ve got six lenses to work with, which one should I mount for the best exposure? That’s why most of the pictures I take now are with my iPhone. Because bags and bags full of L-series lenses don’t get me off my ass anymore. More ways to do something mean more ways to do it wrong. On the other side of the spectrum, when I’m wandering around and the only thing I have to capture what I’m seeing is a much-maligned three megapixel phone camera and a few ridiculous apps like TiltShift Generator, I’m forced to be creative. Get the shot or go home empty-handed. Period. Full stop. So yeah, I’ve taken this exact same photo of Downtown Los Angeles about 1,000 times on my way home from work. And I could wander back to this spot and unfold a carbon fiber tripod and meter the light and put a 50mm f/1.2L USM prime on one of my DSLR bodies and fire off 150 RAW exposures and post-process them until the end of time. But I won’t. With that much ability to get it just right, I’ll be so overwhelmed that I won’t even start. But with my phone? Click. Focus. Upload. Done. The point of NaNoWriMo isn’t to write the best thing you can write; it’s to write. Just like having a so-so photo in hand means a lot more than having the canonically-perfect version of same in your head. (N.B.: I feel like a lot of this is cribbed from Merlin, though I can’t find a particular place to link back to. Read everything he writes, though. Even the stuff that tells you to stop reading everything he writes. A++.)

My only comment on the whole NaNoWriMo debate, heavily couched in something else:

The “novel” part of NaNoWriMo is meant in jest. If you read what founder Chris Baty wrote about the topic, he admits that you’re not supposed to walk away from November with a book deal. The whole point is to capitalize on constraints to clear out the cobwebs. Even though you haven’t written the great American novel, getting 50,000 words out and onto the page probably isn’t a bad start.

We all know that limitations are a great way to kickstart your creative motor. Can’t sit still long enough to write a blog post? You can probably manage 140 characters.

Once upon a time, I was a photographer. I was going to be a photojournalist. I was even pretty good for a while. Long story short: I still have a closet full of professional photo gear, but I don’t take it out too often. Sometimes knowing that you have all the tools you could possibly want leaves you feeling more uncertain than anything else. If I’ve got six lenses to work with, which one should I mount for the best exposure?

That’s why most of the pictures I take now are with my iPhone. Because bags and bags full of L-series lenses don’t get me off my ass anymore. More ways to do something mean more ways to do it wrong. On the other side of the spectrum, when I’m wandering around and the only thing I have to capture what I’m seeing is a much-maligned three megapixel phone camera and a few ridiculous apps like TiltShift Generator, I’m forced to be creative. Get the shot or go home empty-handed. Period. Full stop.

So yeah, I’ve taken this exact same photo of Downtown Los Angeles about 1,000 times on my way home from work. And I could wander back to this spot and unfold a carbon fiber tripod and meter the light and put a 50mm f/1.2L USM prime on one of my DSLR bodies and fire off 150 RAW exposures and post-process them until the end of time. But I won’t. With that much ability to get it just right, I’ll be so overwhelmed that I won’t even start. But with my phone? Click. Focus. Upload. Done.

The point of NaNoWriMo isn’t to write the best thing you can write; it’s to write. Just like having a so-so photo in hand means a lot more than having the canonically-perfect version of same in your head.

(N.B.: I feel like a lot of this is cribbed from Merlin, though I can’t find a particular place to link back to. Read everything he writes, though. Even the stuff that tells you to stop reading everything he writes. A++.)

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