Tag Archives: Reading

Long Live Good Music!

Besides reading, writing, and cycling, I batter stress by listening to music.

The following gems have been found on the soundtrack of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation:

https://youtu.be/5TQc7kjZQjQ?si=wWph7zXAg2nQW78J

https://youtu.be/lphG4o2tOn0?si=H2mBavP3XhpSLU5i

https://youtu.be/Gi-zBEzwRSk?si=BBux0GtCX48KQ1cL

https://youtu.be/s9WIPa6L4u0?si=q9bA8N5Jm65uBGcD

https://youtu.be/fQCfGTzpP9E?si=_x_LfECfOR1udyXh – This pays tribute to Placebo.

https://youtu.be/iS5lKuh-4v4?si=0D4D9xIx-kTNKZcs

https://youtu.be/IK5I4cTkL-E?si=fAwzSNaSN6T5YHS4

https://youtu.be/vcEhaucjEUY?si=LFFalnc8MXt6-SbL

https://youtu.be/bX-kxzMEbzc?si=28JNhoinJJAdM-Rj.

In the photo: cycling in my 18-year-old bike boots.

A Book

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”
-Carl Sagan

Art – Garnet Ruskin Wolseley – Reading on the Windowsill, 1884-1967.

Exciting News: Launching A Book Club In English!

I love reading!
I dedicate 50% of my time to reading.

What I absolutely love is that I live not here with you, friends, family, clients, collaborators, and other wonderful people, but in other places where jaw-dropping landscapes and memorable characters shine.

I love the feeling that when writing about a topic, I get a tentacle that draws me into a story that I read a long time ago. That familiar air stops me in my word tracks.
…..

I was very lucky to grow up in a house full of books…

I have written more about my reading passion in this article on Fragrantica: What Three Fragrances Would You Take On A Desert Island?

All the details about this new Book Club will be published soon.

Art – Kaoru Yamada (Japanese, 1975)

How do you tackle writer’s block?

Writer’s block is the condition of being unable to create a piece of written work because something in your mind prevents you from doing it.

The term was coined in 1947 by Dr Edmund Bergler, a famous Austrian psychiatrist living in New York City.

Teaching comes naturally to me because I view it as a real-time storytelling experience between myself and my students. I do not teach grammar in a dull manner; instead, I incorporate storytelling into my teaching approach.

I believe that writing is the true form of storytelling, and I have seldom experienced writer’s block. I struggle the most with maintaining consistency in my writing because sometimes my texts come across as frail when I am feeling very tired. I do not recognize my voice in them.

At times, I experience a lack of fresh ideas since I strive to write original content consistently. Sometimes the images I intend to convey through my stories appear to be blurry.

The medicine for that is to stop writing and start reading. I read everything I could find in my library. Anyhow, I have a lot of books on my must-read list. And I believe in Taleb’s antilibrary.

“Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.” – The Black Swan, Nassim Taleb

After a few days, my writing voice is back. The most inspirational writers for me are: John Fowles, Somerset Maugham, Jack London.
If I were to pursue a career as a novelist, my aspiration would be to write at least half as well as the aforementioned writers.

What about you? How do you beat writer’s block?
What’s your secret to unlocking the creative floodgates when the words just won’t flow?

Art – Vanessa Bell – Interior with the Artist’s Daughter, 1935

To Read

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.
Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”
William Faulkner

Art – Reading by Lamplight – George Clausen (1852–1944)