Part I
Josh Lyman, or perhaps C.J. Cregg from The West Wing, once quoted Mark Twain in a letter: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." "This is going to be a very long letter," he wrote. And indeed, this will be quite a lengthy one.
Someone once asked CGP Grey about "letters to my future self." He responded, "I doubt my future self would care much about a letter from my present self." I can relate; even my thoughts from three days ago feel uninspiring, let alone a decade later. I've attempted blogging twice before and tried journaling five times, yet they all felt like notes to a distant version of myself.
Part II
“Writing is something that needs to be learned; writing shouldn’t be exclusive ability of certain professions. Apart from the very few who wrote for the public, we should write for ourselves. This is a record of our own life, and it is also a way to expand ideas and ways of thinking.”
Quoting Ted Chiang, it is Zhao Poe @bluebird0605 that reminded me that writing shouldn't be reserved for specific professions. It's a means to record our lives and expand our perspectives. Though I'm not familiar with Ted Chiang's work (wasn't a fan of the film Arrival), I find Zhao Poe and Ted Chiang's argument quite compelling.
Part III
Here's my plan for this place: 1) I'll write some lengthy pieces. 2) I'll also jot down bits of thoughts here and there. This is how Li Ruyi from Yitianshijie does it; how John Grubber for Daring Fireball does it, and so can I.
Haruki Murakami once shared his writing routine: reading, listening to records, and then producing exactly ten pages daily—no less, but importantly, no more. While engrossed in A Wild Sheep Chase, Enter the Sheep Professor, I abruptly paused, grabbed my notes, and found myself here. I quote to preserve what I've absorbed and write to expand upon my thoughts.
– Yuhao