To write something is one and to publish it is another. Had been contemplating on a topic for long and this post is just to get a feel of it. Here we go.
The title comes in a flash. The content for the chosen title comes in small chunks. The overall article takes shape as i assemble the small chunks in a computer; rewritten it at least 3 or 4 times. A good 30 min to 1 hr of time.
This takes me back to days when there were no paper, no pen, no computer. Say let us go back by around 2000 years. If our forefathers wanted to communicate something in writing, they had to carve it on a stone. Imagine the time and effort required. Incidentally, I have not come across any stone engravings with strike marks on it; they cant afford to make mistakes!!!
Even our ancient scriptures on palm leaves required writing with nails. Not so easy either. no room for modification again.
The advent of ink on paper was much easier and so people started writing pages after pages. It would have taken long for newton (17th century) to script his principia. I could only imagine the number of papers, newton would have gifted the waste basket. Euclid writing about geometry around 300 BC is a great wonder.
Astonishingly, one of my favorite author Isaac Asimov had published close to 300 books. How did be manage; only he could tell.
So, Thinking, writing, publishing and of course reading consumes a lot of time and resources. The resources being paper or power consumed by a computer. With computers, the consumption is twice. once for reading and another for writing.
I only wish, if the whole script can be visualized in the mind and better still transferred as a thought. I am told yogi's are/were able to do this with least amount of energy consumption.
So to go green, let us use brain.
The title comes in a flash. The content for the chosen title comes in small chunks. The overall article takes shape as i assemble the small chunks in a computer; rewritten it at least 3 or 4 times. A good 30 min to 1 hr of time.
This takes me back to days when there were no paper, no pen, no computer. Say let us go back by around 2000 years. If our forefathers wanted to communicate something in writing, they had to carve it on a stone. Imagine the time and effort required. Incidentally, I have not come across any stone engravings with strike marks on it; they cant afford to make mistakes!!!
Even our ancient scriptures on palm leaves required writing with nails. Not so easy either. no room for modification again.
The advent of ink on paper was much easier and so people started writing pages after pages. It would have taken long for newton (17th century) to script his principia. I could only imagine the number of papers, newton would have gifted the waste basket. Euclid writing about geometry around 300 BC is a great wonder.
Astonishingly, one of my favorite author Isaac Asimov had published close to 300 books. How did be manage; only he could tell.
So, Thinking, writing, publishing and of course reading consumes a lot of time and resources. The resources being paper or power consumed by a computer. With computers, the consumption is twice. once for reading and another for writing.
I only wish, if the whole script can be visualized in the mind and better still transferred as a thought. I am told yogi's are/were able to do this with least amount of energy consumption.
So to go green, let us use brain.
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ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty good one to start with Bala.
ReplyDeleteIt's an amazing thought about our forefathers and how they managed to scrip so much when even a small error can cause the whole thing to be scripted again.
Today we encourage errors by students with inventions like eraser pens that masks your error and helps you rewrite on it without leaving a trace of the error made. Now how far have we have gone done?
Surely we need to use brain to go green.
There are two relevant quotes of Asimov:
ReplyDelete"nothing interferes with my concentration. you could put on an orgy in my office and i wouldn't look up. well, maybe once." and, “Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.”
I think he had immersive knowledge of his subject matter, and he was in a flow while writing. He is also supposed not to have revised much.
Is it just the brain or the heart too? May be conserving your energy is the secret of sustanability!
Welcome, hope to see your posts regularly.
Good question bas, heart controls mind. Only when heart lets go the mind can act. Isn't it?
ReplyDeletemay be heart and head should go together?
ReplyDeletethe point about asimov, i think is that he was totally immersed in what he wrote- all his thinking had been done before he had started writing- and he was about to fend off all emotional distractions when it came to writing. don't know, really.
may be our own sujatha was that way?
not about to fend off, able to fend off. sorry, silly spelling mistake.
ReplyDeleteScientific and common sense says that, the whole concept can be perceived before writing.
ReplyDeleteBut according to mystics, we can latch on to cosmic intelligence and just start writing!!!.
What say? Mysticism leads to scientific inquiry, which in turn transforms to commonsense.
What happened to earlier comments? may be the change of blog url did some vanishing trick here.
ReplyDeleteI think both hold their place. It's quite possible to perceive the whole concept before writing. Also you may build a concept as you write. In my experience, I have done both. I have written after thinking through a concept completely. I have also built along with writing. About improvement and modifications I guess the first one fares better. But surely you will be more clear when you think through a concept before you start typing. You would rarely stop in the middle.