July 15th. Halfway through the month. I don’t really feel like writing today. There are a few larger topics I wanted to talk about throughout this month but they are difficult to tackle in one sitting. I could break them up into parts but I want to write them like my older blog posts. For those, I typically write longer posts and really take my time with what I am trying to say. Some topics I want to write about are social media and dopamine, social security and how we treat our elder generations, federal deficit/debt, trees, crypto, stoicism, and a post titled “recipe for maladies in life”.

I will get to all of them eventually. They are bigger topics where far smarter people than me have written mountains of books and discussed plenty. But I still find writing about them a clarifying and educating process for myself. To write about them with meaning requires a somewhat accurate degree of understanding. 

I am just trying to get the ball rolling today for myself. I would imagine it is difficult for full-time writers to get themselves into a “writing mood” at times. I wonder if there are mental warm-ups they go through or a routine they follow. I find it much easier to get my physical body warmed up and ready to work. I feel like I can go from sleeping to fully functioning pretty quickly. And I know that the more I move the more alert and awake my body will be. I don’t know as many tricks for the writing brain. 

Maybe I should try copywriting one day. I heard about this technique before but never tried it. Copywriting is taking a passage that someone else has written, and literally copying word-for-word what they wrote. Copywriting should be done by hand. It requires no critical or creative thought. Just a blank paper and a pencil. For an even more deliberate writing warm-up, you can choose a passage of similar stylistic qualities to whatever you are about to write. 

I bet this works well to get the brain at least moving in the direction of readying itself to do some real writing. To warm up to run, I run (slower). To warm up to lift, I lift (lighter). It would make sense that to warm up to write, I should write. 

I am going to cut it short today. I don’t have much else to say. Tomorrow, I am going to try copywriting.