Earbuds Make You Idea Blind

Last month I talked about having a system to enable my work. That’s fine. But this month I want to muse on my… well, my muse.

When I look back over the last four or five years of working on this project, I think that right now — as I am ~half way through The Hellsborough Chronicles trilogy — more about that below — I am wondering where my inspiration has gone, because at the moment, it feels like it has deserted me.

I know at least one of the reasons is walking Buddy (my Shad-ow), I used to wear earbuds, and listen to podcasts about various subjects, it doesn’t matter what, but what does matter is that I was listening to them at all, and that stops all the random thoughts going on in your head from happening — because all you are doing is listening to other people’s ideas, their creativity, not your own — at a time when your mind could be wondering freely. I stopped wearing earbuds around 2021/22, but recently I re-started. It didn’t last long for long walks (the sweat gets in my ears and the earbuds fall out, which can be detrimental to their functioning :D), so I now limit them to short walks, which works much better.

Another reason has to be familiarity with my environment. Back then, I was exploring, reacquainting myself with the area, and every path I walked was new and unexpected. Now, I have walked them a thousand times, and so, exploration is merely wrote. My average monthly walking distances, have also been moving steadily downwards all year, is this due to climate change - I’m not a fair weather walker, but too wet or too hot is sure to curtail the length of my journey - or maybe age, or just boredom? I have no idea.

And finally, lockdown. Although as far as I am aware, I didn’t actually suffer any symptoms of the covid19 virus, the whole lockdown thing and the stress of it all was, a culture shock for the majority of the population— on top of that, I moved from a somewhat thriving business with many friends, to a place where I knew no-one, and had to start again on the social side of things. I think that I was writing as a pseudonym in the guise of Pip Rippon, and how my real world thinking converted into diary entries and more material in Chronicles 1 & 2, says a lot.

When I look back at the work I was generating in 2021/2022, I was maybe a little bonkers in retrospect, but I was certainly a creativity machine — or so it feels now. Now, I am struggling to move beyond the next chapter — all this will pass, I am sure. This piece of self-therapy, and my strategy framework will prevail, but it is still sometimes a little frustrating all the same. 

Work harder, avoid distractions, get out to new places, and refrain injecting other people’s ideas directly into my mind — they are the answers to inspiring my creativity: Focus will see the return of my muse, whatever a muse is!

Books I’ve been reading recently

The Earth Beneath My Feet by Andrew Terrill - the first part in a young man’s epic solo walk from the most southerly point in Italy to the top of Norway

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer - I dip into this every now and then, when I feel the need for a dose of weird

Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft by Paul Allen - Like the Steve Wozniak to Apple’s Steve Jobs, Paul Allen founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, an entertaining tour of the early personal computer industry

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Intelligent spiders in the far distant future

Memorable things I’ve watched lately

Grotesquerie on Disney+ - Twin Peaks meets Hannibal

The Amateur on Disney+ - I’ve enjoyed watching Rami Malek since Mr Robot, and this is a wonderfully nerdy action thriller

Human with Ella Al-Shamahi on BBC iPlayer - When you watch programmes like this, it puts ideas and technological revolutions into context. The alphabet was invented by migrant slaves in a copper mine. Reminded me of putting together Pip Rippon’s Curated Guide to Hellsborough and The Dark Peak

Inspiring things I’ve listened to in June

Good, Bad, Dead Billionaire podcast from BBC Sounds - John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Howard Hughes

Hot Money: Agent of Chaos - the Financial Times exposed a €2 billion fraud at Wirecard, a high-flying German fintech

Darknet Diaries - mg - the story behind the OMG cable

News articles that inform me about The Dark Peak

An implantable electronic device restores movement in animals with spinal injuries. More…

New technology stores three terabytes of data per square centimetre. More…

Adult humans continue to form new neurons well into the old age. More…

A family of 5 particles may uncover the dark matter mystery. More…

Organ regeneration had been lost in many animal species, but it can be turned back on. More…

New device hooks into an insect’s brain to control their movements. More…

Tech can identify an individual based on how their body interacts with Wi-Fi signals. More…

This Month’s words and pictures

I have now completed chapters 9 - 14 of Van Hallam’s Hellsborough Chronicles, part 2: Darker Peak. If you would like them an an ebook for reading on most devices, or mobi file for side-loading onto Kindle devices, please email me and I’ll send it to you. Chapters 1 - 8 are obviously also available 😃.

“And if tha does nowt, how does tha come to 'ave this advanced technology?

The fungai of course -- and molon-tor, said Yöy.

Molon-tor, Van? I said drowsily through the fug of smoke and fumes that drifted across that low table. Who is molon tor?

They were the first times I had heard the phrase, Pip, and your question of who is an interesting way of putting it. This is an important thing to know. Molon-tor, Pip, said Van through the scerm -- is the hivemind my love. Molon-tor is the social media infection that those natural to The Dark Peak carry in their heads, and the same hivemind that you tap into using that big old psycmask of yours.

And I was still drowsy, and then all of a sudden, I was shucken up from my drowsiness, as the scerm enveloped me and Van was suddenly in my face screaming: Why does tha think tha brought that amorphous substance, Pip?! Why does tha think tha brought it across The Hinge?!

I backed off in abject horror and panic, unable to answer either of Van's questions. I am cowering as Van's carascading face shines fully into mine.

Oy, Pip, No! This is not the time! Let me continue, I's on a roll: Agghhahha!! Me mind says aye, my body says nay. Molon-tor rules the world, the fungai is all powerful!

And then Van seems -- to me -- to calm down, and he is Van again, not some screaming squarkwing…” (from chapter 14)

That’s all for this month folks, have a great August 🫠