Perpetual Dada Machine

My previous post was my first ever blog post. In this one I will reflect on my motivations to start a blog, and as the end of the decade draws nearer, address some of my personal new year’s resolutions in hope of creative self-betterment.

During the past year I’ve started my librarian studies and currently have a job at a public library. Getting back into a more structured, disciplined, more “normal” sort of 9 to 5 lifestyle, I’ve seen advantages of applying that structure into creative processes the way I never could when blinded by total directionlessness.

One thing that I like about the blogging culture is the abundance of challenges that promote self-discipline. In these last three days of the year, I’m setting out to refine my own personal rules for a reading challenge I’ve decided to set myself for 2020, as well as decide on a minimum frequency to publish a blog post.

Advantages of self-discipline are of course, or at least will eventually become, obvious to any creative person.

I’ve struggled with extreme perfectionism and self-criticism all my life. Sharing my thoughts, or anything creative, has always been extremely difficult for me, and I’ve never really thought that the things I think about would be that well-formed to be comprehensible, and so my inner censor decides on quitting before anything manages to begin in the first place. My blog is sort of an extension of my diary, filtering out the most personally intimate stuff.

I’m setting out to improve my skills in writing, both fiction and non-fiction (former of which I probably won’t be ready to share for quite some time). The important thing is to make a regular habit of the process itself. This blog will consist mostly of essay style writings about cultural phenomena and art that I find inspiring.

So the core message of my new year’s resolutions is to persistently endure all the self-doubt that goes into the writing process, and just get the stuff out there.

What’s to come on ‘Perpetual Dada Machine’?

The name of my blog might suggest the reader to think of certain art movements of the early 20th century. It just came to me as a spontaneous flash of word association while desperately trying to come up with at least something for a name. As I come to think of it, the name proves out to be much more meaningful to me than I first thought. At a quick glance, it’s a self-deprecating joke. But also, surrealist and dadaist artists were early on in my adulthood an initial spark for me to later be so deeply fascinated by depth psychology, mythology and the spiritual in art.

I won’t be reviewing all of the books that I read in 2020, but I will post updates on my progress with my reading challenge, and surely write about the books that I find the most interesting.

What I’m especially looking forward to is reading Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson, which I’ve heard Yorgos Lanthimos will be making a film adaptation of.

Also I still haven’t gotten around to seeing some of the most hyped films of 2019 that have seemed very intriguing indeed, The Lighthouse and Parasite.

I’m not sure how much of a community person I will be when it comes to blogging, but because my reading challenge book list is not complete, I’m open for interesting suggestions.