Why I Write/Why this Website

My experience with writing

I’ve been a writer of sorts for many years now. Not really as consistent as I’d like though. My writing started off with journals in high school- I still have some, and they make for very very cringey reading!

That then morphed into overly dramatic and badly written melancholic poetry. I actually thought it was a good idea to put it up on Facebook at the time!

I’m very thankful that I deleted all of it soon after, but I believe one of my friends from school has it saved somewhere.

One of my ex-girlfriends motivated me to write a lot. I am thankful to her for that to this day. I started two blogs on tumblr. They mostly functioned as journals, with some essays and poetry thrown in here and there. Looking back at them and my other physical journals, it’s clear to me that I used to write mostly when I was angry and frustrated, sad and unhappy or just overwrought generally with emotions. I suppose they were a way for me to vent things in a non-confrontational way. It was also cathartic, which if anyone needs some catharsis, I highly recommend trying your hand at journaling or writing.

During this time, I wrote the beginning of a fantasy series- some 30,000 words, not too shabby, but it’s highly derivative for anyone who is familiar with high fantasy. Particularly the Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Eriksson (by far and away my favourite fantasy series). I haven’t really touched it in several years now. But a framework is there, waiting for me to be in the right headspace to start again with it.

Coming to this website and blog, I finally got the time and motivation to get started due to the Covid-19 lockdown. I didn’t really have anything else productive to do, and I thought that this could be the beginning of something good. It’s something I’ve talked about doing, and have wanted to do for a while now.

My influences and why I want to write now

I’m very interested in current affairs, I spend a lot of my time reading, listening to podcasts and having discussions with my peers about things going on in the world. For the last few years, I really have valued growth through learning and discussion more than anything else.

There are a few podcasts that I really like- Sam Harris’ Making Sense, Gimlet Media’s Science VS to name a few. The website/blog that has most inspired me is Tim Urban’s WaitButWhy. It’s an absolutely fantastic website. One of my favourites in fact. The way that he writes articles clicked and made sense to me in a way that made me question why other articles and essays had such garbage formats. I would highly recommend checking it out.

I also hope that one day I am qualified enough and knowledgeable enough to write my own non fiction book on an area that I’m interested in. I think this is because a lot of the books I have read lately have been very influential in shaping the way that I think about the world. One key book for me is Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now, and Hans Rothling’s Factfulness. Again, would highly recommend these books- particularly to people who feel very bleak about our current situation and where we’re headed.

I’m very grateful to the people in my life who have challenged me to rethink my opinions, encouraged me to learn and have simply just shown me different ways of looking at things. Many of these people I have known for many years, if not almost my whole life- they can well and truly see through my bull shit and call me out on things. The familiarity also helps with keeping an open mind and being willing to listen to criticism, because I always know it’s meant to be constructive.

This website for me is a way to put my ideas and thought into words and into a medium that can be shared, discussed and debated. I chose the name Seeking Silver Linings because it’s an idea that has captivated my imagination and desire for several years now. The idea that there is darkness out there, but there can always be a brighter side and cause for hope around the edges is a powerful one- it’s the basic concept of silver linings of course.

I think if you continue to read the things that I put up, you will find it quite difficult to find the silver linings and the optimism. It’s a bit hard to feel those things right now, given the situation in India and the world. I will say however that when it comes to me and my opinions, I have two separate (often contradictory) sets of opinions- much to my friends’ chagrin and amusement.

For me there is a difference of what ought to be done, and what I would do. The “ought to be done things” are what I consider to be highly pragmatic and dispassionate. A purely utilitarian (rule, not act) and numbers-based approach to things.

What I would do is very different- I don’t think I have the mental strength or the emotional fortitude to do the things that my ought to be done ideas would demand. I think that being in charge of a government or being a policy maker or even a key decision maker in a large corporation (one that was ethical) would be one of the most difficult things in the world to do. The cost and implications of decisions is something that is almost impossible to calculate, given how interlinked and interwoven systems, people and ideas are.

I think a lot of my writing will focus on my “ought” ideas. Sometimes I think they can come across as more than a little black and white, inconsiderate or even crazy. I will try and throw in some of the what I would do realities now and then, but the truth of the matter is that I tend to focus my thoughts and energy on the “ought” ideas.

I will at some point write an essay about what I think about where we are now, and where we are headed. Generally speaking, I think we’re fucked short and medium term, but we’ll be fine and better than before long term.

For whoever is reading this website/blog, do bear with me, as I’m new to this. I’m trying to find a style and an intended target audience. I haven’t decided how well researched and sourced my work is going to be yet. If I would source and use citations, I would want to do it properly, and that would take a long time and lots of effort to write even a basic essay. The stuff I have put up so far was not written with meticulous research and citations after choosing a topic. I wrote it with whatever I knew from reading, listening to podcasts, having conversations with people and reflecting on all of that. I may continue to do that for a while- till I decide to dedicate more time and effort to this.

I’m more than open to and happy to receive feedback and suggestion or even have discussion on things I’ve written. Please feel free to comment or reach out to me via email- it’s on the about me page!