On why I am crazy - why I write

So perhaps some of you know this about me. But I really do like writing. I have liked it since I was very little. I still have a very early story, which was science fiction btw. Also, I really like reading. These things go well together.

And lately I have joined a very nice community I had been looking for, for a very long time... It's called 'The Writers Block' (@thewritersblock, TWB) and is a forum-like place on discord where writers not just meet, but discuss things like sheet milk vs cow milk, the difference between leech and leach, and...

writers commenting on each other's work. This seems like a lot of effort and work, and it is. But the funny thing is, reading someone else with writers' eyes, knowing they have put a lot of effort into it, and they are willing to take your thoughts into consideration is... a lot of fun. And one learns a lot, I'm afraid to warm anyone who might also be interested.

But, there is more...

Write Club

So I've only been a member for a very short time, but there are some very dedicated people on TWB who have taken on a next level struggle... 'Write Club'. Eight writers, 16 weeks, with 8 prompts to set off stories that will be polished (by them) until they shine. This sounds amazing, and I'm very sad I am not one of the eight, but actually maybe also glad, because I get to still join them without getting whipped once I don't make one deadline... And the nice thing, anything I write I can still put up in the reading queue at TWB, just like anyone else... Best of all the worlds, I'd say. Anyone can join, the prompts will all be made publicly available!

Join!

Want to know more about how to join? This is an excellent post by @jayna that sums it all up. Please let me know if you would like to form an Alternative Write Club. And there is also the first prompt, so you can already start working on the first story, written by @tanglebranch.

Are you crazy?

Perhaps I am crazy. (Actually I have a book coming out in a few months claiming all philosophers must be mad, so yes, I probably am.) But I like it. Ever since finishing my MA in philosophy, I have wondered what to do in life. What to become. I pursued a PhD in contemporary philosophy, and ended up writing about writing a lot. Writing and reading on Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, and some more of those fellows.

I registered myself as a freelance philosopher and wrote a lot of different things. Commercial things to pay some bills, at the beginning. But I've been able to more and more exclusive focus on philosophy & writing things that I value. For a Dutch blog on meaning & life ('zingeving' in Dutch) I wrote almost daily pieces that were widely read. I still write theatre and modern dance reviews in the Netherlands, which doesn't pay anything, but I do get to go to the theatre a lot! And I write book reviews, publishers keep sending over books, so I must be doing something right there. And since a few years I also teach writing & more and more also philosophy at an art academy in the Netherlands. Which is a lot of fun, and a nice challenge - getting visual artists to write!

So, what do I write, you may wonder:

• At the moment I'm working on another book that is still in early manuscript phase
• I am waiting for the first copy of my first book to be published in Dutch - should be here by Friday! (Still looking for an English publishers, anyone any idea?)
• I'm finishing some articles to be published in philosophy journals, hopefully one day (I'm a Research Fellow at the University of Brighton - in my spare time ;-) )
• I'm looking for a publisher of a book on 'the Panopticon of the Present' - a general audience philosophy kind of book, which is almost done.
• I found a publisher for my (hardcore) philosophy book that is about radical change, taking up the work of Cioran, Badiou, Blanchot and Foucault mostly. (Hardcore philosophy isn't a term, but I try to explain it in this post.)
• And... I write short stories. Experimental, literary, science fiction. Some flash fiction. Some drabbles. For instance: Small Steps (Steemit original) and Bubble

So, going to stop here, as it is time to go back to writing, by saying I really look forward to participating un-officially in the Write Club. Please join me!