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Navel Gazing is an Important Part of Writing
You have to dig out the fluff to find the gold
Belly buttons kinda gross me out so here is a picture of a (Naval? see what I did there) orange instead. Actually it looks more like a glorified satsuma/tangerine/clementine.
If I were writing about oranges or tiny oranges I might mull on which of those words sounded the best, funniest, most sensuous or divine depending.
That’s called writing, or as some people like to refer to it, navel gazing! Navel. Such a weird word. Almost sounds like novel, I always think. Just me? Oops, sorry I am doing it again!
According to some arbiters of taste, writers apparently shouldn’t read or navel gaze, ideally. These are both riotous acts of rebellion punishable by a handful of pennies chucked at our skulls. Get back to writing, apes!
Speaking of which, there is a funny poem by my favorite poet James Tate called “Teaching the Ape to Write Poems”. I doubt it’s the sort of thing just anyone would enjoy, as it doesn’t involve data science or pundits blathering about society. Also the anti navel gazers prefer their poetry in lower case, AI preferably, thanks.
Tate’s poem is (to me) about the silliness and futility writers often feel, as well as the heady pressure to be great— but…
