<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Mythic Bios]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://matthewkirshenblatt.ca]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[matthewkirshenblatt]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://matthewkirshenblatt.ca/author/matthewkirshenblatt/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Considerations and Experiments]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="628" data-permalink="https://matthewkirshenblatt.ca/2012/08/07/athena-bursting-from-the-brain-or-dealing-with-the-habits-of-a-creative-mindset/picture0007/" data-orig-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg" data-orig-size="640,480" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Acer CrystalEye&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="Me and my Head" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=640" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-628" alt="Me and my Head" src="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=610&#038;h=458" width="610" height="458" srcset="https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=610&amp;h=458 610w, https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=150&amp;h=113 150w, https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg?w=300&amp;h=225 300w, https://matthewkirshenblatt.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/picture0007.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been busy and thinking about some things this past while.</p>
<p>This in itself is nothing new, of course. I still have my collaboration with Angela to consider&#8211;which I have to flesh out into something like a comics script form (the details of which you can find under the &#8220;Project&#8221; Category of my Blog)&#8211;as well as continuing my quest for further publication and employment.</p>
<p>Ironically, I have been going out a lot more often and I will be doing so in the near future. My friends and I have been playing no less than two role-playing games&#8211;of which yesterday we played two sessions in a row&#8211;and I have been writing stories of our exploits in at least one of those worlds so far. Sometimes I feel guilty about that. I mean, I have sent stories out to magazines and such, but I feel like I am at a place in my life right now where I need to keep making stories that I can actually <em>send</em> out to places.</p>
<p>As such, I have a few experiments (I always feel like Darth Plagueis when I say &#8220;experiments&#8221; or some kind of ruthless mad alchemist) that I have not really been undertaking because I have been distracted with some pragmatic concerns, which ironically makes them harder to deal with, and so on.</p>
<p>I actually feel like I need to write more about my own life again. This was partially one principle that &#8220;Mythic Bios&#8221; was founded on, but I think there are some things that I need to express and there are certain ways of doing that that really intrigue me. It wasn&#8217;t too long ago that I wanted to make a Twine game or two based on some experiences or &#8220;day in the life thereofs&#8221; that people like <a href="http://www.auntiepixelante.com/twine/" target="_blank">Anna Anthropy</a> have totally inspired me to do. I do know that I am at the point in my life where I can begin to really express my perspective through my writing. I have done so, and I am continuing to do it as well.</p>
<p>However, I&#8217;m not sure all of it can be placed on here. What I like about this &#8220;Mythic Bios&#8221; is that it is safer. It is a purely theoretical place, but one where I can ponder about different things and maintain that veneer of optimism and positivity. A few of my friends and people who know me are probably finding this one sentence hilarious because for the longest time I have not been a very positive person. I&#8217;ve been angry, confused, bitter for sure, and definitely sad.</p>
<p>In every incarnation of &#8220;Mythic Bios&#8221; I have created&#8211;both here online and offline in my written notebooks&#8211;I have made a point of trying to not let those other aspects completely consume this space. Believe me, I deal with them more often than not and in private. I need to have a space where I can feel safe while expressing a reasonable and somewhat logical mindset: while making the boundary between fact and fiction a little more clear. But I also need to recognize that other side: the side that knows that stories and reality are not that far removed from each other. I need that place of emotion and expression of that emotion and the messiness that comes with being a human being.</p>
<p>I still find myself in that place where I&#8217;m torn between wanting to express that aspect and wondering how this will affect my current&#8211;and future&#8211;audience&#8217;s perception of my writing. While I do feel like I should have a separate space and maybe an aspect, I also feel somewhat cheated by that: as though I feel somehow that I can&#8217;t be a whole person. Because, like I said before, this&#8211;all of this&#8211;is not all of who I am.</p>
<p>At the same time, I want to leave some personal space to myself and even make things that I find interesting and aren&#8217;t necessarily related to me personally. I do believe that our writing is an extension of who we are and what we&#8217;ve done. On the subject of the personal, I know I still get concerned with offending people with what I can make as well.</p>
<p>But let me repeat: I do feel like I have something, or several somethings, to say. And I have this growing suspicion that there are people out there who will totally want&#8211;or even need&#8211;to read these &#8220;somethings.&#8221; I also know there are people who will always disagree with whatever I say, or simply not read these things. It would be almost easier if it were always the latter and not the former.</p>
<p>To be a writer, you have to travel that nebulous territory between the personal and the public, as well as the intellectual and the earthy and perhaps more &#8230; uncomfortable places that I&#8217;ve only touched on. I know, more or less, what I have to do. The rest of it is just details and finally sitting down to replenish my collection of stories.</p>
<p>I can&#8217;t sit around all the time and write. It&#8217;s just like <em>never</em> sitting down and writing. Something just has to happen. So I plan to write a story or two that&#8217;s been on my mind for a while, work on my part of the collaboration with Angela, send a few more things out and &#8230; see what I can do.</p>
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