How Writing DESTROYED David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace is one of the worst overthinkers I've ever had the pleasure to read and hear speak. In every single one of his interviews he is correcting himself and going way too deep 😂 And even though that suits his maximalist style very well, as Wallace explores with the Gately saga in Infinite Jest, 99% of addicts and neurotics are overthinkers. Today we will read a quote from Wallace and explore the malignant aspects of creative work.
Discover over 100 of David Foster Wallace's favorite books and the three books he wrote with by his side below
writeconscious.ck.page/8956ce...
Jeffrey Epstein and Cormac McCarthy
• Cormac McCarthy & Jeff...

[@chaseburger007]

If I looked at him through the lens of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” (Tversky/Kahneman) - I’d imagine some of his depression ran parallel to a brain in which system 2 ran the show completely. Without a practice in grounding himself out of his thoughts, the thoughts took over the show. Maybe he was convinced those thoughts were reality. Maybe his brain chemistry fueled it into a direction that was overwhelming. I’ve seen this first hand- hijack a friend with a condition and the devotion to his thoughts as reality and him then acting on those fictions. It was terrifying. Like possession. It also reminds me of Phillip K Dick and his spin into madness in his later years, where he began to believe his characters were visiting him and he isolated himself. He likely had a different condition, but the idea stands for me. What if your nervous system overloaded your body with all kinds of anxiety/fear chemical dumps and you trusted the thoughts that came from it and believed them? I don’t know how I’d do. Maybe I’d live in an ice bath permanently or something. What do you think? Foster was incredibly high powered with system 2 thinking to me. And if he didn’t have a practice that allowed him to notice that his thoughts weren’t reality, nor his words, then it’s all but inevitable that some kind of mental breakdown was coming- whether unleashed on those around him or himself. But I could be wrong. I mostly am. Great channel btw. Thank you.

[@WriteConscious]

Grat analysis. You're on point with the ice baths. You'd have to create a whole new an unique/extreme dopemaine rewiring through certain practices to ground with such an odd disposition.

[@CINEMARTYR]

Your killing it dude. ❤

[@WriteConscious]

Thanks!

[@AJPzaworld]

As I said before, it’s rather stupefying how writers are the most self aware yet least able to self actualize themselves. They know their ticks, their follies, their moronic endeavors, and humiliate themselves with a cursory, visceral hand, yet can’t escape that self loathing. Let art become artless, as the people of Zen are oft to say. Elsewise, the cogito clouds you and gets you caught on that single leaf in contrast to the rest of the world. Creativity is a flowing thing, mixing it in with your primacy condenses it to a shade of blue for yourself rather than the spectrum it had in its starting. Will-to-death becomes the heart of it; you center on finishing, on speaking, rather than the process of that journey. A strange impatience that blooms into anxiety, and you can see that in these authors often.

[@WriteConscious]

Beautiful comment as always brotha. Need to have you on again soon.

[@majorgrubert5887]

I would like to write.. possibly science fiction or fantasy. I’m a bit old and never had more education othe then a trade school apprenticeship. I’m 46 and think I’ll try a hand at short stories. I would like to write about my experiences with drugs and the lifestyle that enveloped me but don’t know if that’s a well traveled road , nothing new under the sun so to speak. Idk but writing is interesting to me and reading doubly so.

[@WriteConscious]

It doesn't matter if a story has been told. You can tell it in your own unique way and style.

[@sundressers]

I was debating whether to use a pen name or my real name for my stories because I was afraid how I would be perceived online. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I will definitely use my real name haha.

[@WriteConscious]

Fear is the mind killer brotha.

[@Chatetris]

Oh wait, you're also a teacher? That's pretty neat! I wish I could say I'm a "permanent" teacher at the high school I'm currently teaching at, but I must say teaching Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet has certainly been firing up those writing juices, depsite not writing a single line for a month or so.

[@WriteConscious]

Lol, I feel you man. It takes a lot of energy to teach but is also very inspirational at times. Also, yes I am.

[@toddjacksonpoetry]

OK, I have the same problem with teaching at a public school while YouTubing. Maybe I shouldn't worry.

[@greblaksnew]

I use a pen name because my real name is Clint Harris. But I mean, you're right, nobody fucking cares. Also, I have a YT channel (where you can find a link to pre-order my book coming out on 4.20!!!) but I fucking hate it and I don't post shit on there. As far as social media goes, you might be on track for it to earn you some money, but for me and I think most people, you can't do SMS and be a writer, because first there's no time but also the temptation to succumb to the sycophants is just too strong. And then on the other hand you have people who come to tear you down. Fuck the both of them. Writing is a solitary thing, I write to myself and I just don't need the static of other people trying to get their opinion in. What you do need is a good editor. They are hard to find and expensive.

[@WriteConscious]

I think for marketing online most writers should make it a one way channel. I respond to comments around once a month when I feel balanced and won't take in too much praise or hate. You could also not respond to comments and just post stuff and build your audience that way.