Oops! No writing!
Hi! It's been way too damn long since I've posted anything here, which is weird since I have nothing to do for the summer! I've decided that if I don't write a blog post today, I'll die, so here I am, writing this all in one sitting.
I think my biggest problem with writing is that I tend to overthink things to the point where they never get done. I've been reading/watching a lot of math content and I decided to write a small paper about group theory for myself. I discovered an interesting theorem and started to write a proof but quickly got stuck. I started thinking about how to structure the document, got second thoughts about the concept definitions at the very beginning, and all kinds of second thoughts that get in the way of actual writing. Then, browsing Wikipedia, I realized that it was all equivalent to a very well-known theorem called the Chinese Remainder Theorem (<3). So, the unfinished LaTeX document on my hard drive would contribute nothing even if I did finish it. Not the most encouraging thing to find.
Everyone has to write every now and then, especially if you're in school studying the humanities (I am minoring in philosophy). Although I do write every now and then, I am not a *writer*. There are a lot of words like this that get tossed around a lot (writer, mathematician, cyclist, etc.) that, in my mind, are not the same as simply doing the action that this word represents (“one who writes/does math/cycles”). On the home page of this very website, I call myself a mathematician. This is only because of how involved I feel with studying math, math history, writing about it, talking about it, etc. I also consider myself a baker, because this is my current job (so of course I do it a lot). But I do not consider myself a writer. Writing is neither my job nor my passion, even though every concept I wish to communicate and have communicated to me must be done in writing. (This is something which I might write about here some other day.)
The point is that I need to change my approach to writing. Not only for the sake of this blog, but also because classes demand it. So maybe I might start posting blog posts for the sake of it instead of for some higher goal. I know I'd slowly get better at writing even if I was just fucking around. If anyone out there has something they want me to write about then feel free to reach out. I'm just glad I got at least something onto paper. Phew. I guess I'll (if it all goes right) post something more coherent here soon!