1 — An introduction
So I just started this publication and named it Open Water Experiments. Open Water because I’ll be sailing for the next two months, most likely between the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. Experiment because I have no idea what I’m going to write about, only that I plan on writing and publishing every day.
I’m doing this anonymously because I can’t tolerate the risk of speaking my mind openly under my own name. This probably makes me a coward. So be it. At least I’ll try and put words on the page. There’s lots to express and only one short life to do it.
So what are the conditions for this experiment? First, let me consult the drunken voice message I left to myself during a three mile odyssey through Fort Lauderdale… Okay, listened to it. That was useless but at least I was having fun
Okay, let me consult my journal, where I also tried to summarize some goals. Ah! This is helpful. Okay:
- Instead of trying to get ideas refined and perfected before they go out, I’ll reverse the logic. I’ll hope that by putting them out, they’ll become more refined over time. Through the process of trying to express them they’ll become more articulated. Not the other way around. Otherwise I never produce anything. I always have the excuse that it’s not ready.
- There are no restrictions to what I will write about. I’ll consider expanding on and publishing all that occurs to me, all that feels worthy of expressing. Hereby I’ll perhaps discover what I like to write about and what I don’t, and will have free reign to develop a style. Though I suspect it’ll be part memoir, part social and political commentary.
- The only hard and fast rule is to write from a place of love, hoping for the well being of anyone who may be adversarial to my perspective. Just to develop the habit of expressing myself with compassion would be a worthy use of time.
God-willing I will capture a few adventures, a few thoughts worth expressing, a few musings during this process. God-willing I will practice expressing myself honestly and frankly.
