What’s This Thing About?
Honestly? This blog isn’t about any one thing. On my “About Me” page, you’ll see that my interests and passions are various. I like to work in a broad variety of mediums, so I expect my blog articles will reflect that. In general, you’ll find posts centered around three primary categories, those listed on the site banner, “Writing. Film. Creative Lifestyle.” These categories are purposely broad. This my space to talk about anything that I find interesting. So don’t be shocked to find me writing about music, travel, language, or merely waxing philosophical about life or science fiction.
On top of these core topics, I’ll occasionally share my own work, which you can find here. This might include short films, music videos, and who knows what else. When I do, I plan to write a bit about my experience with each project and what the process taught me along the way.
How Will Content Be Organized?
First and foremost, it’s a blog about the creative process. I’m constantly looking for inspiration and life hacks to help me maintain my sanity while creating. I’ll be writing articles based on my experience as an aspiring writer in which I’ll offer tips on how to stay motivated, balanced, and confident in your creativity. Some of them, like this one about taking control of your time, will be akin to bite-sized self-help books. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve read my fair share of artist based self-help lit, so I want to share what I’ve picked up over the years.
Secondly, my main focus is on writing, so most posts will likely revolve around some form of writing such as screenwriting, poetry, or prose. These posts might be technical tips about the craft of writing, but most of them probably won’t. You can find tips about grammar anywhere. I’d rather write essays about topics pertinent to the craft of writing and/or subjects that other writers might find interesting. This article is an example of this, where I wrote about how emojis may be changing the landscape of the English language.
Third, I’ll be writing about cinema and filmmaking. I went to college for filmmaking and I’ve been an avid cinephile since about 2012. I’m a screenwriter, director, and cameraman in my own right, but I simply love to talk about movies. I’ll be peppering in some articles where I analyze films or individual scenes, discuss the film industry as I see it, or simply rank my favorites as I did here. These posts may or may not coincide with my film recommendation page on Instagram, Ya Oughta Watch.
What Does “Handwritten Kin” Mean?
My foremost passion and artistic focus in life is writing, hence handwritten. More specifically though, I feel a certain romantic connotation in having written something by hand rather than on a device. There’s something more classic, more nostalgic, and more intimate about it. I appreciate when you can sense the “handmade feel” of a piece of art. So my idea was to adopt that as an ideology of sorts. Even when I’m not actually writing by hand (such as now), I want that idea of handwritten-ness to be symbolic of the personal touch that goes into everything I do.
Second, “kin” is simply an important word to me. Family is unquestionably one of the most important aspects of life and something for which I aim to always remain grateful. It’s important to embrace your heritage and family history, no matter how difficult or diverse. By doing so we’re better able to put our own identities in perspective and appreciate how we fit into a historical narrative. Beyond that, I like to remember that in a grander sense we are all family. As human beings we all share a common history, common day-to-day existence, and common future. I care about where we come from collectively and where we’re headed as a species. These themes are at the forefront of my creative endeavors, especially in the content I aim to write on this blog.
To me, these two words represent the how, what, and why behind all my work. I want everything I do to feel handmade and I want it to pay respect to my family, both my actual family and a figurative family consisting of everybody else in the world who loves art as much as I do.