Introducing Chiaramente
It's a rebrand, clearly.
tl;dr
chiara = bright or clear
mente = mind
chiaramente = clearly
...and that's exactly what this blog aims to be. Not quite clear? Read on.
Hilma af Klint’s Altarpiece, No. 1. 1907.
When I told my partner that I was rebranding my blog from Chiara’s Chronicles to Chiaramente, he pointed out that I was rebranding a blog with only one post and no brand to begin with.
“Are you going to rebrand after every post?” he joked.
Hmph! Fair enough.
Or…?
The reason I've spent so long establishing this rather obvious point [that writing helps you refine your thinking] is that it leads to another that many people will find shocking. If writing down your ideas always makes them more precise and more complete, then no one who hasn't written about a topic has fully formed ideas about it. And someone who never writes has no fully formed ideas about anything nontrivial.
It feels to them as if they do, especially if they're not in the habit of critically examining their own thinking. Ideas can feel complete. It's only when you try to put them into words that you discover they're not. So if you never subject your ideas to that test, you'll not only never have fully formed ideas, but also never realize it.
—Paul Graham
There are so many blog posts encouraging people to write more (h/t BlueDot for all these links).
They all say writing helps explore, flesh out, and crystallise thoughts; document projects; helps to become a better communicator; forces you to strive for high standards; and leads to valuable discussions and learning.
All these people also seem to simply enjoy writing.
I agree with all of these points. I want to distil ideas and create neat little outputs (blog posts) and use them as cute little trampolines for more thoughts, ideas, discussion, spontaneity. And I enjoy writing, too. But alas, some form of perfectionism has continued to stop me from writing more, and publicly.
“I can’t write about this because I’m not an expert” and “This post needs to be completely error-free and well-researched and no one should misunderstand my point” and “My takes have to be original” and “Who’s going to want to read what I have to say, anyway?”, etc.
But, as Alexey Guzey writes:
It doesn’t matter! Your blog may have the median of 0 visitors per day (as my blog had for the first two years). Your blog may be ungoogleable. Your blog may have no subscribers. But if you’re not embarrassed to tell people “oh, btw I wrote about this / collected some things on the topic on my blog”, the purpose of the blog is fulfilled, since this is the best indicator of your writing actually being helpful.
And this guy, Jonas Hietala:
I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read.
And Guzey, again:
Unoriginal writing is useful because it helps in the process of discovery and in the process of supporting underappreciated ideas.
I knew and believed all of this on a theoretical level, but idk, sometimes it just takes a while for things to click into place. I don’t have to be original or perfectly caveated; if someone finds what I say useful or interesting sometimes then that’s cool; if I make mistakes, then so be it.
Another thing that helped was that I recently had a useful conversation with a friend about my writing ambitions, who is now my weekly accountability buddy for writing (hi Max). So that will hopefully allow me to figure out what a sustainable and motivating writing habit looks like.
For lack of a better conclusion to this section: usually, you just have to be willing to sit down and Do The Thing™. So here I am. Doing The Thing™.
Rene Magritte’s Portrait of Stephy Langui. 1961.
So – as you may have noticed – this blog has a new name.
In light of all the above, the “rebrand” feels pertinent because:
I’ll be writing whatever is on Chiara’s mente.
Nothing in the world is all that clear. Especially not your thoughts. Or at least not yet. Not until you write it out! Chiaramente.
And, because I can’t ignore the final part of the wordplay, the ultimate goal is a bright mind. Clarity of thought. Figuring out my thoughts on complex things, sharing what I notice, to eventually work towards doing more useful things in this world that help us make it better. Knowledge is only instrumentally valuable, after all. Right?
Have I milked the metaphor enough?
What exactly is on Chiara’s mind?
Vaguely: AI, evolution. Social dynamics, group norms. Progress and psychology. Culture, cooperation, competition, community. Maximising experience. And whatever else crystallises along the way.
I like the rebrand! And your writing style.
I want an IV drip of Chiara’s mente straight into my veins