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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Meet Josh Lieberman, Blogger

Josh Lieberman is 22, an iOS app developer, and in college. He loves to write and follow passions and procrastinate. Check out his blog at http://www.tonotmissthebliss.com.

1. What inspired you to launch your site, and how did you choose the name, "tonotmissthebliss"?

It all began a few years ago when I was about 50 pounds overweight and had this big idea for a project. The project was this huge, way over my head, ambitious goal to 1) get in shape, 2) lose weight, and 3) write about it all to become a book about the process. After a lot of writing, I began to share it with friends. But it becomes cumbersome to discuss the same bit of writing in three or four different full conversations. This is where the blog idea was born--as a place to write these musings and thoughts.

I've always had a fascination with the word "bliss." Somehow, I'm quite happy that "tonotmissthebliss" still resonates with me to this day. It took me a couple years to really build the momentum and energy to consistently post. But now that I've slowly reached this point, it feels amazing.

2. How did you first get interested in writing poetry?

Hah. I would say that listening to Eminem at a young age definitely influenced my mind to enjoy hearing rhymes. In high school, my friends and I would insult each other with rhymed blocks of text. Then in my early years of college, I would write long poems for gals I never dated. Only recently have I started directing my love of poems towards myself, the universe, and overarching ideas such as love and inspiration.

3. What do you find are your favorite times to write--and what are some topics or experiences that seem to motivate you to put your thoughts/feelings into words?

The favorite time to write is when the mind has something to write about. Thank goodness for Evernote--as long as I have my phone nearby, I can record the thought for later. I would say 40% of my rhymes are from the train, 35% are written at the park, 10% at work, and the other 15% anytime, anyplace.

The biggest motivation is my love of anime. There's a certain type of show I watch where a team comes together to overcome insurmountable odds. The feelings of inspiration, teamwork, and THEY DID IT!!!! create such positive visceral reactions that resonate with me. Upon figuring out that I can craft those same emotion with my rhymes, I became addicted to it.

But my content is inspired from nearly everything I come across. Whether it's hearing about wars in the Middle East, learning about the universe during an episode of Cosmos, or listening to the late thinker Alan Watts, anything and everything is inspiration. I'm merely retelling the pre-existing story from my perspective.

4. How would you compare the creative work of developing apps with the creative process of writing?

You know, I've never yet tried to make that comparison. I'll start by how they differ. For one, I could write a poem on the train into work and shape it into a blog post to share that evening. For apps, it takes months to get somewhere tangible. They operate on completely different time-scales.

However, at the core of both you find the same elements--human emotions. It's all about the emotion you aim to invoke in the reader or the user. How can you make them feel something positive and worth feeling again?

5. When you think about your life over the next few years, what do you imagine yourself doing?

Hmmm, I don't really know a specific destination. I just know I want to grow my talents and see where they take me.

If I were to imagine the current trajectory, I would continue writing poems to the point where they eventually start linking up with music. I would love to be a songwriter one day. Or a spoken word rapper.

I see myself having at least two more personal apps on the app store. I have a super mega dream app I want to make, but there's two (or even three) that have to come before it, and each one is at least a six-month project.

So if I'm at a point where I have those under my belt and in the next few years I can start that dream project, I'll be so happy.

Thanks, Josh!

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