6 ms·

I Will Write More

88 points by candrewlee14 4y ago

marginalia_nu 4y ago
I've found the quality of my inputs to be extremely important if I want to sustain any sort of writing habit. It's hard for me to write frequently if I'm not reading frequently. It almost has to be books, not necessarily related to the sort of things I write, but it's like the act of reading plants seeds for new thoughts and ideas that eventually grow and form into text.
- quanticle 4y ago
  Ryan Holiday talks about this a bit in "Success Is A Lagging Indicator" [1]. The way he puts it, "writers block" doesn't exist. What people call writer's block is a symptom of not having done enough preparation work. It means the writer hasn't researched or structured their ideas to enable the writing process to occur smoothly. I tend to agree, but I would add that there is an "analysis paralysis" failure mode where you fall in a trap of constantly revising the outline instead of getting the words on the page and refining from there. [1]: https://ryanholiday.net/all-success-is-a-lagging-indicator/ https://ryanholiday.net/all-success-is-a-lagging-indicator/
  - marginalia_nu 4y ago
    I prefer an agricultural metaphor. I think interesting ideas are planted and nurtured rather than manufactured. If you seeds for interesting ideas by engaging with the thoughts of others (may be through talking or reading), make sure to sleep well and take care of your body, then you'll think interesting thoughts and if you enjoy writing like I do, most likely be inspired to write about them. But as Ryan is suggesting, having things to write about is a side-effect or consequence of minding your "garden" (to avoid confusion, this is not a nod to Candide).
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    I fall into that trap a lot. I have stuff to say, but it can be approached in so many ways and I find it hard to choose one. Any tips? One thing I guess works is "just blurt it out spontaneously". Ryan Holiday also has a motivating line on that (https://ryanholiday.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-thats-mistake-1/ https://ryanholiday.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-thats-mis...): > No one ever reads something and says, “Well, I got absolutely nothing out of this and have no idea what any of this means but it sure is technically beautiful!” But they say the opposite all the time, they say “Goddamn, that’s good” to things with typos, poor grammar and simple diction
    - quanticle 4y ago
      Steve Jobs put it more succinctly: "Real artists ship". At some point you have be very honest and ask yourself, "Do I really need to revise my outline once again before I start writing?"
quanticle 4y ago
Just for once, I'd like to see some prominent (or even not so prominent) person embark on a New Year's resolution to write less.
- PuppyTailWags 4y ago
  I've definitely seen this sentiment. It's in avoiding burnout. It's in noticing that one is going hard but the returns just aren't there and focusing instead on onesself or their family. But of course this isn't going to be written down about ;)
  - quanticle 4y ago
    I guess my reaction is more about the fact that writing more is an instrumental goal, rather than a terminal goal. Writing is a tool. It is not an end in itself. Saying, "I want to write more," is like saying, "I want to buy more flour." Okay, sure, but what are you buying the flour for? Bread? Cookies? Cake? Just throwing into the air and making a mess? Similarly, writing more is a goal that only makes sense if you have some goal in mind and see writing as a tool to accomplish that goal. Otherwise, "I want to write more," is a goal that's so vague, it becomes impossible to achieve.
    - vouaobrasil 4y ago
      I disagree. One can also want to write more as an end itself, simply to become a better writer.
      - quanticle 4y ago
        I disagree. One can also want to write more as an end itself, simply to become a better writer. You've contradicted yourself. Writing to become a better writer is a goal that's different than writing as an end in itself. Moreover, writing just for the sake of writing is not a very good way to become a better writer. Using word count goals to improve one's writing is like counting the number of times you kick a ball each day and using that as a measure of your progress as a soccer player.
barganzo 4y ago
I will read less text from LCDs and more from dead trees.
cramjabsyn 4y ago
I’m growing more and more jaded by the notion that a new calendar year should involve some sort of personal reinvention. If you wanted to do that, you’d be doing it already. So quit making promises and just do the thing, or don’t. Just enjoy where you are in life and focus on whats most important now.
- whywhywouldyou 4y ago
  It's easy to see this behavior when it comes to the flood of gym memberships that coincide with the new year. Everyone simultaneously decides, "THIS is the year I finally get in shape!". Right. Except by March all of these people are back to sitting on the couch. I'm sure if it were as measurable as gym memberships, we'd see the same thing happen with all resolutions.
  - k__ 4y ago
    In my experience, people underestimate what these endevors actually include. Going to the gym is so much more than getting a membership. It's also a training plan that fits you, maybe a change of social circle that helps you to be consistent, a change of diet, etc. I often started new things just to notice weeks to months in that they don't require the work I expected.
- tunesmith 4y ago
  I think this is needlessly discouraging. The end of a year really does correspond to a lot of things that end. The tax year, project deadlines, the big holiday season is over, reconnecting with family via reunions, etc. There very much can be a feeling of wiping the slate clean and starting fresh, and that isn't just a superstition; it aligns with things that actually happen in our lives. So there's nothing wrong with using that extra bit of space of psychic room to do some reflection and come up with some new goals.
  - langsoul-com 4y ago
    It just needs a bit of rewording to sound more encouraging. If you failed the last new years resolution, then reduce the scope of the goal and then start today. Lumping goals into the new year tends to make them too difficult to achieve. Start small and snowball. Don't wait.
andreyk 4y ago
I can relate to this post, but it does seem to be a little idealistic. The plan is: consistently set aside time, write any ideas that seem fun, then see if it's valuable and does not exist (and don't release it otherwise). So, basically it's "write for the sake of writing." As someone who has written many long high effort blog posts (1000s of words long), the amount of work a solid post usually takes for me is too great for this write-and-see-what-happens plan; I simply would not want to put things out there that are redundant or uninteresting. But that's just me - maybe this'll work for the author of this post.
prox 4y ago
I can recommend to Op reading the book “If you want to write.” by Brenda Ueland.
nigamanth 4y ago
The questions that one asks themselves before writing a blog post such as whether it's valuable, exists, whether we have time is what leads to the downfall of 99% of blog posts.
wcerfgba 4y ago
I find the volume of ideas I have far outstrips my time to write meaningfully about most of them, so now I have a Backlog page on my website where I can just post a single paragraph and leave the idea floating there. That way I have a record of it, and someone else can pick it up if they have time and interest, and I don't feel like I have to write a comprehensive treatment for every idea.
harrego 4y ago
> However, my brain feels like it’s become very intake-optimized at the expense of creativity. Bingo.
mark_l_watson 4y ago
I like to write. Now that I am retired I usually work on a book project about two hours a day. I started a private journal six months ago and tried to write every day. Then I stopped two months ago. I journaled today because it is the last day of the year, and felt much better after a five minute personal brain dump. It is very different writing for oneself! I hope that I do personal journaling more consistently next year because the process is very centering. As individuals we have a lot of stuff that other people either shouldn’t hear or wouldn’t want to hear. Personal journaling into /dev/null seems appropriate.
jasong 4y ago
My favorite part of this post is the distinction between writing and posting. Picking an audience is important for me when I write. If a post is mostly self reflection for yourself, it’s ok to not post it.

88 points by candrewlee14 4y ago

I've found the quality of my inputs to be extremely important if I want to sustain any sort of writing habit. It's hard for me to write frequently if I'm not reading frequently. It almost has to be books, not necessarily related to the sort of things I write, but it's like the act of reading plants seeds for new thoughts and ideas that eventually grow and form into text.

quanticle 4y ago
Ryan Holiday talks about this a bit in "Success Is A Lagging Indicator" [1]. The way he puts it, "writers block" doesn't exist. What people call writer's block is a symptom of not having done enough preparation work. It means the writer hasn't researched or structured their ideas to enable the writing process to occur smoothly. I tend to agree, but I would add that there is an "analysis paralysis" failure mode where you fall in a trap of constantly revising the outline instead of getting the words on the page and refining from there. [1]: https://ryanholiday.net/all-success-is-a-lagging-indicator/ https://ryanholiday.net/all-success-is-a-lagging-indicator/
- marginalia_nu 4y ago
  I prefer an agricultural metaphor. I think interesting ideas are planted and nurtured rather than manufactured. If you seeds for interesting ideas by engaging with the thoughts of others (may be through talking or reading), make sure to sleep well and take care of your body, then you'll think interesting thoughts and if you enjoy writing like I do, most likely be inspired to write about them. But as Ryan is suggesting, having things to write about is a side-effect or consequence of minding your "garden" (to avoid confusion, this is not a nod to Candide).
- solarkraft 4y ago
  I fall into that trap a lot. I have stuff to say, but it can be approached in so many ways and I find it hard to choose one. Any tips? One thing I guess works is "just blurt it out spontaneously". Ryan Holiday also has a motivating line on that (https://ryanholiday.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-thats-mistake-1/ https://ryanholiday.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-thats-mis...): > No one ever reads something and says, “Well, I got absolutely nothing out of this and have no idea what any of this means but it sure is technically beautiful!” But they say the opposite all the time, they say “Goddamn, that’s good” to things with typos, poor grammar and simple diction
  - quanticle 4y ago
    Steve Jobs put it more succinctly: "Real artists ship". At some point you have be very honest and ask yourself, "Do I really need to revise my outline once again before I start writing?"

quanticle 4y ago

Just for once, I'd like to see some prominent (or even not so prominent) person embark on a New Year's resolution to write less.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago
I've definitely seen this sentiment. It's in avoiding burnout. It's in noticing that one is going hard but the returns just aren't there and focusing instead on onesself or their family. But of course this isn't going to be written down about ;)
- quanticle 4y ago
  I guess my reaction is more about the fact that writing more is an instrumental goal, rather than a terminal goal. Writing is a tool. It is not an end in itself. Saying, "I want to write more," is like saying, "I want to buy more flour." Okay, sure, but what are you buying the flour for? Bread? Cookies? Cake? Just throwing into the air and making a mess? Similarly, writing more is a goal that only makes sense if you have some goal in mind and see writing as a tool to accomplish that goal. Otherwise, "I want to write more," is a goal that's so vague, it becomes impossible to achieve.
  - vouaobrasil 4y ago
    I disagree. One can also want to write more as an end itself, simply to become a better writer.
    - quanticle 4y ago
      I disagree. One can also want to write more as an end itself, simply to become a better writer. You've contradicted yourself. Writing to become a better writer is a goal that's different than writing as an end in itself. Moreover, writing just for the sake of writing is not a very good way to become a better writer. Using word count goals to improve one's writing is like counting the number of times you kick a ball each day and using that as a measure of your progress as a soccer player.

barganzo 4y ago

I will read less text from LCDs and more from dead trees.

cramjabsyn 4y ago

I’m growing more and more jaded by the notion that a new calendar year should involve some sort of personal reinvention. If you wanted to do that, you’d be doing it already. So quit making promises and just do the thing, or don’t. Just enjoy where you are in life and focus on whats most important now.

whywhywouldyou 4y ago
It's easy to see this behavior when it comes to the flood of gym memberships that coincide with the new year. Everyone simultaneously decides, "THIS is the year I finally get in shape!". Right. Except by March all of these people are back to sitting on the couch. I'm sure if it were as measurable as gym memberships, we'd see the same thing happen with all resolutions.
- k__ 4y ago
  In my experience, people underestimate what these endevors actually include. Going to the gym is so much more than getting a membership. It's also a training plan that fits you, maybe a change of social circle that helps you to be consistent, a change of diet, etc. I often started new things just to notice weeks to months in that they don't require the work I expected.
tunesmith 4y ago
I think this is needlessly discouraging. The end of a year really does correspond to a lot of things that end. The tax year, project deadlines, the big holiday season is over, reconnecting with family via reunions, etc. There very much can be a feeling of wiping the slate clean and starting fresh, and that isn't just a superstition; it aligns with things that actually happen in our lives. So there's nothing wrong with using that extra bit of space of psychic room to do some reflection and come up with some new goals.
- langsoul-com 4y ago
  It just needs a bit of rewording to sound more encouraging. If you failed the last new years resolution, then reduce the scope of the goal and then start today. Lumping goals into the new year tends to make them too difficult to achieve. Start small and snowball. Don't wait.

andreyk 4y ago

I can relate to this post, but it does seem to be a little idealistic. The plan is: consistently set aside time, write any ideas that seem fun, then see if it's valuable and does not exist (and don't release it otherwise). So, basically it's "write for the sake of writing." As someone who has written many long high effort blog posts (1000s of words long), the amount of work a solid post usually takes for me is too great for this write-and-see-what-happens plan; I simply would not want to put things out there that are redundant or uninteresting. But that's just me - maybe this'll work for the author of this post.

prox 4y ago

I can recommend to Op reading the book “If you want to write.” by Brenda Ueland.

nigamanth 4y ago

The questions that one asks themselves before writing a blog post such as whether it's valuable, exists, whether we have time is what leads to the downfall of 99% of blog posts.

wcerfgba 4y ago

I find the volume of ideas I have far outstrips my time to write meaningfully about most of them, so now I have a Backlog page on my website where I can just post a single paragraph and leave the idea floating there. That way I have a record of it, and someone else can pick it up if they have time and interest, and I don't feel like I have to write a comprehensive treatment for every idea.

harrego 4y ago

> However, my brain feels like it’s become very intake-optimized at the expense of creativity. Bingo.

mark_l_watson 4y ago

I like to write. Now that I am retired I usually work on a book project about two hours a day. I started a private journal six months ago and tried to write every day. Then I stopped two months ago. I journaled today because it is the last day of the year, and felt much better after a five minute personal brain dump. It is very different writing for oneself! I hope that I do personal journaling more consistently next year because the process is very centering. As individuals we have a lot of stuff that other people either shouldn’t hear or wouldn’t want to hear. Personal journaling into /dev/null seems appropriate.

jasong 4y ago

My favorite part of this post is the distinction between writing and posting. Picking an audience is important for me when I write. If a post is mostly self reflection for yourself, it’s ok to not post it.