4 ms·
"Writing doesn’t just clarify your existing ideas; it generates more of them." So true! Redrafting and self-editing involves so much more than just getting the
by GCA10 4y ago
"Writing doesn’t just clarify your existing ideas; it generates more of them."
So true! Redrafting and self-editing involves so much more than just getting the commas in the right places. This is how we see new linkages that weren't obvious at first. It's how we become more discerning, so we can define the limits and strengths of our concepts more precisely. And it's one of the best ways of opening up new avenues of thought. (If A is valid, then B, C and D become possible.)
- jxramos 4y agofascinating, writing as a generative process. I like it. Think about how many tangents show up in text that can't be explored fully but can become a subject or book in their own right.
- theturtletalks 4y ago"Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn't know it as well as you thought. Putting your ideas into words changes them." [0] 0. http://www.paulgraham.com/words.html http://www.paulgraham.com/words.html
- mtippett 4y ago100%. Just challenged the hacker news crew to draw a bike. See my reply to the OP.
- ryanlpeterman 4y agoThis was a great read, thank you for sharing :)
- nextlevelwizard 4y agoFor me it happens in cycles. I get inspiration to jazz-up/re-write my blog and that gives me a nudge to write something, anything really, just to get to see something new and that gets the rock rolling and I end up writing half a dozen posts in few weeks. Then I get distracted by some other project or a game or whatever and I forget writing for months and when I remember I have a blog I feel like I don't have anything "worthy" of writing. Until I again get inspiration to start working on the code side of the blog again and the cycle beings a new.
- abathur 4y agoI find reading, writing, and programming can each be incredibly generative in their own ways. I haven't measured its effectiveness, but I like rotating the intellectual crops, as it were. I (at least subjectively) feel most-generative in the few weeks after switching from mostly-one to mostly-another.
- lifeisstillgood 4y agoWriting shows how weak your thinking is - Leslie Lamport
- textninja 4y agoWriting is thinking
- dalmo3 4y ago...without relying solely on short term memory.
- 123pie123 4y agoI'm sure all the people with dyslexia / ADHD would not agree
- crabkin 4y agoI have ADHD and maybe some sort of low grade dyslexia. My voracious curiosity with no regard to structured learning or topical coherence has only been a huge boon to my reading/writing. I think ADHD/dyslexia has been a bigger problem in my math and science classes where I write something different than what my brain is thinking, or I make arithmetic mistakes. For instance, if I forget to write the first noun in a sentence, it isn't as huge a problem as when I mix up a summation and summand in an answer or on the way to one.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoI’m not sure I understand your reasoning, and I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD and am writing a nonfiction book. I understand how this condition might make the writing process more challenging, but I don’t think that contradicts GPs point at all.
- zwkrt 4y ago(This is coming from someone with ADHD but not dyslexia) It's harsh, but it isn't wrong, right? The reason that these states of being are considered 'disorders' is because they interfere with daily life and with tasks that other people consider to be easy. I need to take a lot of time to edit my writing and to re-evaluate the content that I write because it is easy for me to slip into a multi-paragraph tangent. Fundamentally that happens because my thinking is not sharp/focused. On the other hand, when I am done writing I get a feeling of great accomplishment. Like I was able to swim through the deep waters of my mind and harpoon all the good ideas. Being smart isn't worth much if you can't communicate your ideas!
- nanidin 4y agoMy personal version of rubber duck debugging involves writing an email to explain the problem. It helps solidify my understanding and usually generates new things to follow up on.
- carlmr 4y agoI started note taking in markdown. I used to note take a lot on paper and it always became a mess. I'm using Obsidian right now for this, although you can just use plain code editor it's nice to have WYSIWYG.
- oneeyedpigeon 4y agoI've just started using obsidian, but only for a subset of my work, to work on individual documents with a very rigid structure. Do you have any tips on taking obsidian to the next level, using it as an integrated tool rather than just a one-off editor?
- cmason 4y agoYes. Very often the email never gets sent — because I find the solution while writing it.
- kaashif 4y agoThis is an incredibly common experience, lots of people I've asked do this. When writing a StackExchange post asking for help, I want to include all relevant information and include a list of things I've tried, along with explanations for why they're dead ends. Writing it all down sometimes helps me realise that one of the ends is in fact not dead.
- p4l4g4 4y agoThis happens more often than I'd like to admit. More often it's on work chat or a call, but the principle holds: I try to explain my problem to someone else and while deepening the explanation, I get a face-palm moment (the answer was there all along!), thank the person for its time and franticly start working on the solution. Rubber ducking can be a highly productive measure when your mentally clouded and can take many forms.
- playingalong 4y agoSo does teaching others.
- Pokepokalypse 4y ago"teaching is the highest form of mastery" -- (don't know who said this quote)