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I'm in the early stage of something similar: I'm going for 1000 sessions of 1000 words each. I'm currently in the 0110s. The main thing I'm learning is: If I k

I'm in the early stage of something similar: I'm going for 1000 sessions of 1000 words each. I'm currently in the 0110s. The main thing I'm learning is: If I keep going without looking back, if I churn out lots and lots of material with minimal pre-selecting, I WILL surprise myself. I think pg wrote something along the lines of- the best ideas that haven't already been acted upon are the good ideas that NECESSARILY look like bad ideas. Similarly, a lot of the good writing I get is what "feels" like meaningless drivel (at the beginning), but on hindsight turns out to be revealing, compelling, interesting. (This is all subjective, of course, but the response from others can be telling.) So that's what I'm going for, by chasing real scale. I've written about 110,000 words of stream-of-consciousness drivel so far. I'm betting that I unearth some interesting gems when I'm at around 500,000. As long as there is SOME degree of reflection, you will learn and grow as you go. I do this by writing summaries of my earlier drafts that interest me. Another cool thing that happens when you write in large quantities is that you get more detached from your writing, and you don't feel like you're "killing your babies"- you can approach it with the cold, calculative and impersonal editor's pen because the sheer volume desensitizes you, in a good way. A pottery metaphor. If you spend all your time trying to perfect the first pot you make, it'll probably still look like crap. If you try to make 1,000 pots as quickly as you can, some of those pots will surprise you with how they turn out, and you'll learn a lot more about the nuances of pottery in the process. Same with writing. For me, at least.

paranoidbot 13y ago
What type of organization do use for everything? Is it just a daily log or do you have some sort of structure. And are you writing article and blog type pieces or is it creative writing? I am always curious how people structure their disciplined writing.
- visakanv 13y ago
  I used to write blogposts with a clear headline, stuff like "how to X" or "why X is wrong", etc. My main blogging was social commentary, about local political affairs and news. But I got tired of that and now do a "start writing in pure stream of consciousness" thing. So you could say it's creative writing. But I think I have a lot of source material in there which can be further edited and refined into essays or blogposts. My goal is just to hit 1000 words per session. I typically do this on my commutes to and from work- I write on my smartphone into evernote, then publish on wordpress. I number the posts when publishing. The goal is to hit 1000 such posts.

paranoidbot 13y ago

What type of organization do use for everything? Is it just a daily log or do you have some sort of structure. And are you writing article and blog type pieces or is it creative writing? I am always curious how people structure their disciplined writing.

visakanv 13y ago
I used to write blogposts with a clear headline, stuff like "how to X" or "why X is wrong", etc. My main blogging was social commentary, about local political affairs and news. But I got tired of that and now do a "start writing in pure stream of consciousness" thing. So you could say it's creative writing. But I think I have a lot of source material in there which can be further edited and refined into essays or blogposts. My goal is just to hit 1000 words per session. I typically do this on my commutes to and from work- I write on my smartphone into evernote, then publish on wordpress. I number the posts when publishing. The goal is to hit 1000 such posts.