To write better, develop a habit of writing(bookpub.club)
bookpub.club
To write better, develop a habit of writing
https://bookpub.club/post/to-write-better-you-need-to-develop-a-habit-of-writing--1603298302647x354487348376371200
80 comments
Note to self: don't get a Multi-Factor Authentication
By checking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MFA, I presume you meant Master of Fine Arts.
By checking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MFA, I presume you meant Master of Fine Arts.
I have implemented multi-factor authentication systems and have given public presentations on the topic, but I didn't jump to that as the first association for the acronym MFA. Guess I need to work harder on my geek cred!
So true, who wants to look for their phone every time they sit down to write? ;-)
Do you have experience as a professional writer? I'm curious, how you think a person without a degree on journalism, writing, etc, can get a job writing? I'm a software engineer, by the way.
Not that I'm interested in changing my career or anything, but your comment was interesting and I do like writing, so I think it's worth knowing!
Not that I'm interested in changing my career or anything, but your comment was interesting and I do like writing, so I think it's worth knowing!
Incidentally, Scalzi also had that problem.
He wrote Agent to the Stars to try to figure out if he wanted to write and what it was to write. http://scalzi.com/agent/
> In the summer of 1997, I was 28 years old, and I decided that after years of thinking about writing a novel, I was simply going to go ahead and write one. There were two motivations for doing so. First, I was simply curious if I could; I'd had up to that time a reasonably successful life as a writer, but I'd never written anything longer than ten pages in my life outside of a classroom setting. Two, my ten-year high school reunion was coming up, and I wanted to be able to say I'd finished a novel just in case anyone asked (they didn't, the bastards).
> In sitting down to write the novel, I decided to make it easy on myself. I decided first that I wasn't going to try to write something near and dear to my heart, just a fun story. That way, if I screwed it up (which was a real possibility), it wasn't like I was screwing up the One Story That Mattered To Me. I decided also that the goal of writing the novel was the actual writing of it -- not the selling of it, which is usually the goal of a novelist. I didn't want to worry about whether it was good enough to sell; I just wanted to have the experience of writing a story over the length of a novel, and see what I thought about it. Not every writer is a novelist; I wanted to see if I was.
He wrote Agent to the Stars to try to figure out if he wanted to write and what it was to write. http://scalzi.com/agent/
> In the summer of 1997, I was 28 years old, and I decided that after years of thinking about writing a novel, I was simply going to go ahead and write one. There were two motivations for doing so. First, I was simply curious if I could; I'd had up to that time a reasonably successful life as a writer, but I'd never written anything longer than ten pages in my life outside of a classroom setting. Two, my ten-year high school reunion was coming up, and I wanted to be able to say I'd finished a novel just in case anyone asked (they didn't, the bastards).
> In sitting down to write the novel, I decided to make it easy on myself. I decided first that I wasn't going to try to write something near and dear to my heart, just a fun story. That way, if I screwed it up (which was a real possibility), it wasn't like I was screwing up the One Story That Mattered To Me. I decided also that the goal of writing the novel was the actual writing of it -- not the selling of it, which is usually the goal of a novelist. I didn't want to worry about whether it was good enough to sell; I just wanted to have the experience of writing a story over the length of a novel, and see what I thought about it. Not every writer is a novelist; I wanted to see if I was.
I'm a technical writer for a tech software start-up, but I started in sales. There's always some content that needs to be written. Blogposts, documentation, whitepapers, etc.
I started by... well writing. I wrote a some blogposts, and a few of them trended on HN. Eventually, when we hired our CMO, he saw what I had been putting out and asked me to help out more. At a certain point, it made sense for me to transition entirely to writing.
Since you're not a professional writer, don't expect to be given a lot of writing responsibility. You basically have to prove yourself. If you have an editor at your company, work with them. I didn't have any formal writing training, but I applied the feedback I got from our editor and slowly my quality improved. It took me about 4-5 months before I was fully trusted to write quality pieces without hand-holding.
Given that you're a software engineer, you have the domain knowledge to write some very useful content. It's just about finding your style.
I started by... well writing. I wrote a some blogposts, and a few of them trended on HN. Eventually, when we hired our CMO, he saw what I had been putting out and asked me to help out more. At a certain point, it made sense for me to transition entirely to writing.
Since you're not a professional writer, don't expect to be given a lot of writing responsibility. You basically have to prove yourself. If you have an editor at your company, work with them. I didn't have any formal writing training, but I applied the feedback I got from our editor and slowly my quality improved. It took me about 4-5 months before I was fully trusted to write quality pieces without hand-holding.
Given that you're a software engineer, you have the domain knowledge to write some very useful content. It's just about finding your style.
Writers, unlike most software engineers (save those who work on open source) can readily share work samples with potential employers. Other than that it should only be a matter of getting your resume past the filter that requires a writing or journalism degree. You also didn't specify what you meant by writing jobs, so it's hard to give more detail.
Writing seems like programming in one respect: if you can do the job you can be hired, regardless of your education.
Writing seems like programming in one respect: if you can do the job you can be hired, regardless of your education.
It depends on what you mean by professional writer. Being a developer advocate, at many companies, is equivalent to writing full-time, and a software engineer who has recently developed an interest in writing is typically an easier sell for those roles than a writer who has recently developed an interest in code.
This is basically true for all domain-specific writing jobs as well. Being an expert in the domain and being interested in writing is in many ways advantageous compared to being an expert in writing with an interest in the domain.
This is basically true for all domain-specific writing jobs as well. Being an expert in the domain and being interested in writing is in many ways advantageous compared to being an expert in writing with an interest in the domain.
The caveat I'd make about devrel and related jobs is that they tend to be pretty people-oriented--which doesn't necessarily appeal to a lot of software engineers (or writers).
Any decent writer can make money from writing, but depending on how you want to be hired/paid then the approach could be very different. So, I guess it depends on...
1. What do you want to write? Ad copy? News? Fiction?
2. What do you bring to that subject matter that has value?
Here's a real life example: About 10 years ago, a friend of mine was a business major and had a day job in marketing. He liked to write so he spent an hour every weeknight writing on his website. That website gained a following and with that proven success, he wrote a book proposal, shopped it around with some book agents, then they shopped it around with some publishers.
They eventually got him a book deal. That book did very well and he got another book deal. Then one book was optioned for a movie. After his third book deal he was able to quit his day job. The movie option expired after two years and another studio optioned it. It has yet to be turned into a movie, but he continues to get paid by a studio who wants to prevent other studios from turning it into a movie before them. They may never actually do it though. He's written a few more books since then too.
If you're thinking of writing a book though, the book itself is not where you make the money... you make the real money on whatever the book leads to: speaking engagements, movie options (fiction or nonfiction), other gigs that come from the awareness of you through the book, etc.
I think it would be much harder to be hired as a journalist without a journalism degree, unless you demonstrate your journalism ability somewhere else first (your own website perhaps).
As a developer, I think technical documentation could use a major improvement at many companies which might let you use both writing and development skills. But again, your journey to getting paid to write starts with knowing what you want to write.
1. What do you want to write? Ad copy? News? Fiction?
2. What do you bring to that subject matter that has value?
Here's a real life example: About 10 years ago, a friend of mine was a business major and had a day job in marketing. He liked to write so he spent an hour every weeknight writing on his website. That website gained a following and with that proven success, he wrote a book proposal, shopped it around with some book agents, then they shopped it around with some publishers.
They eventually got him a book deal. That book did very well and he got another book deal. Then one book was optioned for a movie. After his third book deal he was able to quit his day job. The movie option expired after two years and another studio optioned it. It has yet to be turned into a movie, but he continues to get paid by a studio who wants to prevent other studios from turning it into a movie before them. They may never actually do it though. He's written a few more books since then too.
If you're thinking of writing a book though, the book itself is not where you make the money... you make the real money on whatever the book leads to: speaking engagements, movie options (fiction or nonfiction), other gigs that come from the awareness of you through the book, etc.
I think it would be much harder to be hired as a journalist without a journalism degree, unless you demonstrate your journalism ability somewhere else first (your own website perhaps).
As a developer, I think technical documentation could use a major improvement at many companies which might let you use both writing and development skills. But again, your journey to getting paid to write starts with knowing what you want to write.
You'll probably need a portfolio to get hired as a writer (or even into a job that has writing as a significant component).
For journalism, the issue isn't the lack of a journalism degree--which many/most journalists don't have. It's the general lack of jobs, especially those that pay more than subsistence wages. (And, even then, a lot of them are at pretty low quality sites. And the sort of local newspapers that a lot of journalists got started at are gone in large part.)
For journalism, the issue isn't the lack of a journalism degree--which many/most journalists don't have. It's the general lack of jobs, especially those that pay more than subsistence wages. (And, even then, a lot of them are at pretty low quality sites. And the sort of local newspapers that a lot of journalists got started at are gone in large part.)
I agree with most of the other comments but I'd also point out that I'm pretty sure the majority of journalists I know do not have journalism degrees although most probably have a liberal arts degree of some sort. (And J School specifically is viewed by at least some as an anti-pattern.) I'd also echo another comment that, as a software engineer, there are certainly jobs at many tech companies that involve a lot of writing/speaking.
I'm not a full time writer but I do write as a freelancer from time to time.
Lately, I've been writing technical articles for a tech company. It all started because I wrote a introduction to their product on Github and shared it on Twitter. They liked it, and contacted me to write more of that stuff.
I'm sure there are plenty of tech companies that are willing to invest in producing content to get more exposure (guides, tutorials, videos, etc) for a new product.
Lately, I've been writing technical articles for a tech company. It all started because I wrote a introduction to their product on Github and shared it on Twitter. They liked it, and contacted me to write more of that stuff.
I'm sure there are plenty of tech companies that are willing to invest in producing content to get more exposure (guides, tutorials, videos, etc) for a new product.
I’m merely paraphrasing his thoughts, as a professional writer.
In this case I do agree however. Perhaps full time journalism would be a bit different, but writing short stories, novels, or freelance news pieces is going to come down to sending it randomly to a variety of publishers and hoping they like it enough to actually speak to you.
None of that process has anything to do with your “bonafides”, it has to do with writing well and composing a story (imaginary or otherwise) and some peon at the receiving firm actually liking it enough to bump it up the chain.
While I’ve used this advice to write better (blog entries, emails, presentations, arguments, etc.) I have not even endeavored to do it professionally. It’s still been helpful for me.
In this case I do agree however. Perhaps full time journalism would be a bit different, but writing short stories, novels, or freelance news pieces is going to come down to sending it randomly to a variety of publishers and hoping they like it enough to actually speak to you.
None of that process has anything to do with your “bonafides”, it has to do with writing well and composing a story (imaginary or otherwise) and some peon at the receiving firm actually liking it enough to bump it up the chain.
While I’ve used this advice to write better (blog entries, emails, presentations, arguments, etc.) I have not even endeavored to do it professionally. It’s still been helpful for me.
I had a lot of free time in the past and spend a lot of it writing. 99% of what someone writes will be crap. That is like 1% of the code you write actually running. It is really difficult to feel motivated to keep writing when your normal output is at such a low quality.
I'd argue that this is the number one hurdle to writing more and writing "better".
I'd argue that this is the number one hurdle to writing more and writing "better".
IMO that's the wrong way to think about it.
As I see it, it's not that what you write is 99% crap and 1% good stuff. It's more like you're sketching before producing the final painting. It's not crap, it's just an unavoidable part of the process you need to go through.
Also, thinking that 99% of what you write is crap must be super demoralizing.
As I see it, it's not that what you write is 99% crap and 1% good stuff. It's more like you're sketching before producing the final painting. It's not crap, it's just an unavoidable part of the process you need to go through.
Also, thinking that 99% of what you write is crap must be super demoralizing.
I think it's the only realistic way to think about it. It's not sketching an outline then producing a quality piece of writing. It's sketching an outline then producing something that is very mediocre. Even after revisions. 99% of the time.
If you can accept that and still show up to write every day you will eventually produce some good work. If you cannot then you will very likely be demoralized and quit.
I'd argue some greats and naturals may have a higher quality output rate up to something like 5% but that's still 95% shit.
If you can accept that and still show up to write every day you will eventually produce some good work. If you cannot then you will very likely be demoralized and quit.
I'd argue some greats and naturals may have a higher quality output rate up to something like 5% but that's still 95% shit.
I don't know. To me there is a fundamental difference between something that needs more work and something that is shit. Maybe it's just a perception thing since writing is so malleable compared to other mediums where there is no fixing anything (eg: watercolor).
I would also recommend Writer on Writing by Peter Clines [0]. He is very practical, which I like, while covering a lot of subjects in a funny and easy to digest way.
[0]: http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/
[0]: http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/
I don't suppose you have more specific links to the places where he's talked about this? I'd be interested in reading more.
The suggestion:
> 3) Don’t quit your day job.
Is interested advice. Does he actually have advice for how to do this, and maintain any sort of reasonable writing schedule? I can see the practicality, but the obvious downside is having your time squeezed into smaller and smaller pieces (especially if you're also a parent).
The suggestion:
> 3) Don’t quit your day job.
Is interested advice. Does he actually have advice for how to do this, and maintain any sort of reasonable writing schedule? I can see the practicality, but the obvious downside is having your time squeezed into smaller and smaller pieces (especially if you're also a parent).
Get up at 430am. It's possible, even with a baby/toddler.
Having read about the habits of writers, a lot of writers limit their "writing" to a few hours/day and spend the rest of their time in the business of being a writer. If you're just starting, you mostly need to do the writing part.
Having read about the habits of writers, a lot of writers limit their "writing" to a few hours/day and spend the rest of their time in the business of being a writer. If you're just starting, you mostly need to do the writing part.
Personally, I find this overly simplistic and I believe it's misleading. I write, review, and edit professionally as about 1/2 of my current job, and I see tons of awful writing by people who write every week. Believing you just need to write regularly to improve is like believing that if you play tons of gigs on your instrument you'll get better. How many really bad musicians have you seen who have been stuck at basically the same level for many years, but play all the time? So, so many. It's just not true.
To really improve, in addition to writing you need to:
- Read really good writing. A lot. Every good writer I've met is a voracious reader and has been for a long time.
- Read about writing, as in, actually study writing
- Edit and review your writing, and get your writing reviewed and critiqued by people actually qualified to comment on quality writing
If you aren't doing this, a daily habit might get a lot written, but it could stay crappy for your whole life. I would argue that real study and less production writing is actually a better use of your time.
Some of my favourite books to start on serious study:
"A Sense of Style" - Steven Pinker
"The Making of A Story" Alice LaPlante
"Steering the Craft" - Ursula Le Guin
"On Writing Well" - William Zinsser
"Dreyer's English" - Benjamin Dreyer
The problem is that everyone thinks their writing is great. You need to be willing to think it could be better. :-)
To really improve, in addition to writing you need to:
- Read really good writing. A lot. Every good writer I've met is a voracious reader and has been for a long time.
- Read about writing, as in, actually study writing
- Edit and review your writing, and get your writing reviewed and critiqued by people actually qualified to comment on quality writing
If you aren't doing this, a daily habit might get a lot written, but it could stay crappy for your whole life. I would argue that real study and less production writing is actually a better use of your time.
Some of my favourite books to start on serious study:
"A Sense of Style" - Steven Pinker
"The Making of A Story" Alice LaPlante
"Steering the Craft" - Ursula Le Guin
"On Writing Well" - William Zinsser
"Dreyer's English" - Benjamin Dreyer
The problem is that everyone thinks their writing is great. You need to be willing to think it could be better. :-)
>Read really good writing
Any favorites? I like the writing style of some authors in your study books (Pinker, Le Guin, Zinsser) but what books really inspire you in terms of sheer writing genius? (in both fiction and non-fiction)
Any favorites? I like the writing style of some authors in your study books (Pinker, Le Guin, Zinsser) but what books really inspire you in terms of sheer writing genius? (in both fiction and non-fiction)
Not the person you're replying to, but try to at least read award-winning works in the genre of interest. E.g. if interested in sci-fi, read the Hugo and Nebula award winners going back a few years. Read Pulitzer winners for non-fiction. Etc.
oh man that's tough, and especially hard to separate how much of what you love is the writing vs the content. But what springs to mind right now ... hmm. Frans de Waal, is IMHO the best at writing science for regular people, his last two are brilliant. Oliver Sacks too. Ted Gioia on music history. Peter Drucker on business. OTOH that's what I have! :-)
I'm furiously working on a project that I want to do a Show HN on at some point that's relevant to this.
I'm basically making a Lovecraftian text editor / puzzle game / walking simulator(?) where progress is gated by writing. My goal has been to nudge players into being more prolific writers.
There's little content aware changes to the environment based on what you write, and lots of little touches intended to spark ideas.
If you play it "right", you'll have a pile of art you created that's yours, that you can export. It's not opinionated on what you write, there will be some prompts you can take advantage of if you want, but players can type nonsense if their hearts and souls are truly, irredeemably empty.
I apologize for the shameless self promotion. My suspicion is that my target audience is rare and razor thin. I feel pressure to evangelize for a genre that to my knowledge doesn't exist. ( latest tweet showing this crazy thing. https://twitter.com/LeapJosh/status/1316830278644531200 )
I'm basically making a Lovecraftian text editor / puzzle game / walking simulator(?) where progress is gated by writing. My goal has been to nudge players into being more prolific writers.
There's little content aware changes to the environment based on what you write, and lots of little touches intended to spark ideas.
If you play it "right", you'll have a pile of art you created that's yours, that you can export. It's not opinionated on what you write, there will be some prompts you can take advantage of if you want, but players can type nonsense if their hearts and souls are truly, irredeemably empty.
I apologize for the shameless self promotion. My suspicion is that my target audience is rare and razor thin. I feel pressure to evangelize for a genre that to my knowledge doesn't exist. ( latest tweet showing this crazy thing. https://twitter.com/LeapJosh/status/1316830278644531200 )
I'm your target market. Twitter thread looked messy. How do I sign up?
Sorry about that. My marketing hat is my shabbiest hat. I've been posting nearly daily updates to twitter. If you follow me there you'll have almost as real time a view of development as my cats.
If that's anathema, what's your preferred method of hearing news? Mailing lists? My email address is in my profile, I'll write you personally when it's done if you email me there.
That goes for anyone.
If that's anathema, what's your preferred method of hearing news? Mailing lists? My email address is in my profile, I'll write you personally when it's done if you email me there.
That goes for anyone.
Practice makes perfect!
As William Faulkner says: “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.”
With writing (as with many things), there is this myth that you should only do it when inspiration compels you to write. But that is total rubbish. You need to create conditions so that inspiration will strike, and creating a habit of writing frequently will lay the groundwork for inspiration striking. Tyler Cowen, for example, talks about how he writes every morning - whether it's the weekend, Christmas, or anything else [1]. This is an example you agree with his philosophy/economics or not.
Other recommendations:
- "War of Art" is a fun little book that lays this idea out, and frames what's stopping you from creating as "resistance"[2]. In the end, the book can be summarized as: create and stick to a daily ritual of creation. If you do that long enough, you'll create something worthwhile.
- Someone else posted Writing Streak [3] which can be fun to use as well.
- Others use Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" [4] ("morning pages") to develop a "daily writing practice".
Honestly, they are all the same. No matter what you choose to do, the most important thing is consistency! Do it enough and you'll get to some level of ability and more than a few finished pieces (Can't guarantee a Nobel Prize in Literature, though, unfortunately :/ )
1: https://www.writingroutines.com/tyler-cowen/
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_Art_(book)
3: https://writingstreak.io/
4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist's_Way
As William Faulkner says: “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.”
With writing (as with many things), there is this myth that you should only do it when inspiration compels you to write. But that is total rubbish. You need to create conditions so that inspiration will strike, and creating a habit of writing frequently will lay the groundwork for inspiration striking. Tyler Cowen, for example, talks about how he writes every morning - whether it's the weekend, Christmas, or anything else [1]. This is an example you agree with his philosophy/economics or not.
Other recommendations:
- "War of Art" is a fun little book that lays this idea out, and frames what's stopping you from creating as "resistance"[2]. In the end, the book can be summarized as: create and stick to a daily ritual of creation. If you do that long enough, you'll create something worthwhile.
- Someone else posted Writing Streak [3] which can be fun to use as well.
- Others use Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" [4] ("morning pages") to develop a "daily writing practice".
Honestly, they are all the same. No matter what you choose to do, the most important thing is consistency! Do it enough and you'll get to some level of ability and more than a few finished pieces (Can't guarantee a Nobel Prize in Literature, though, unfortunately :/ )
1: https://www.writingroutines.com/tyler-cowen/
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_Art_(book)
3: https://writingstreak.io/
4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist's_Way
Probably not Faulkner, unless he said it to Herman Wouk: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/30/inspire-nine/
oh TIL!
I was going to mention "The War of Art". Great read. At one point Pressman writes "inspiration is for amateurs". He's all about honing your craft so that you're ready when inspiration does strike. Great advice.
I see this perspective posted a lot, and while I think it's generally true, it's a bit vague.
What do we mean by writing better? If we're referring to an improved ability to articulate thoughts and produce more text, then sure, writing more will help with that. Maybe quality will improve marginally over time.
But if we're talking about actually producing writing of a higher quality, I'm afraid simply writing more can only help so much. Improving the quality of the craft requires readers to provide feedback on the writing itself and/or writers to actively learn how to actually write better. The former is rare, and I'm not sure many writers actively take part in the latter.
What do we mean by writing better? If we're referring to an improved ability to articulate thoughts and produce more text, then sure, writing more will help with that. Maybe quality will improve marginally over time.
But if we're talking about actually producing writing of a higher quality, I'm afraid simply writing more can only help so much. Improving the quality of the craft requires readers to provide feedback on the writing itself and/or writers to actively learn how to actually write better. The former is rare, and I'm not sure many writers actively take part in the latter.
Looks like you beat me to my exact points. +100! :-)
Perhaps it's more about creating at whatever cost and then having a chance to review and appreciate what works and what doesn't, then learn from that and adapt?
If you don't try, you can't know.
If you don't try, you can't know.
I have two major tools for my writing habit.
1) writingstreak.io which is great for daily word dumps.
2 ) writing.com which is a writer's community and very much reminiscent of the web 1.0 days. It may not be a nostalgia trip in terms of blinking marquees, but it has simple links, a website-specific markup, forums, and probably a LAMP stack based on its unsophisticated styling. You can post your writings there, and review other's writings for in-site currency, which you can spend on getting others to review what you've written for said currency. The community there is friendly and also has other groups for journal passing, mailed handwriting practice, poetry/story contests and more.
Edit Bonus: doing NANOWRIMO each year really helps the writing habit since you are trying to get to 50,000+ words written in a month.
1) writingstreak.io which is great for daily word dumps.
2 ) writing.com which is a writer's community and very much reminiscent of the web 1.0 days. It may not be a nostalgia trip in terms of blinking marquees, but it has simple links, a website-specific markup, forums, and probably a LAMP stack based on its unsophisticated styling. You can post your writings there, and review other's writings for in-site currency, which you can spend on getting others to review what you've written for said currency. The community there is friendly and also has other groups for journal passing, mailed handwriting practice, poetry/story contests and more.
Edit Bonus: doing NANOWRIMO each year really helps the writing habit since you are trying to get to 50,000+ words written in a month.
I have been doing morning pages for 10 years and have been attempting to to force the habit of writing for longer. I don't like writing. You definitely get better at writing, but some things just don't get easier.
Same for running. Daily runner. It is the best thing I have ever done. But it sucks and never gets easier.
Is there anything to get rid of this feeling of suck?
Same for running. Daily runner. It is the best thing I have ever done. But it sucks and never gets easier.
Is there anything to get rid of this feeling of suck?
I despised running as long as I was doing under 3 miles per session. Once I pushed to 5 miles it was a very different experience. No more oxygen deficit, almost effortless, with all those lovely endorphins telling you you're awesome.
This is fascinating as my typical session is around 3 miles. I will have to try this out for a month to see results. Thanks
No pain, no gain?
I think it's just learning to be uncomfortable and that it's 'part of the process'.
Imagine how good you'll feel after. It's all I can come up with.
I think it's just learning to be uncomfortable and that it's 'part of the process'.
Imagine how good you'll feel after. It's all I can come up with.
For me it's not that running is uncomfortable. It's that running is boring.
I use it as podcast or audiobook time. Which is good because with everyone working from home I've lost my commute listening time.
I thin this plays a huge factor. Running on a treadmill is almost impossible for me (without watching a movie or something visual), but running in real life is more bearable. I feel engagement certainly helps.
That's interesting about running - for me the feeling of discomfort only lasted a week or two at the start (this is years ago) and then i completely fell in love with it... doesn't suck, got very easy.
I suppose choices of music or might help? I don't know what to say - if you run daily and still hate it, that just blows my mind.
EDIT: coming back to say - maybe you just aren't a runner? Try lifting instead? I know a few people who, like you, totally hate running but love to lift heavy things.
I suppose choices of music or might help? I don't know what to say - if you run daily and still hate it, that just blows my mind.
EDIT: coming back to say - maybe you just aren't a runner? Try lifting instead? I know a few people who, like you, totally hate running but love to lift heavy things.
I agree with the edit. I think some people just enjoy running or lifting more.
I used to run regularly but I never looked forward to it. Even with goals like 5Ks or half marathons, I didn't enjoy the experience of improvement. I had to drag myself out of the house to do it.
I look forward to and enjoy lifting weights (deadlifts, front/back squats, presses, cleans, snatches). I enjoy the idea of being able to lift something that I wasn't able to lift a year ago or even a month ago. And, even if I added just 2.5 lbs to my personal record, it is such an accomplishment in my head. I don't drag myself out of the house for lifting. I cancel plans to ensure that I can lift.
Maybe it is the difficulty in tracking improvement. I find it hard to track how much I improved in running. To me, it isn't discreet improvements over time because so much can happen during a running session (traffic, lights, people) which can vary results. Whereas lifting, it is usually in a more controlled environment and you add discreet number of lbs/kg to the bar.
I used to run regularly but I never looked forward to it. Even with goals like 5Ks or half marathons, I didn't enjoy the experience of improvement. I had to drag myself out of the house to do it.
I look forward to and enjoy lifting weights (deadlifts, front/back squats, presses, cleans, snatches). I enjoy the idea of being able to lift something that I wasn't able to lift a year ago or even a month ago. And, even if I added just 2.5 lbs to my personal record, it is such an accomplishment in my head. I don't drag myself out of the house for lifting. I cancel plans to ensure that I can lift.
Maybe it is the difficulty in tracking improvement. I find it hard to track how much I improved in running. To me, it isn't discreet improvements over time because so much can happen during a running session (traffic, lights, people) which can vary results. Whereas lifting, it is usually in a more controlled environment and you add discreet number of lbs/kg to the bar.
It definitely is the greatest feeling after it is all over.
And I lift daily as well and it is engaging than running.
And I lift daily as well and it is engaging than running.
I found a hack for each one of those that makes me enjoy them.
For daily creative writing, I use a journaling app (happens to be Day One on macOS/iOS) and then pick a writing prompt from r/WritingPrompts if I otherwise have no other ideas. I choose one of the top three submissions.
When I started, I had no idea what to write. It was a struggle to write a paragraph. It's weird how it gets easier to create ideas. It's the same people say about improv class - overtime you get better at coming up with reactions to things.
For daily running, I finally gave in and bought bluetooth headphones after thinking they couldn't be that much better than wired headphones. Though I'm sure most people already have a BT headset solution here.
But what I do is have a podcast or audiobook I only listen to on runs. For example, maybe it's a Joe Rogan interview with someone I like. Or a thrilling work of fiction. Currently listening to Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, kinda fun (https://audiobookreviews.com/Dark-Matter/1357).
I now look forward to running. Especially if it's a good episode or book that I want more of. Sometimes, during the climax of the book or a great twist, I've even gone out to run again just to get another hour in.
I also just look at runs as some personal time. Running sucked when I was out of shape, but now they are some nice time away from the world. Oh, and if you're just running on a treadmill, there's nothing that will make that pleasant, I don't think.
For daily creative writing, I use a journaling app (happens to be Day One on macOS/iOS) and then pick a writing prompt from r/WritingPrompts if I otherwise have no other ideas. I choose one of the top three submissions.
When I started, I had no idea what to write. It was a struggle to write a paragraph. It's weird how it gets easier to create ideas. It's the same people say about improv class - overtime you get better at coming up with reactions to things.
For daily running, I finally gave in and bought bluetooth headphones after thinking they couldn't be that much better than wired headphones. Though I'm sure most people already have a BT headset solution here.
But what I do is have a podcast or audiobook I only listen to on runs. For example, maybe it's a Joe Rogan interview with someone I like. Or a thrilling work of fiction. Currently listening to Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, kinda fun (https://audiobookreviews.com/Dark-Matter/1357).
I now look forward to running. Especially if it's a good episode or book that I want more of. Sometimes, during the climax of the book or a great twist, I've even gone out to run again just to get another hour in.
I also just look at runs as some personal time. Running sucked when I was out of shape, but now they are some nice time away from the world. Oh, and if you're just running on a treadmill, there's nothing that will make that pleasant, I don't think.
For me:
First, getting on a streak reduces the suck. Breaking the streak and getting back into it multiplies the suck.
Second, have no thoughts about the suck. Let it leave but a whisper in the mind. Dismiss it as quietly, casually and quickly as possible and get to the next thought, or no-thought.
First, getting on a streak reduces the suck. Breaking the streak and getting back into it multiplies the suck.
Second, have no thoughts about the suck. Let it leave but a whisper in the mind. Dismiss it as quietly, casually and quickly as possible and get to the next thought, or no-thought.
There's this site that publishes "inspiring" quotes about writing, from writers; some are good, some less so. I really like this one:
> Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks — Mary Karr
https://advicetowriters.com/advice/three-writing-truths-1
> Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks — Mary Karr
https://advicetowriters.com/advice/three-writing-truths-1
And for Bukowski. His advice for people who suffer when writing was "Don't try". In truth though, the guy was a complicated enough character that I'm not sure that he was saying that in earnest.
One of the few times when the phrase "the struggle is real" is warranted.
I'm a big fan of Scrivener (the mac version) for my writings. Not only fiction, but also academic writings, or organizing projects with custom templates.
But besides that I think the post lacks a bit of information. For an article about writing, it's pretty basic and feels as if it's written and posted only to create some content and traffic for the website.
Scrivener is great. Also probably overkill for people just getting started. It's easy to lose yourself in setting up and optimizing the tools, and thinking of that as "writing work".
True there are some simpler - no distraction - tools out there, some of them are pretty great and for some this might be much better. And of course nothing beats a hand written text. It's just a pain in the a to type the whole thing after. But for me it wasn't until using Scrivener that I managed to write more than a dozen pages before giving up. Scrivener just makes it easy for me to write piece by piece. While a long Word or Pages document just gets too much and demotivates me eventually. But yeah, everyone needs to find their own tool :)
I like Scrivener for longer-form writing because it helps me to keep a project-level view while working on the details. Unfortunately, most things I write have to sooner or later get dumped into a different format for collaboration/editing.
Yes, that's unfortunately true. Once you need to collaborate you need to export. Earlier versions of Scrivener still had the option to work on individual files with external editors. But I'm not even sure if this is still possible, it might be, but the files are all randomly numbered now and not named, so it kind of makes it impossible to use an external collaborative editor.
I have tried to replace Scrivener with yWriter, but I can't stick with it.
+1 to it. Sure you can tweak up something better with tons of work, but it gets like 80% right out of the box, plays well with git, and has good distraction-free modes.
Strongly considering making the first 90s of the linked reading of the LeWitt-Hesse letter my alarm clock!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnSMIgsPj5M
I practice in HN comments sections.
I evaluate my writing based on how much my comments were incorrectly perceived by the readers, based the replies of the comments.
So far works quite well. I have noticed my writing becomes more precise and accessible.
I evaluate my writing based on how much my comments were incorrectly perceived by the readers, based the replies of the comments.
So far works quite well. I have noticed my writing becomes more precise and accessible.
In the wake of recent GPT-3 related news I'm wondering how writing and written content perception is going to change.
For me perspective of reading through a novel partially or completely generated by software makes it completely unappealing.
I noticed that even knowledge that GPT3 exists and is being actively used experimentally right now for co-authoring written content reduces my eagerness to search for new fiction books. I think that I'll have higher than usual dose of distrust and skepticism towards previously unknown, non established authors.
My favorite writing advice bears repeating:
Writer's block is what happens when you try to write a final draft on the first try.
Writer's block is what happens when you try to write a final draft on the first try.
In chess, you are expected to play a lot versus marginally better opponents in order to get better yourself. If you only play against worse players, you don't learn. If you play against masters or computers at full strength, you get demotivated. In literature this strength handicap doesnt matter, in fact you need to read a lot of great autors, and write a lot. I guess you must read more than write. But you also need feedback, so writing alone is not as effective to get better over time.
I tried to do a 100 days of writing a few months into the pandemic for exactly the same reason (petered out around ~90 days in, but now I write without tracking religiously) -- https://explog.in/notes/100days.html. It was definitely worth it in terms of making writing easier, and also in helping me get better at thinking through writing.
Now trying to make it a permanent daily habit.
Now trying to make it a permanent daily habit.
A tip to me, to write better as an exercise- Rewrite something (a short story, a paragraph, a chapter, etc) you love, word by word, to understand the craft of it. The act of writing something vs reading it can best be reflected in this way.
Then attempt to rewrite that thing from memory, and see what you came up with and how that changes the story.
If you practice this repeatedly, you will inevitably write better. This is copying the brush-strokes of the previous greats in painting, but in prose.
Then attempt to rewrite that thing from memory, and see what you came up with and how that changes the story.
If you practice this repeatedly, you will inevitably write better. This is copying the brush-strokes of the previous greats in painting, but in prose.
In the recent pianojacq discussion there were tons of people commenting "don't try to learn an instrument on your own just by doing, all you'll learn is bad habits and limit your progress".
How come there's never much comment like that in writing threads?
How come there's never much comment like that in writing threads?
Serious answer? Because if you sit down at the piano, you know you can't play right away. And thus starts a culture of practice. But with writing... most everyone thinks they can already write well and just need to do it. Sigh. Just like the 80% or whatever of the public who think they are the great drivers.
Bit of a shameless plug, but I started a project for people (like myself) looking to get better at fiction writing through practice in collaborative storytelling: https://storylocks.com
I have found that editing other people's drafts (e.g. a colleague's proposal / memo at work) also helps me improve my own writing skills.
Yes, and of course this applies to everything: 'To get better at [x], you need to develop a habit of doing [x]'.
You could generalize this to "to X better, develop a habit of X."
Consistency beats intensity 10 times out of 10.
Consistency beats intensity 10 times out of 10.
If I had to optimize good writing, choosing between reading and writing, I'd prefer reading.
The translation of thoughts, ideas and intentions into unified written works that have the desired effect on a reader is not something you can read your way into. Obviously you can’t _not read_ but to get good at writing you have to practice. How do you organize your thinking to end up with writing that works for you? What are the invisible things you need to figure out, that the people who wrote the work you like did?
There is no choice between reading and writing, you definitely need both.
There is no choice between reading and writing, you definitely need both.
Thank you for your comment, I agree btw. It's just that I see reading as having more benefit for me than just writing (without reading as much). As in, the relative importance of reading to writing is higher.
By reading someone I can implicitly understand how they structure their thoughts and how they think (where and when they stop to explain something.) This, opposed to me experimenting how to structure my own thoughts as to make sense for someone who might then be reading (which might be myself). It's in this sense that I prefer to have various inputs as to how different people write their thoughts rather than just experiment on my own (with the corollary that when I have to write something, when I really have to explain something -- it will just come up in the page without giving too much thought to the structure of the text. The structure is inherent and can be traced back to me reading different authors.)
By reading someone I can implicitly understand how they structure their thoughts and how they think (where and when they stop to explain something.) This, opposed to me experimenting how to structure my own thoughts as to make sense for someone who might then be reading (which might be myself). It's in this sense that I prefer to have various inputs as to how different people write their thoughts rather than just experiment on my own (with the corollary that when I have to write something, when I really have to explain something -- it will just come up in the page without giving too much thought to the structure of the text. The structure is inherent and can be traced back to me reading different authors.)
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Writing doesn’t need to be flashy or even good to express a point. Simple is better.
Among his advice over the years a few things have really stuck with me:
1) Don’t get an MFA, it’s a waste of money. If you need a grammar class, take one. If you need more of a basis in x literary genre because that’s what you want to write in, take a class or just read a ton in that genre.
2) Set up the habit of writing. If you don’t write a lot of crap on a regular basis you’ll never write anything. You will throw away a TON of what you write, but it’s only by writing that 99% of crap that you’ll find the 1% that’s worth keeping.
3) Don’t quit your day job. You will never, ever, ever write for 8 hours a day straight. Rather than sitting around depressed all day because you haven’t written anything worth a damn, you may as well have a basic 8 to 5 office job that pays the bills, health insurance, etc. Not only does it remove money as a concern, but it gets your mind off of the fact that you haven’t written anything good and frees up your creative juices for that next scheduled writing period.
4) Don’t be pretentious and refuse to write anything that isn’t “pure” or “worthy”. All the advertisements you see and brochures you read are written by someone. Being persuasive with your writing can pay really well and give you the security to pound out that next great American novel.
1: https://whatever.scalzi.com/
Edit: line breaks