I enjoyed this thread on writing by @stevesi. I began serious writing in 2007, & was shocked by how difficult it was, & how transformative.https://twitter.com/stevesi/status/987028913363849216 …
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To convey the experience, I once said hyperbolically to a friend: "I believe I could barely think before I began to write seriously". As the words hung in the air, I had quite a shock, as I realized I really believed it. Taking writing seriously made me a different person.
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Early on, I asked a well-known science writer how many drafts he went through. He sighed, looked doleful, and replied "For the hard parts, sometimes 50 to 100". I commiserated, but was secretly relieved: no, my process wasn't irredeemably broken.
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I've believed for years that I would benefit from writing more, but I keep choking on it because I can't settle on a topic, audience, or venue that doesn't feel too risky or too useless. (Which is entangled with anticipating either too-large or too-limited reach.) Any advice?
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I've felt those things! Rather sharply at times - it's so much harder to write without a good audience! Of course, sometimes writers create an audience, & that can be a beautiful creative act. I love this quote from Ted Carpenter: (via
@vihartvihart's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4 … )pic.twitter.com/ni9k4eQFfQ
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Great quote! The opposite is true as well - repeatedly talking about something makes it easier to write about. But, for me, the written version is the easiest one to apply gradient descent to.
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What's the criterion for serious writing in this context? Goal, intent, quantity? Some would say Mike and Ike is pretty serious!
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Quality. And how much it changes one's own thinking. Mike and I was transformative in some ways, but much easier and less personally transformative than much of my later writing. "Reinventing Discovery" was far harder to write.
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Note how you accepted that belief after *speaking*. Maybe it's the speaking you who is really in control, and is trying to pull the wool over your eyes and blame the writing you.
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