When I was younger, random curiosity about a topic or a writing technique was enough to propel me to the finish line on most things I wrote. A difficult piece meant stalling on the what [is this about?] or how [do I write this?].
Now I tend to stall on why [should I write this?]
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Now, knowing *what* I want to write gets me from seed thought to brain dump/research notes/tweets
Knowing *how* I want to write it gets me from brainstorm to first draft/outline with lots of TKs
But only knowing *why* I want to write it gets me to the finish line these days
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And increasingly I don’t know, so I don’t get past first drafts.
Why is a very bad question for writers to ask. It’s for utilitarian optimizers.
Writing works best when you don’t know/care why you want to write a thing. Ideally mere energy abundance should carry you through.
Replying to
A good answer to why is one that gets you to finish.
For me good answers tend to be along the lines of “this is unimportant enough to be fun, important enough to require a bit of courage.
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I don't think it's binary -- having some notion of why you're doing something is helpful (perhaps even necessary), but if you try to go too deep.. well, deep enough I'm not sure there are any satisfying answers
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Replying to @visakanv
that my rigorous introspection / removal of biases / constant skepticism / self-inquiry / mental debugging mode might actually be crippling my motivation & ability to GSD twitter.com/wminshew/statu
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Replying to
> Why is a very bad question for writers to ask. It’s for utilitarian optimizers.
It's also pretty useful if you're chasing amorphous felt-but-otherwise-unmeasured meaning.
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I can't get started with anything without a clear why, but think too much about it and it spins me into a nihilist black hole. Sometimes I wish I could accept the first reason that comes to my mind and move on. Perhaps the best why is no why at all, but then I'm totally random.
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