writing simplified

Some fundamental pieces of notes I picked up in Several short sentences about writing, a book recommended by lennysnewsletter to help me start writing simply.

Writing is a sloth-like ardenous process but it wasn’t the lack of material or ideas that made it difficult. It’s that writing can be broken into many parts — ideation, insights, exploration of concepts, pathways it takes, research and the dreadful editing process. It’s that the editing process is a painful slow cooking process, as it should be, and I was trying to find shortcuts, as one does to speedrun it.

But I had a similar experience writing code; my early years writing code meant lots of compile time and runtime errors, [recall those glorious pre AI days], and an endless journey of debugging sessions. What was particluarly soothing like an ailment was I was introduced to a mindset intervention; that learning begins when you’re stuck, those are the times you’re truly growing even thought it might not feel like it in the moment, and those are the times you need to push through. Those who do become wizards.I reference these wizards in the AI maze .

In addition to the absurd amount of content I consume on a daily basis, its important for me to retain and influence these concepts on my own thinking.

So hopefully some of these are useful as you struggle to write.

• What is a sentence saying, what it isn’t and what is it implying? (subtext)
• The longer it is the less it’s able to imply. And writing by implication should be one of your goals.
• Writing well and reading well mean paying attention to all the subtleties embodied in a sentence. In its exact form.
• No two sentences are the same unless they’re exactly the same, word for word.
• A single crowded sentence means giving up all the possible relations. Among shorter sentences - the friction, the tension, the static electricity that builds up between them.
• There is no such thing as writer’s block. Few pointers on where how to begin if you’re entirely stuck on how to write more .
• In writing, you can get to anywhere from anywhere. You can start anywhere. You can end anywhere. The second sentence you write can actually be the 10th sentence in your piece. Let the first sentence lead you to where it wants to go.
• Every work of literature is the result of thousands and thousands of decisions. Intricate minute decisions - this word or that, here or where, now or later, again and again.
• Syntactic and grammatical accuracy is the precondition for being sure your sentences say what you think they say.
• People will continue to believe that writing is natural. This harms only writers who believe it themselves.
• What seems like common sense to you may come as a revelation to the reader.
• You’re a writer and a reader. You become a better writer by becoming a better reader.
• Writing well and reading well mean paying attention to all the subtleties - all the minute details.
• The purpose of a sentence is to say what it has to say, but also be itself.

The initial draft is a representation of your argument laid out in front of you. Rewriting and editing that text so that it flows requires constantly engaging with the thoughts, ideas, and arguments in it. Clarifying the language also clarifies the thoughts. Let the text then rest a bit and then start the process anew when you revisit it. Repeat this often enough and the mud you started with becomes a cohesive logical argument.