I think I have fairly strong feelings about the "you should write" part. (As someone who, occasionally, writes¹.)
Writing has not made me happier. Writing has not made me more than a little bit wealthier². Writing has not gotten me hired. Writing has not gotten me laid. Writing has not made me healthier.
I guess that writing has made me a better thinker, but towards what? Does it cash out in things I *actually truly value*? I think I have a part of me that really likes accumulating stuff, but it feels like there is no amount of stuff I could've written that would make me satisfied. It's an infinite well of "I can throw effort in there to create more and more posts". Only piling. Never doneness.
I *think* my writing has changed the world somewhat, but whether to the better or the worse seems pretty unclear to me. Especially when comparing to the counterfactual: Making money and donating it with that effort.³
If at all, I think I write stuff because I believe I have figured things out, and it'd be a waste to not tell. I think I can't not. There's some people who write for writing's sake, I never got that. Seems horrible to me.
I have a similar process but tend jump back and forth between the five steps. It's a little needlessly disorganized, so I appreciate your advice here! Thanks for sharing
Glad you found it useful! I also find it helpful to have multiple drafts at different stages so that I can jump to a draft that suits the kind of work I want to do at the moment.
I think I have fairly strong feelings about the "you should write" part. (As someone who, occasionally, writes¹.)
Writing has not made me happier. Writing has not made me more than a little bit wealthier². Writing has not gotten me hired. Writing has not gotten me laid. Writing has not made me healthier.
I guess that writing has made me a better thinker, but towards what? Does it cash out in things I *actually truly value*? I think I have a part of me that really likes accumulating stuff, but it feels like there is no amount of stuff I could've written that would make me satisfied. It's an infinite well of "I can throw effort in there to create more and more posts". Only piling. Never doneness.
I *think* my writing has changed the world somewhat, but whether to the better or the worse seems pretty unclear to me. Especially when comparing to the counterfactual: Making money and donating it with that effort.³
If at all, I think I write stuff because I believe I have figured things out, and it'd be a waste to not tell. I think I can't not. There's some people who write for writing's sake, I never got that. Seems horrible to me.
¹: http://niplav.site/, ~750 pages in the last five years. Medium amount.
²: I might attribute maybe ~5k of my current wealth to the stuff I've written.
³: Or writing Wikipedia instead.
I have a similar process but tend jump back and forth between the five steps. It's a little needlessly disorganized, so I appreciate your advice here! Thanks for sharing
Glad you found it useful! I also find it helpful to have multiple drafts at different stages so that I can jump to a draft that suits the kind of work I want to do at the moment.
This is great advice for a writing practice, and I love the Kurt Vonnegut letter to the school children...