Writing

Its an often bandied about fact that there is strong relationship between writing and thinking. This is framed along the lines of reading to gather ideas and writing to synthesize and distill those ideas into knowledge and new ideas. Writing has many forms from the strictures of technical writing to the demotic blogging to the personal journaling.

down:: Journaling

Some have claimed that writing is a method for building a network and being “micro” famous for introverts¹.

Explanatory Writing

• Use concrete examples to explain things² Tips
• When writing, realize that there is a relationship between the reader and the writer³.
• It is important to find your voice in writing, so that your writing is equivalent to when you talk².
• Focus on writing more frequently but less length, this helps break out of the procrastination loop with a paralyzing focus on quality^4,5

Writing Confidently

Avoid weasel words and couching your statements. Rarely does this actually give you the safety you want. “In my opinion, the rocket will go fast”. We understand that it is your opinion, simply state, “The rocket will go fast”. This is especially true when writing to your superiors / bosses. There is a desire to be “safe” and not tell them what to do. if you are worried about this, present the facts as you see them, then offer your opinion on course of action. If you are not certain about a something, decide if you want to be saying it. If you do, find support. If you can’t find support, cite that, or reconsider your priors. Write as though you are writing to a group where you would feel safe, for example your peers or subordinates.

Discovery by Deletion

Discovery by deletion comes from Justin Mikolay, this is where you discover what you want to say by removing what you do not⁶. You hear this expressed as the idea that you should get all your thoughts out in the first draft and not try to compose at that point. Then, remove and edit incrementally.

Basic Structure²

1. Explaining what they’ll explain and how they’ll explain it
2. Explaining it
3. Summarizing what they’ve just explained

Anti-patterns

anti-patterns Metadiscourse should be avoided

General Links

• The Writing Well⁷ handbook by Julian Shapiro

Books on Writing

General

• The Art and Business of Online Writing⁸ - Nicolas Cole
• On Writing⁹ - Stephen King
• On Writing Well¹⁰ - William Zissner
• The Sense of Style¹¹ - Steven Pinker
• The Art and Business of Online Writing⁸ - Nicolas Cole
• Writing that works¹² - Kenneth Roman & Joel Raphaelson
• Clear and Simple as the Truth³ - Francis-Noël Thomas and Mark Turner

Creative

• Show your Work - Austin Kleon
• The Creative Habit - Twyla Twarp

1. Hobart, B. Writing is Networking for Introverts. https://byrnehobart.medium.com/writing-is-networking-for-introverts-5cac14ad4c77 (2019).

2. Costa, L. Explaining explaining: A quick guide on explanatory writing. http://lucasfcosta.com/2021/09/30/explaining-in-writing.html (2021).

3. Thomas, F.-N. & Turner, M. Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose - Second Edition. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2011).

4. Crittenden, M. Write 5x more but write 5x less. https://critter.blog/2020/10/02/write-5x-more-but-write-5x-less/ (2020).

5. Chen, A. How to write more. https://andrewchen.com/how-to-write-more/ (2024).

6. Mikolay, J. How to Write Something Compelling. https://letter.substack.com/p/write-like-naval (2020).

7. Shapiro, J. The Writing Well Handbook.

8. Cole, N. The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention. (Nicolas Cole, 2020).

9. King, S. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft a Book by Stephen King. (2020).

10. Zinsser, W. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. (Harper Perennial, New York, 2016).

11. Pinker, S. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. (Penguin Books, New York, New York, 2015).

12. Roman, K. & Raphaelson, J. Writing That Works; How to Communicate Effectively In Business. (Collins Reference, 2000).