
My magic response to “Hey, can I pick your brain?” - acconrad
https://stackingthebricks.com//pick-your-brain/
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[https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-
correspondent....](https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-
correspondent.html)

"There is little to nothing that I can offer readers above and beyond what
appears in my published writings. It follows that I should devote all my
efforts to writing more material for publication, rather than spending a few
minutes here, a day there, answering e-mails or going to conferences."

And for the computer programmers: "Four quiet hours is a resource that I can
put to good use. Two slabs of time, each two hours long, might add up to the
same four hours, but are not nearly as productive as an unbroken four. If I
know that I am going to be interrupted, I can’t concentrate, and if I suspect
that I might be interrupted, I can’t do anything at all. Likewise, several
consecutive days with four-hour time-slabs in them give me a stretch of time
in which I can write a decent book chapter, but the same number of hours
spread out across a few weeks, with interruptions in between them, are nearly
useless."

" I am faced with a stark choice between being a bad correspondent and being a
good novelist. I am trying to be a good novelist, and hoping that people will
forgive me for being a bad correspondent."

