

Ask PG: Essay Editing? - CBurns

PG has often emphasized the importance of editing and rewriting his essays. I was curious if he would be willing to post copies of some particular essay at various stages of editing. I would be really interested to see the progression.
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pg
A few years ago I looked at an early draft of an essay to see which text made
it into the final version. I never published it at the time, because it seemed
presumptuous to think anyone else would be interested. But since you ask,

<http://paulgraham.com/laundry.html>

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cousin_it
Good read, thanks! The draft seemed to me more living and personal, while the
finished version is pure idea. I wonder if it's possible to keep the intimate
tone when you're editing for clarity.

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pg
Interesting question. I think it would be hard. Maybe you could leave in
occasional chatty bits to preserve that tone, at the cost of only a little
extra length.

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cperciva
Would _you_ want people reading your half-baked essays? I know "I'd be
embarrassed to let anyone see this as it is right now" is the most common
reason I have for not making code open source -- I wouldn't be surprised at
all if PG, for exactly the same reason, didn't want to publish early drafts of
his essays.

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sheriff
I've found that there's typically more benefit to be had from sharing an idea,
than there is from hoarding it and believing you can perfect it on your own.

When I've done the former, it's been way less painful than I imagined, and
when I've done the latter, the project has felt like it was stuck in tar
(totally my fault).

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sheriff
What I mean to suggest is: try exposing some ideas earlier than you're
comfortable with now, and see if you weren't being a little over-protective.

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kalid
I highly recommend Zinsser's "On Writing Well"
([http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-
Nonficti...](http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-
Nonfiction/dp/0060006641)). It has excellent advice & real examples of rough
drafts.

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gm
Your question misses the point. Essay editing (and double-checking anything,
for that matter) is about THINKING.

Write something, then read, THINK, and improve. Repeat.

No more changes on the last pass? You're done.

(How many passes did this post take? Four. The secondary point of this post is
to suggest making it a habit of double-checking everything you write)

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gloodnc
I see an anology with lazy or run-of-the-mill programmers. Does the popularity
of boilerplate allow some people to feel a sense of accomplishment with
shallow efforts of thought per LOC?

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hooande
As I read this, I can't help but think that some very interesting things were
cut out in editing. I almost wish I could see more unedited versions of pg's
essays.

