
More people should write - jsomers
http://jsomers.net/blog/more-people-should-write
======
jamesmcn
This is a special case of a more general rule: Do things.

I'm going to try to write more. I already have learned a lot by:

* photography. If you spend time thinking about the photographs you take, and use what you discover in that process to change how you take future photographs, you will learn a lot about the world around you. You start to see things that you previously ignored.

* painting / sketching / drawing. Totally different from photography. You are free to represent what you want how you want. Your work can range from highly introspective (can be great while your subconscious brain is solving some other problem) to very literal. I haven't kept up with this because the professional world doesn't look kindly on developers who are splattering ink across a page when they "should" be coding, but it was very helpful in my college years.

* music composition. You think you know something about music? Try to compose some! You will listen to music differently. The deeper you go, the more you learn. Music is an unimaginably vast subject and conventional music theory only gives you access to a tiny fraction of the space that music occupies.

* (audio) Field recording. Have you ever taken the time to listen? To _really_ listen? Probably not. You can get audio recorder apps for your iphone, or use a standalone digital audio recorder. Take these recordings home, and listen to them on decent headphones. Then go back to where you made the recording. Think about how the recording and what you hear are different. We selectively filter out a _lot_ of the world around us, particularly in the audio domain.

* electronics. In support of my audio hobbies, I've built several audio devices, ranging from simple synthesizers up to rhythm machines and modules for larger systems. In the software world, we lose track of the physical world. It is mind-boggling how much effort you have to put in to source parts for a moderately complex project.

and finally:

* Coding. Those of us who code understand software in ways that people who don't do not. It doesn't make it any easier to use other people's software (sometimes harder), but it does change the way you think about things.

TL;DR: Don't just learn stuff, try doing stuff as well.

~~~
nkoren
I agree with all of your points above, and I very much agree with your final
point that doing >= learning.

However, I'm going to argue that writing is nonetheless a special case.

I was trained as an architect. Unlike photographers, painters, composers, and
coders, pre-architects cannot refine their understanding of architecture by
doing it. They are confined to various simulations of architecture: models,
drawings, renderings, animations, etc. While the emphasis of my course was
heavily skewed towards the visual, I personally found that writing was by far
the most valuable of all forms of simulation.

The reason is that writing has a unique ability to conjure worlds beyond
itself. When I do a 2-point perspective drawing, your brain will conjure it
into something greater: a three dimensional space. So far, so good. But can
you tell me what the air feels like in that space? Is it perfectly still, or
moving through a breezeway? Is it dry or humid? Cool or hot against your skin?
Does it carry the sound of echoed footsteps, or birdsong, or traffic, or is it
completely silent? Does it smell like rain, or concrete, or freshly-cut grass?
Do you feel the radiant heat of stones that have been baking in the sun? Or
the humid air which has been evaporatively cooled by a fountain or rich
foliage? Can you imagine all these things in sequence, as you move through the
space? Can you imagine what the space will feel like at night, or in the rain,
or when it is completely empty or thronging full of people?

A single drawing can never convey all of this, and there are many things that
drawings can never effectively convey at all. But a few paragraphs can easily
conjure all this and more. This isn't the magic of writing, specifically: it's
the magic of _language_ : a powerful virtual-reality engine that is very
likely hardwired into our neurons.

I found that the the pre-architects who _wrote_ about their work -- and took
the writing seriously -- were able to engage with their designs in a far
richer capacity than the students who focused on the visual representations
alone. This convinced me of the unique importance of writing. It is absolutely
true that _whatever_ you want to understand, doing it is better than just
learning about it. But doing it _and_ writing about it is best of all.

TL;DR: Doing + writing > Doing

~~~
mkumm
I am sincerely encouraged. My biggest block has been that writing is hard and
I have been way too critical of my own work. Looking for the perfect method,
etc has stopped me from progressing. Thank you for your comments

~~~
mehulkar
I used to teach tennis. When my boss was about to move to the next level with
a student, he often asked the little kid the question: "Can you learn to swim
without getting in the water?" Stuck with me for a couple years now and it
applies to many other situations off-court, including this one.

------
Mithrandir
> Walk around with a pen and a scrap of paper.

From <http://www.diyplanner.com/docs/commonplace1>:

"In Sir Arthur Conon Doyle's tales, Sherlock Holmes kept a large and sprawling
commonplace book upon his shelves, essentially his own home-grown encyclopedia
of people, places, crimes, and pertinent facts, like the colour of mud from
various locations, or the consistency of tobacco ashes. In the middle of a
case, Holmes would rush to his commonplace, haul down a book, and read out a
newspaper article concerning (say) the disappearance of a hydraulics engineer
a year prior. His attic of a brain remembered vague references, but the books
held the details that allowed him to pursue his work."

~~~
spindritf
He had a personal wiki.

EDIT: and since I'm on it, those who use Tomboy in that capacity will be
probably happy to hear that Tomdroid[1] — a Tomboy client for Android with
synchronization through Ubuntu One — finally can not only view notes but also
edit them and sync back. Not the version from the Play Store yet but the beta
with all the new features is available as .apk from their Launchpad website.

[1] <https://launchpad.net/tomdroid>

~~~
jvehent
I've had a personal wiki for about 7 years. The amount of knowledge in it is,
by far, the most precious resource in my career.

It is tremendously useful ! [http://www.monosapiens.com.br/blog/wp-
content/uploads/dumble...](http://www.monosapiens.com.br/blog/wp-
content/uploads/dumbledore_pensieve.jpg)

The only problem with it, is the frequent guilt I feel for now writing in it
often enough.

~~~
kiba
Would you mind showing it?

~~~
woah
seconded. would be fascinating.

------
vasco
The things that bother me most when thinking about writing are the facts that
while writing about myself I won't be writing about anything particularly
exciting for anyone. If writing about another subject I won't be writing
anything better than what you can already find on any given book written by an
expert. So what does one write about?

I try to fight this and I manage to write something once in a while, but I
can't help but feel like I'm "cheating" the reader by wasting their time
reading me. What is a good way to fight this feeling, other than forcing
myself to post on a blog occasionally?

~~~
gosu
I think that the author of the post was trying to address exactly this
question of purpose. I'm basically going to reiterate what he said, but here's
my own take on it:

You can get over your hurdle in two ways:

\- You can trust that your writing will be exciting for the future you. When I
started keeping a journal, it really did seem so forced. But sure enough, when
I read it a year later, I was captivated by the forgotten person and
experiences on the page.

\- You can trust that the activity of writing will help the present you to
collect and develop his thoughts. Usually, I start a journal entry by writing
about some dream, memory, or recent event. In thinking about my reaction to
the event, I wind up making a general observation about one of my own beliefs
or characteristics. At that point, I forget the event and just go on a tangent
about that general topic. An example would be "Steve was wearing a hat today.
I don't like it when people wear hats. I think that hats are [insert thesis
here]."

I wind up thinking deliberately about something that I've never paid much
attention to before, and the act of constructing a written linear narrative
forces me to be thorough and precise in a way that my mental narrative isn't.
If the topic is some concept that's unrelated to me, then I'd say this helps
me to form actual opinions about the world, and to be a more confident in my
decision making. I'd also agree with what the post said about
"preoccupations". And if the topic is myself, then I find that it somehow
helps my self-esteem to look at myself from a distance. Everybody looks more
graceful from the outside.

In trying to collect my thoughts on the original topic, I usually find myself
making more claims about other interesting topics - and so I sometimes run out
of time to write before I run out of things to write about. An example of this
would be the claim that I just made - "everybody looks more graceful ...".

~~~
drumdance
+100 for the personal journal idea, for the same reasons. I started keeping
one just a couple years ago, and even with that short timespan I found it's
fascinicating to look back and remember all the interesting things that I've
experienced.

------
raganwald
Yes, please write. I want to read what you have to say, and as a pleasant
bonus, writing will improve the way you think and lead your life.

~~~
jamestc
>I want to read what you have to say

That's interesting because after reading and participating in a number of
blogs and message boards over the years, I am really tired of what people have
to say. Only because so much of it, at least within the realm of opinion and
debate, is so predictable.

A lot of it is rubbish. But I'm willing to accept that such predictability and
rubbish is to be expected in argumentative contexts and that perhaps writing
more could lead to improved rhetoric and less repetition. Being more widely
read couldn't hurt, either.

~~~
sliverstorm
Long-form can avoid this problem, because to put together a cohesive piece,
you have to do a little reflection and possibly research. Plus, it is
considerably higher investment on the part of the author, so if it has been
said before, they'll be more likely to write about something else.

~~~
danso
"possibly" research? Sorry, but the attitude that research -- i.e. the
consideration of history and the big picture -- might "possibly" be a part of
longform writing is like saying math might be a part of good physics theories

~~~
simon
I see where you are coming from, but some long-form writing is itself the
research. Paul Graham (IIRC) said that his essays were a way of exploring
ideas. In some of my writing, I have this to be the case also. And then, of
course, there are writings where the actual banging words out is a tiny sliver
of the total time taken, when compared to the research component.

------
hollerith
If people came by their beliefs about the importance or unimportance of
writing by the effects of stray cosmic rays, only the ones who end up
believing writing is important would bother to write up their belief.

That is what the statisticians call a selection effect, and it is important to
keep it in mind when weighing a piece of writing about writing.

------
mitchi
Yet another article on HackerNews about people who have nothing to say about
algorithms or code, they just want to be the big motivators, the oracles!!

------
winter_blue
This is great article, and I totally endorse what the author is saying --
although I would leave you with a word of warning: Don't write simply because
you want to "compete" or be like the other great authors out there. Several
years ago when I was in high school I came across pg's essays and was
bedazzled by it, and wanted to write articles like that of my own. (But I
never got around to it.)

The fact was, I didn't have anything really that great to say. So even if I
had written stuff back then, I don't know if it would have enriched the lives
of others as much as the writings of certain other people have.

Hm, whatever. Just my 2 cents. I'm probably wrong.

~~~
gnosis
My students often told me they didn't have anything to say. They were silent.
Empty. They felt anxiety. Panic. Terror. 'Good' I'd answer. 'You are a writer.
You are at the place from which writing comes.'

\-- Donald Murray in Shoptalk

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other
people.

\-- Thomas Mann

A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who
has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought
of if he had not started to say them.

\-- William Stafford

You have to sink down to a level of hopelessness and desperation to find the
book that you can write.

\-- Susan Sontang

~~~
mortenjorck
Utterly sterling selection of quotes there. The Stafford one resonates with me
the most personally – I can't count the number of times I've realized a
greater subtlety and complexity to my position on something after I've written
a paragraph or so on it.

~~~
winter_blue
I totally agree, Stafford's quote is "par excellence"

------
michaelperalta
I completely agree. Not to be too self promoty because thats what we are
aiming for at my site www.varely.com but I think everything can be better
through more people expressing themselves. There are so many different
experiences that we've all gone through and we should be sharing those. In my
cases it can help people so much just by knowing people have gone through
situations that you have.

For selfish reasons being a good writer and communicating well lets you expose
your true talents and intelligence. I honestly think evaluating someone
through their writing for the most part can be a more effective test than
looking at a persons resume. Anyone can bring a resume and hit all the write
points but writing well lets you communicate your interests and passions. You
can really show how passionate you are about a subject and how well you an
articulate your ideas. In start ups I think thats one of the most important
things and in general its valuable.

I also agree when you say you are going to write you conduct your life as if
you are going to write. I think it makes you a little more present in your
situations because you realize that you want to take note of life. You want to
recognize the small things in life that may go unnoticed but are significant.

------
nathanbarry
Earlier this summer I made a commitment to write 1,000 words a day. I haven't
always been consistent, but I am now at 87 days in a row. That writing has
turned into a popular book, many blog posts, and now I'm halfway through a
second book.

This process has changed my income, influence, and how I tackle complicated
projects. Just start writing.

The first book is here: <http://NathanBarry.com/app-design-handbook>

------
kiba
He doesn't have to tell me to write, because I already write 500 words a day
at this personal site: <http://kibabase.com>

It could be on any one of my essays, such as _Book Reviews_ , _Self
Quantification_ , or _Learning Principles_. They are always work in progress,
even if they stagnate at a certain size.

Moreover, a lot of my energy is spent on this page:
<http://kibabase.com/articles/notes-and-thoughts>

Notes and Thoughts is my ever evolving bucket for all my random thoughts. With
the exception of _Why I Unlicense_ , all essays essentially originate from
there. often as a one paragraph essay. It contains the most random idea, such
as why democracy sucks, my plan for building a lamp bot, and the idea of
legoization. Not only I add items, I also modify them to be readable writing.
Even TODO items get revised.

------
aboali
Wonderful article. This is the second article in hackers about writing. I am
pushing my small son to always write.

------
EzGraphs
Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. ~
Sir Francis Bacon

------
gnosis
If a young writer can refrain from writing, he shouldn't hesitate to do so. --
André Gide

------
benguild
That's one of the reasons why I've enjoyed keeping up with school. I never
finished (yet), but I've been taking a class or two per semester for the past
4 years or so. Keeps you thinking in different ways and introduces you to new
things!

------
munyukim
When I started writing I thought one needed to be an expert to write good
stories but I was wrong. My first
article,<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3840706>, generated a lot of
interest. The article was full of grammatical errors, but people didn't mind.
I have since improved and learned a lot of things through writing. I would
encourage people to try it.

------
baxrob
"A preoccupation, in that sense, is a hell of a useful thing for a mind." Well
said! Here's to more frequent talking into pages.

~~~
baxrob
though, brevity can be a blessing

------
chetan51
Thanks so much for this encouraging post.

