Craft, stated vs. revealed preferences, and Octavia Butler's notes

What I write is all mine, it’s a living thing, it’s an extension of me that wanders out into the world. It is desire turned inwards instead of outwards, focused instead of displaced. It’s a way to access self-knowledge and self-respect.

Personally, writing is not how I analyze how I feel; writing is how I resolve how I feel. I find it deeply cathartic.

When I thought about why I write, I came up with many reasons. I do it because it is how I make sense of the world. I do it because it makes me feel connected in a profound way. I do it because it feels good. But perhaps most significantly, I am a better, more awake version of myself for having written. I feel recharged, and I have more patience, c

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My reason is existential. By writing the things that pop into my head down into my notebook, I teach my brain that those ideas - my ideas - are worthy of being written down at all.

Each note becomes another brick of the house I’m building, a monument to a simple yet elusive truth: that what I notice is worth noticing.

“The kind of writing I've found that I do is mostly to clarify my own thinking on something. So I think [writing to] a high-expectation stranger works for that. Our friends love us because they're tolerant of our weirdnesses and all the things that make us meander or not make that much sense. But I think speaking to this high-expectation stranger h... See more

Writing increases your rate of revelation. This is true irrespective of the subject because writing is a process of reflection, assertion, and iteration.

Writing clarifies your own ideas. Writing begets new ideas too. Writing lets you explore ideas in depth even if you won’t have time to act on them all. Writing shows people how you think and lets ... See more