Saved by Mickey Patel and
Putting Ideas into Words
Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn't know it as well as you thought. Putting ideas into words is a severe test. The first words you choose are usually wrong; you have to rewrite sentences over and over to get them exactly right. And your ideas won't just be imprecise, but incomplete too. Half the
... See morePaul Graham • Putting Ideas into Words
Writing is like going on a journey with your thoughts. You get to fully explore, correct, and solidify your thinking. More often than not, you discover much more about a topic or subject when spending focused time writing about it rather than simply thinking through it.
Putting ideas into words doesn't have to mean writing, of course. You can also do it the old way, by talking. But in my experience, writing is the stricter test. You have to commit to a single, optimal sequence of words. Less can go unsaid when you don't have tone of voice to carry meaning. And you can focus in a way that would seem excessive in co
... See morePaul Graham • Putting Ideas into Words
You can do things in writing, like say it differently multiple times, work through your thinking while doing so, and it is perfectly acceptable. I have a habit of doing this verbally and it has been described as verbally puking in a conversation. Not a great trait!
Arguably what such people are doing is putting ideas into words in their heads. I can to some extent write essays in my head. I'll sometimes think of a paragraph while walking or lying in bed that survives nearly unchanged in the final version. But really I'm writing when I do this. I'm doing the mental part of writing; my fingers just aren't movin
... See morePaul Graham • Putting Ideas into Words
Writing isn’t just the actual, physical act of pencil on paper or hands on keyboard, but the focused, often diffuse, thinking that formulates words into sentences, into paragraphs, into outlines in our head. Eventually though, they need to be written to be well thought through.