on writing
Takeaways from Jerry Seinfeld on Tim Ferriss:
To survive in comedy you have to be a writer
“As any writer can tell you it’s 95% re-write”
“I think I could solve just about anyone’s life, I don’t care what you do, with weight training and transcendental meditation” Jerry Seinfeld
“If you could take your experiences and ask to trade them in, the last
Sometimes writers sit down and it's all pouring out of them. Each word - exactly the right one - is just sitting there, juicy and bursting with potential, easily within reach on a nearby branch. Every idea flows naturally from the last and in an order which provides a neat crystalline structure to the whole endeavour.
Ian Dunt • How to Write
The way to get novelty is to write about topics you've thought about a lot. Then you can use yourself as a proxy for the reader in this department too. Anything you notice that surprises you, who've thought about the topic a lot, will probably also surprise a significant number of readers. And here, as with correctness and importance, you can use... See more
Matter
If you write to please others, you are selling out. You are in the process of audience capture. This way of talking, which is how the fear in me talks, is common—as if writing for an audience and writing for yourself are at odds with each other. I really used to feel like that.
But I no longer think that it is quite right. The relationship between... See more
But I no longer think that it is quite right. The relationship between... See more
Henrik Karlsson • Writing as Communion
My strategy is loose, then tight. I write the first draft of an essay fast, trying out all kinds of ideas. Then I spend days rewriting it very carefully.
Matter




A Big List of Writing Advice
From the How I Write podcast:
1. Start with one brave sentence and see where it goes. (Morgan Housel | @morganhousel)
2. Discipline beats talent when talent isn’t disciplined. (Steven Pressfield |... See more
