why I write
an incubator for ideas that aren’t fully formed yet
You write the first draft for yourself, but you write the second draft for a stranger.
Michael Dean • The Secret Architecture of Great Essays
Mill is trying to figure out what he believes is true, and what he can stand for, and how to live. But the way he does it is, at first glance, the opposite of feeling: he is constructing a system of thought, a philosophy. He is hunting down the contradictions in his intuitions and his thoughts; he insists on finding ways of thinking that allow him
... See moreIf I want to be a writer who is any good, I really think I am going to have to be bored more often, which means sequestering my attention to my surroundings: the mundane, the slow, the IRL.
Confessions Of An Attention Seeker
Writers are magpies. We observe, mimic, remix and remake. Being transparent about how our work exists in community is great.
Saeed Jones • Here Are Some Ideas For Essays You Could Write
Where is that turning point for a writer? It comes to me late in my research process, when my head is so full of information that the urge to write overpowers me. My ideas may not be fully formulated, but I need to get them down on the page to know how to refine them. This is what Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called the “simplici... See more