writing

I think I want to write essays that are like jazz improvisations: spend a lot of time building up rigorous ways of thinking and gathering stories, but then, in the moment of writing, I pull on that improvisationally in relation to a structural idea that provides momentum

my “writing process” is that I spend weeks/months collecting fragments, links, and quotes in a giant apple note until one day I decide to barf it all out in a single 16-hour writing frenzy > I can float around the rest of the week—do coffee chats and see my friends and sit around reading in the park—but every Thursday... See more

I publish essays nearly weekly now, but that is not a reasonable cadance at all if you are learning to write. The first year I wrote my blog, in 2021, I managed to publish 5 pieces. In 2022: 8. It was basically the only thing I did in my spare time.

The first 90 percent of writing an essay takes up the first 90% of your time. The remaining 10 percent takes up the other 90%.

the best measure of a blog post is how many good conversations it leads to email replies, coffees, new friends, etc. all are much more fun/valuable than likes and views