writing
Perhaps you're the same kind of non- Writer writer. The playful amateur kind who uses it to explore and communicate ideas, rather than making the medium part of your identity. But even amateurs want to be good. I certainly want to get good.
Maggie Appleton • The Finest Narrative Non-Fiction Essays
By making clear and sharp claims, I reveal my understanding so that I—or the person I’m writing to—can see the state of my knowledge and direct their feedback to the point where it will help my thinking improve.
This is valuable to do even in areas where you know way too little to “warrant” an opinion.
This is valuable to do even in areas where you know way too little to “warrant” an opinion.
Henrik Karlsson • How to Think in 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
Henrik Karlssonsubstack.comLinks on the Internet last forever or a year, whichever inconveniences you more. This is a major problem for anyone serious about writing with good references, as link rot will cripple several percent of all links each year, and compounding.
Essays
I talked to a friend who wants to start a blog and wanted some advice on that—how to find her voice and so on. A few random thoughts:
Henrik Karlssonx.comas people age, they tend to find themselves consuming more and creating less. To put it bluntly: the easiest way to live a short unimportant life is to consume the world around you rather than contribute to it.
Realising my way of writing is akin to Penn and Teller's approach to magic; "Magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
My unique advantage / fatal flaw is sinking absurd hours into researching & writing things no one else would ever write about
My unique advantage / fatal flaw is sinking absurd hours into researching & writing things no one else would ever write about
bsky.app
When I write about my very specific problems I trust that the reader can generalize to their situation - and they can. It also empowers them because they have to arrive at their own conclusions which is good.
Henrik Karlssonx.com