{"id":8757,"date":"2005-03-31T06:25:43","date_gmt":"2005-03-31T04:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/03\/31\/on-writing\/"},"modified":"2005-04-18T00:42:31","modified_gmt":"2005-04-17T21:42:31","slug":"on-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/03\/31\/on-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"On writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paul Graham<\/a> has recently wrote a short, but non-the-less interesting essey<\/a> about writing. He explains why writing is important and how to write well.<\/p>\n

Writing well is a nicely covered topic. There are numerous books on communications in general and writing in particular. Most collegues require passing of at least one writing or communications course even for the Diploma.<\/p>\n

Reasons for writing is yet another story. I have, of course, seen other people explaining why writing is important. But these are very rare and usually boring explanations. Paul Graham does a very nice job here.<\/p>\n

I think it’s far more important to write well than most people realize. Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you’re bad at writing and don’t like to do it, you’ll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This explanation, though brief, is very much to the point. It is so true that it is hard to emphasize. It reminds me of my own explanations on why learning touchtyping is important. People who can’t touchtype will try to avoid typing (willingly or not). Learning touchtyping clears a huge barrier between human and computer and allows said human to use said computer to a greater extent. Computer becomes more of a tool. Similarly, practicing writing makes ideas generation and control easier. Routine, if you will.<\/p>\n

Just a couple of days ago I was telling Olga how daily blogging improved my writing and thinking. Slowly, slowly, but it sure did. Writing a few paragraphs from the top of my head has never been easier. And the fun part is that when I start writing I don’t know what I will write. It’s like a faucet. I just know the topic that I want to write on (like cold or hot water) and than I open the tap and let it flow. It feels amazing. At first, I realize that I didn’t just want to cover the topic, but that I had some thoughts on the background. They get out and get written. While I type them in, I have other thoughts about wheather I was right or not with each idea that I am writing about. It gets me thinking, and so I write about it too. And than I either come to some conclusion or realize that I have to do some more thinking on the topic. So I end the post either with a defined state or a rumpled sentense.<\/p>\n

I feel glad when I end with some sort of conclusion. Having no crystal end doesn’t bug me a lot though. Becaus I know that at some later stage I will sit down and write few more paragraphs on the topic. And maybe conclusion will come than. The funny thing is that sometimes I write even more than I want to. This makes me feel guilty. Like when I have three or four long posts in one day. I am thinking “Who will be reading this? People like short posts and a link to some cool website.” But than I remember the important bit – my writing is primarily for myself. It helps me think and keep my head in clear state. I know that I will be the one rereading it. Multiple times.<\/p>\n

And those who don’t like it can always skip\/ignore it…<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

Paul Graham has recently wrote a short, but non-the-less interesting essey about writing. He explains why writing is important and how to write well. Writing well is a nicely covered topic. There are numerous books on communications in general and writing in particular. Most collegues require passing of at least one writing or communications course … Continue reading On writing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,2416],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-8757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-blogging","tag-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9712,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/11\/28\/daily-del-icio-us-bookmarks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":0},"title":"Daily del.icio.us bookmarks","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user tvset on 2005-11-27 What do Paul Graham and Jason Fried have in common? Tagged as: communications ideas work writing The Old Man and The Sea -- Flash annimated card. Amazing! Tagged as: animation art cool flash wow Programming languages compared -- An emperical comparison of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11131,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/30\/the-art-of-the-argument\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":1},"title":"The art of the argument","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Graham wrote yet another excellent essey - \"How to Disagree\". The web is turning writing into a conversation. Twenty years ago, writers wrote and readers read. The web lets readers respond, and increasingly they do\u2014in comment threads, on forums, and in their own blog posts. Many who respond to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10165,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2006\/06\/07\/daily-del-icio-us-bookmarks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":2},"title":"Daily del.icio.us bookmarks","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user tvset on 2006-06-06 TuxMobil: Linux GPS Navigation for Portable Navigation Devices - PNDs Tagged as: gps hardware linux maps navigation pda software 52 Projects: Simple Things You Can Do Right Now To Jumpstart Your Writing Efforts Tagged as: books english howto ideas life literature motivation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11220,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/03\/cities-and-ambitions\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":3},"title":"Cities and ambitions","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Graham continues writing down his thoughts and observations - \"Cities and ambitions\": No matter how determined you are, it's hard not to be influenced by the people around you. It's not so much that you do whatever a city expects of you, but that you get discouraged when no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10427,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2006\/08\/25\/daily-del-icio-us-bookmarks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":4},"title":"Daily del.icio.us bookmarks","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"August 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user tvset on 2006-08-24 The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing Tagged as: english reference research science tutorial writing reading blogging technology language Hack Attack: Become a Gmail master - Lifehacker Tagged as: google gmail lifehacks mail email communications work office extensions browsers webservices hacks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16555,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/07\/23\/readme-driven-development\/","url_meta":{"origin":8757,"position":5},"title":"Readme Driven Development","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've ever had a project without a README file hosted at GitHub, you know the recommendation message to create one. \u00a0When I first saw that message, I thought it was a bit weird, but, I guess, fine. \u00a0It never bothered me enough to search for any explanation - I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8757"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=8757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}