Why you should start writing
In preparation for my PhD, I decided to start writing. One essay per day. No exceptions. The writing doesn’t have to be good, and it doesn’t need to be long. What matters is that I write, so that I’m used to sitting down and putting my thoughts to paper — or keyboard.
To give credit where it’s due, I was inspired by Alexey Guzey in a similarly-titled article. If I don’t convince you, I recommend you read what he has to say:
Without further ado, here‘s why you should start writing.
You’ll think better
Writing your ideas down forces you to escape the world of vague impressions and loosely-held beliefs. When you’re writing, you need to articulate your thoughts in a way that someone other than you can understand. You’ll notice your relationship to your own beliefs changing — they become something you need to critically examine instead of something you simply believe.
That last point is particularly important. If you can, write with your real name. My family reads what I write, so there’s additional pressure to make sure what I’m saying is defensible, because I can’t just close the computer to avoid critique. The tradeoff, of course, is if you want to write about contentious topics. Cancel culture is real, so know the limits of what you’re willing to stand behind.
You can participate in the conversation
I think about this quote from the late Christopher Hitchens a lot:
Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.
If you have something you want to say, say it. You’re not doing yourself any favours by staying silent.
The conversation doesn’t need to be important either. If your passion is young adult fiction, write about young adult fiction. If it’s stamp collecting, write about that. Not only are you speaking your mind, other people can see what you’re doing, and that’s a good thing. Be the person who writes a new author their first glowing review. Be the person to give them constructive criticism. Be nice, but be active.
Here are some prompts you might find useful:
- Is there a concept in your field of study that people seem to always misunderstand?
- What’s a piece of art you think is under-appreciated and why?
- What’s something you wish your younger self knew?
- What’s something most people would say you’re very good at? How do you do it?
- Have you noticed a connection between two different concepts? Try to reconcile their differences and come up with a synthesis of their content.
- Explain something you’re passionate about to someone who has no idea what that thing is
The point is to add value for the people reading your work. You don’t need to turn their life around or refactor their internal representations of reality — you’ve succeeded even if their reaction is only “huh, I never thought of it that way.”
You’ll learn how to disagree productively
Not everyone will share your opinion. You’ll be criticized, and you’ll need to think hard about how you respond to that. Being pro-active in dealing with critique is also key — don’t make straw-man arguments, actively engage with the strongest possible version of your opponent’s position. You’ll end up with an essay that’s more enjoyable to read and more interesting to engage with.
A useful framework I think about is the Heirarchy of Disagreement:
I try to stay in the top 3 categories. Name-calling, Ad Hominem, Tone-Policing, and blind contradiction are neither convincing nor interesting to read.
You should also make sure you know which level of the pyramid you’re writing on. Finding a mistake in an author’s work is not the same as refuting their central point. It can be, but only sometimes. Understand what the true impact of your disagreement would be on the overall argument and don’t pretend it’s a bigger deal than it is.
It’s energizing to be noticed
Two days into my commitment to one-essay-a-day, I was noticed by one of my favourite authors, Garett Jones:
I had written a post detailing my book recommendations for “20 year old contrarians” in which Jones’ book 10% Less Democracy was featured, alongside other great writers. I have no clue how he saw it — maybe someone forwarded it to him — but the day it happened I wrote nearly four essays worth of content.
Being noticed is energizing. I can’t guarantee it will happen, but if and when it does, use it.
You have something to say, and it doesn’t need to be original
Everyone has a story in their heart. Maybe that story is telling me what a cliché comment that last sentence was. The point is, you have something to say.
A trap people fall into is thinking they need to be original. Originality is overrated. Anyone you think is original is probably just rehashing something that someone else said with prettier words or a reframing.
I started out writing book reviews. Then I explained philosophical concepts I’d read in other blog posts — case in point, this entire post is a ripoff of Guzey— and I’m slowly moving on to writing my own pseudo-original work.
In Guzey’s own words:
Mendel’s ideas were basically ignored for thirty-four years after his publication. The guy who decided to publish his unoriginal thoughts on Mendel’s work in 1901 was necessary for the appreciation and the spread of Mendel’s ideas.
It might be the case that the person reading my notes about cold emails previously saw n mentions of the thought “sending cold emails is important” and my post might be the final (n+1)st encounter of this idea that finally convinces them that it’s important and finally makes them send an important cold email
Also cited in Guzey’s article:
Your own ideas mostly seem trivial to you because you have the right concept structures in place to support them. You wouldn’t come up with these ideas otherwise. So it’s easier to notice your own ideas in a dialogue: your friend has different concept structures and notices them. — Gleb Posobin
Here’s the trick: the content doesn’t need to be original, only the presentation. How many times have you seen an article explaining concepts like “correlation is not causation”? But they’re all different. They’ll use different examples, different framings, different rhetorical flairs. There’s no one standard of better, but different styles will appeal to different people. There are competing access needs — some readers need a long snarky article to keep them entertained, and others need a quick 200-word summary. All are valid approaches, and you can decide what works for you.
Writing is tough
Agreed. It gets easier. Probably.
There’s a wide range of challenges people have with writing. Some struggle to get any words onto the page, and still others write too much and find it doesn’t make sense. The simplest solution is to write with an editor.
If you think your writing doesn’t make sense, have someone read over your work and serve as a gut-check that what you’re writing makes sense. You know what you’re writing about, but your brain is full of context that may not come through in a draft.
If you can’t put pen to paper, have someone there to listen as you explain a concept. Record it on your phone, write down what you say, and wrangle that into a grammatically correct post. Another option is to use the Most Dangerous Writing App.
Even if you’re a good writer, write with an editor. Not everyone thinks the same way you do, so make sure what you’re saying makes sense to someone else.
Use a platform
Some people start blogs on their personal websites. This is great if you have pre-existing followers you can send your articles out to. For the majority of those wanting to start writing, however, they don’t have that culture cachet at the beginning. Look into sites like Medium, Tumblr, Quora. All have different strengths and weaknesses, so it’s up to you to decide what will work best.
Build a back-log
Writing one essay a day is challenging. Before I even started posting, I made a backlog of 4 essays — 2 of which were complete, and 2 others in the latter stages of an outline. I’m also building up the backlog by writing more than an essay per day whenever the inspiration strikes. This is important so you don’t burnout. If I have a long day of work ahead, I can use an essay in the backlog and take a break. If you’re in a position where writing feels like a chore, that’s a sign you’re writing too much.
Your goals may differ from mine as well — maybe an essay a day isn’t feasible. Maybe you want to write long-form essays once a week, or smaller ones only twice weekly. Your schedule needs to work for you, don’t work to meet your schedule. Burning out isn’t worth it.
Start writing!
90% of people are lurkers. 9% do something, and 1% regularly contribute. This will vary by platform but the principle remains the same; if you’re doing anything, you’re in the minority. The beauty of online publishing is in how it democratizes the production and distribution of ideas — no matter who you are, if you have a good idea and some rhetorical flair you can make an impact.