Thinking to write -Writing to think
SHARING ALL SBD'S EARNED WITH 1 GOOD COMMENTER AND 1 RESTEEMER!
It started out as a comment to @Stellabelle but in a very meta way the writing started my thinking, and well, things got out of hand and I have another post...
It started with @markwhitman 's article about better writing Which mentioned this article of @Stellabelle, who points out that good writing is about good thinking
There is another important element about writing; the process of writing helps you think.
@Stellabelle said that it is about having the time to think and collect the flashes of ideas that occur during the day
That is the beginning but I think definitely not the end :
The process of transforming your collection of thoughts into writing , itself, transforms thinking.
I heard it first I think from Kevin Kelly in his interview with Tim Ferriss (can't remember which).
But he is absolutely right... since discovering Steemit.com I have been writing ideas that have been rattling around in my head for several years.
Since reading several books on technical progress, the future and society, I found I wanted to discuss them with friends but there was so much information that I was not really making sense.
Writing down my ideas started by thinking.
Through writing, the thinking changed and crystallized, improved...
So there is a feedback loop : thinking →writing →more/better thinking → better writing
So far I wanted to get my ideas down in writing. I have not done too much editing yet.
I believe this is the next step, real editing is not just spelling & grammar, it's about better thinking...boiling down writing to the essential ideas.
By taking away everything from the writing that is not essential to convey the thought...
A great ( free) course that opened my eyes to the power of editing is this one :
https://www.udemy.com/secret-sauce-of-great-writing/
Once you are able to convey a maximum of ideas with a minimum of words you probably have achieved the clearest thinking ...
That is probably the secret of great quotes.
Note that I did not say I am any good at it, l am still a bit removed from that considering my post length.
A great example in Derek Sivers https://sivers.org/book/OnWritingWell
Very meta, Sivers reviewing a book on writing well , inspired by 2 other articles on writing ... better stop now
ALL the SBD's I earn from this post will also be shared with
1 re-steemer with a good reason in the comments why you re-steemed it
1 commenter who has a constructive (positive or negative) answer to my logic or questions in this post.
I UPVOTE good commenters too!
I am seeding the pot with @randowhale to get a good start!
Writing definitely helps. Clarity is a linguistic issue more than anything - there are simply not enough words and phrases in our active possession nor deep enough knowledge of the words meanings (we think know them, though) to express ourselves concisely. A solid knowledge of vocabulary is what distinguishes good writers from everybody else. I mean really good writers - classics, masters of the word, vocabulary nerds as I call them. =)
Add:
A tool to measure your vocabulary size. With some limitations, but decent. A bookworm friend of mine his late 40s scored over 40000. That guy is a living breathing dictionary!
http://testyourvocab.com
To an extent that is true , but a big vocabulary can also become a crutch to make poor ideas sound good . Advice you often hear about persuasive writing is to stick to simple words (mind you, t-hat is for non-fiction) Scott Adams has some great writing advice too :
Wow, that was useful. Reminded me of the good stuff I learned in my writing classes and forgot when I started doing research and writing for publications in academic journals (which shows in my writing). I will have to practice a bit more now.
What I meant, however, was that choosing the right and concise words actually helps with writing simple. You don't need to use "heavy" words, of course. It is more of a difference between "clear and short" and "concise". I find it to be very important.
Hehe my wife has the same issue . Academic writing seems to sit on the oposite end of the scale.
And I agree with classic fiction writers (need to read more of them). For non fiction I think a lot of people are copying style over function though...
Thanks for the test ! Very cool !
Yeah I really like that :)
Perhaps that's why the greatest memes can really gain so much traction. They portray an idea, story, or situation using minimal words, nuances, and a nice picture or two :)
Yes that occurred to me too, those popular one liners quotes etc. are probably the result of long evolution and crafting.
I think especially a guy like Mark Twain was a master at that.
His quotes probably did not start out that slick but he was a very good public speaker and he probably practiced his "off-the-cuff" one liners hundreds of times.
Less is more...
True..practice brings about greater perfection :)
I remember being trained to write in a flowery manner all through high school. Then in university it was a mixture of impactful writing and impressive words..
But once I did my first branding internship out in the real world, my writing style got cleaned up really quickly by my boss.. That was my first realisation that I had to unlearn most of what I'd practiced in school and relearn effective writing skills :)
the above video of Scott Adams will probably be a lot closer what your boss said then what you learned at school...
This post earned me 1.712 SBD's so that will be split between 2 commenters:
@snakiest
@foodie.warrior
(again! Good on ya! Keep up good comments, keep earning, thats how it works!)
They get 0.856 SBD each.
This is part of my JULY EXPERIMENT where I share ALL my SBD's earned with one commenter and one resteemer.
Condition for the re-steemer to win is to make a comment with a good reason WHY you are resteeming. No re-steemers for this post.
EVERY POST I MAKE IN JULY WILL SHARE ITS SBD's I EARN, even if that means I make 1000 SBD, I´ll GLADLY share that with people who make constructive comments.
I explain why here
Don't forget to check out and resteem these posts, the pot is a lot juicier now!
This one about Future survival skills, becoming techno-literate is up to about 47 USD so I guess there are going to be 2 prizes of about 10 SBD each.
This one about the Idea economy is starting out but already over 8 USD.
Please comment and resteem, I hope to give ever bigger prizes to people who make an honest effort!
Thanks! I didn't even notice you had this give away going. Got the money with the link back here, and thought you mistook me for an upvote bot)))
All posts in July will be part of this experiment. On this one people did not seem to notice, but my latest posts are really taking off, with fantastic comments and much bigger prizes! (It's working ! It's working! Woohoo!)
Please do check those out!!