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Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

rolandasb.github.io

11–20 of 95 posts

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#11

I have a simpler method to accomplish the same task: a typewriter. The key, for me, is to retype into a computer and edit during that phase.

Yesterday I watched "All the President's Men". Even I knew of course, there was an time without computer in the offices, but still, it felt a bit .. really like from a different time. I also did think about, how it would not be so easy like today, to change words or just wrong chars like today.

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#12
Cool! Another easy way to do this is to close your eyes while you write.

Feature idea: prevent you from leaving the page or doing anything else on your laptop for the time period, that way you can’t research anything.

More tips: https://dtrejo.com/how-to-write-consistently-painlessly-and-...

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#13
I completely agree. The first draft should never see the light of day. Just put down your ideas and your points in no particular order. Do not outline. Do not format. Adhere to no rules except to get the first draft done well before the deadline.

After that, you write.

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How in hell is that "simpler"

Probably meant technologically simpler, since no software is involved. Acquiring and operating a typewriter is definitely not, in my view, a simple alternative. Just writing with pen and paper seems simpler on all counts.

I think they might have been referring to needing to type the whole thing again. Back in the typewriter days, I remember drafting papers on pen and pencil until I was read, and then typing it out; occasionally switching to white out ribbons to fix mistakes. Word processors changed a lot of that, and big high school we could all type our papers in Word97 or Corel WordPerfect and print them out; no intermediate steps.

I suppose with a typewriter today, you could still just OCR the result using an old scanner you can pick up at a garage sale or thrift store for nothing, if you didn't want to re-type everything by hand.

R.R. Martin has said he still uses and old word processor with Word Star on it, to have fewer distractions. He transfers things over via floppy disk.

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#18
Yet another shameless plug - my app, Cold Turkey Writer, forces you to write for a certain amount of time or word count before letting you close the app. The pro version also lets you disable the backspace/delete key to prevent editing.

https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#19
Here’s my attempt at a tool for writing not even a draft but a stream of consciousness that evaporates like a daydream or prayer.

https://swa.sh

It doesn’t work on mobile, but you should use it with a proper keyboard anyway. There’s nothing sent from the JavaScript to any server; it’s a static page hosted on Netlify with very simple code. It’s just an index.html with style and script tags, 39 lines total.

I use it in the evening when the baby is asleep and I just want to reflect and think for a while. Maybe you will like it too.

Re: Show HN: Avoid editing while writing your first draft

#20

I have a simpler method to accomplish the same task: a typewriter. The key, for me, is to retype into a computer and edit during that phase.

A go (囲碁, not ~lang) master once taught me how to get my subconscious to reveal moves it knew were bad. We played a quick game, cleared the board, and then played the same game over again. The moves I remembered immediately were the right ones. The moves where I hesitated were the wrong ones. He was easily 20 stones better than me but my subconscious knew, at least, every time I made a mistake against him, even in complex situations.

Repetition is under-appreciated today. I think it's something we lost when we gave up typewriters. I'm not saying we should go back to ink and paper in all cases but I do think there is an aspect we're missing out on, like someone whose fitness deteriorates when they start driving everywhere, or who doesn't know where anything is now that they have a GPS-enabled smartphone.

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