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Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

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Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#31
post #14

Does anyone else have the problem where they write a lot, but it all seems to go into the void and never produce any tangible benefit? How do I produce writing that people want to read?

In my experience, having spent some years as a professional writer with a bunch of colleagues, every writer comes with their own distinctive flaws. In terms of output, for some people getting words out is like juicing a stone. For others, the words flow freely but the juice is bad.

In fact, the single most productive writer I worked with was also the absolute worst to read on a word-by-word basis. He was also one of the most successful in his career. The trick was combing through his masses of thought-assault to identify out the good bits and fix the mediocre bits (obviously, throwing away the bad bits). I always got a chuckle out of how the end readers had no idea how much of the original writing was schlock, but his success was fully deserved on many other levels.

So in short: recognize that what you're experiencing is totally normal and acceptable, and work to your strengths. Write your crappy stuff that nobody wants to read and then fix it. If you can't fix it -- then editing is what you need to work hard on improving (and editing ≠ writing).

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#32
post #30
post #14

Does anyone else have the problem where they write a lot, but it all seems to go into the void and never produce any tangible benefit? How do I produce writing that people want to read?

Putting aside the need for an audience, I think the whole personal wiki or Zettelkasten thing helps with writing for yourself as the process becomes about building up your network of thoughts, then browsing it, writing back into it, … etc.

Yes. Just as important as the habit of writing Zettel notes is reviewing and condensing Zettel notes into “literature” notes. That’s the part I have to consciously focus on but I have found opening a rich text editor separate from my typical Zettel flow works better for long form literature note writing than my typical Zettel editor does.

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#33

How long does it take to write 500 words? I guess I could just try it and see, but that would require, you know, writing.

I've measured this recently... sort of. I do fiction writing sprints. Writing down as many words as I can in 15 minutes. Word counts range between 400-ish and 600-ish. This is just brain dump writing basically, which will need to be edited after (though more often than not it turns out to be more usable than I expected).

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#34
post #14

Does anyone else have the problem where they write a lot, but it all seems to go into the void and never produce any tangible benefit? How do I produce writing that people want to read?

That is 99.5-99.9% of writers. only a handful are ever successful at it. Obviously it ain't easy. Creative writing is among the hardest things in the world to be successful at, because there is no obvious market or audience for it.

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#36
post #14

Does anyone else have the problem where they write a lot, but it all seems to go into the void and never produce any tangible benefit? How do I produce writing that people want to read?

My belief is that everyone has 6 or 7 substantial things to say when they meet someone new or have a deeper discussion with an acquaintance. These may be stories, anecdotes, or knowledge that people find interesting. It's likely you've honed them over years.

Write these down and sharpen them. Share them with friends and get their feedback.

This removes the problem of what to write, which can be daunting as a new writer. And you may end up discovering something new in these old conversation pieces!

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#38
Not saying this tool is bad or won’t help people, but:

1. I spend a large majority of my day reading or writing text. Emails, documentation, white papers, comments in code, Slack messages, texts, PowerPoint. The absolute last thing I want to do when I get home is write more.

2. I type fast and can churn out like a thousand words no problem. It is significantly harder to a) pick an interesting topic and b) form a thought that is coherent, accessible, interesting, and overall worth reading.

I imagine people who do this spend years writing stuff that nobody (not even themselves) cares to read

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#39
I did this for most of this year. I didn't work toward a word count, I just set up a time between eating breakfast and signing in to work where I'd write instead of browsing the internet. Ended up writing 75,000 words, and it was surprising to me how easy it was. Once I got into the habit, I did it every day, not just during the week.

Re: Show HN: Write 500 Words a Day

#40

Not saying this tool is bad or won’t help people, but: 1. I spend a large majority of my day reading or writing text. Emails, documentation, white papers, comments in code, Slack messages, texts, PowerPoint. The absolute last thing I want to do when I get home is write more. 2. I type fast and can churn out like a thousand words no problem. It is significantly harder to a) pick an interesting topic and b) form a thou…

Just the thought of an interesting twist on the topic: a daily writing tool with a “spaced repetition” twist. You seed the tool with a list of writing prompts, e.g. “Write a list of ten things you think would improve your life.” Then, a few days later, the tool randomly selects one of the prompts and asks you to write 500 words on it. A month later the same prompt is re-introduced without showing you the previous writing. Prompts can be interleaved with one another so you are writing about a different thing every day. It happens again and again until at some point you are presented with all the snippets you have written about the topic and are asked to choose whether you would like to keep the writing in the pool or not. If you do then you are only given that text every day to edit until you decide to finish. If you choose to not keep it then all texts associated with that topic are archived and you keep getting differs prompts.

Good idea or bad idea?

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