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What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

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Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#31

Post by patmcc »

wpietri wrote: post #26
0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #13

> It’s much easier to edit something to become great than to slowly write a perfect first draft, which I don’t think is even possible. It is even possible. Isn't slowly writing a first draft exactly what you are doing by revising?

Do you have examples of how it's possible? For me, I believe it's not possible, because I can't sufficiently model a reader's reactions while writing. If I want something to be good, I have to let it sit and come back to it as a reader . Only then can I see the imperfections. Or rather, some of the imperfections. It takes me 3 or 4 passes before a piece really settles down, and showing it to others often yields new a…

John Scalzi (well published sci-fi author) does one draft, with editing along the way.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/27/novel-writing-and-rela...

Which isn't to say that's superior, just that it works for some writers.

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#32

Post by wpietri »

patmcc wrote: post #31
wpietri wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have examples of how it's possible? For me, I believe it's not possible, because I can't sufficiently model a reader's reactions while writing. If I want something to be good, I have to let it sit and come back to it as a reader . Only then can I see the imperfections. Or rather, some of the imperfections. It takes me 3 or 4 passes before a piece really settles down, and showing it to others often yields new a…

John Scalzi (well published sci-fi author) does one draft, with editing along the way. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/27/novel-writing-and-rela... Which isn't to say that's superior, just that it works for some writers.

Interesting! Thanks. It sounds like a different take on the same rewriting-is-necessary principle, rather than slowly writing a perfect first draft.

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#33

Post by wpietri »

jimm wrote: post #29
wpietri wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have examples of how it's possible? For me, I believe it's not possible, because I can't sufficiently model a reader's reactions while writing. If I want something to be good, I have to let it sit and come back to it as a reader . Only then can I see the imperfections. Or rather, some of the imperfections. It takes me 3 or 4 passes before a piece really settles down, and showing it to others often yields new a…

Apparently Isaac Asimov did it all the time. He didn't rewrite, or did so very infrequently.

Are you sure? In his obituary, it says two drafts. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/lifetimes/asi-v-obit.h...

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#34

Post by dredmorbius »

npsimons wrote: post #23
robmclarty wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree with you. The only point I'm hesitant about is the idea that feedback is absolutely necessary. I think feedback can be both good and bad; bad in the sense that things like originality, uniqueness, and novelty might be averaged out into blandness. I think I would say "reflection" instead of "feedback", which can encompass both internal and external reflection, without which no change (or improvement) ca…

Feedback may not be absolutely necessary in all disciplines (endeavors? arts? crafts?), but for some things it can be vital. I recently found out that discs in my lower back are closer together than they should be, and my spine is slightly out of alignment in two planes, probably because of bad posture (the day job) and incorrect form during high intensity workouts (which I need to even break a sweat). I'm thinking t…

I think it is.

There are cases in which it may be ... very specific. You're looking for feedback from a select group / highly refined community. Though this also presents issues -- see discussions of "the problem with mathematics" where there might be a half-dozen people who are capable of even following, let alone assessing, an argument or theorem.

Where you're working in a system without any selection, you're not dealing with an evolutionary system (or you've misidentified the selection process).

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#35

Post by sliverstorm »

spodek wrote: post #4

My biggest motivation, now nearing three years without missing a day writing usually 500 to 2,000 words daily, which applies to exercise and a million other habits you don't want to lose, is If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over. (which I wrote up here -- http://joshuaspodek.com/a-model-for-consistency ) Words to live by if you want consistency and discipline in your life. I'm also comin…

Of course, reality likes to get in the way. Injury has a way of screwing up exercise plans. Don't just bull through warning signs in the name of consistency.

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#36

Post by visakanv »

gbog wrote: post #30

Am I allowed to be a bit disappointed? Writing so many words in one year and when reporting about it the carefully chosen title is "10 Things I Learned From Writing 750 Words a Day For 365 Days"? If I had a spare domain name and 5 mn I would create a randomly generated Title Cap string on this template at xthingsilearnedfromdoingyforzday.com and the page content would be Nothing in random size and random background a…

hah, that's awesome. I'd suggest even coming up with a trite, cliche, cheesy list of vacant "lessons" rather than "nothing". "The journey is more important than the destination", etc

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#37

Post by donniezazen »

I used 750Words for a long time. After NSA scandal, I have had a hard time divulging my guts out to an online data center. I am thinking about setting up a client side encrypted Emacs/Org-mode journal system. Although I have to say that little strip on top of 750Words that tells you how many days has one written consistently and the analysis were very helpful in keeping up with the daily writing. Ultimately, I grew tired of writing 750 words daily about myself.

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#38

Post by gbog »

visakanv wrote: post #36
gbog wrote: post #30

Am I allowed to be a bit disappointed? Writing so many words in one year and when reporting about it the carefully chosen title is "10 Things I Learned From Writing 750 Words a Day For 365 Days"? If I had a spare domain name and 5 mn I would create a randomly generated Title Cap string on this template at xthingsilearnedfromdoingyforzday.com and the page content would be Nothing in random size and random background a…

hah, that's awesome. I'd suggest even coming up with a trite, cliche, cheesy list of vacant "lessons" rather than "nothing". "The journey is more important than the destination", etc

Hm, but these clichés could accidentally carry some tiny usefulness for a few people, which would defeat the purpose of xthingsilearnedfromdoingyforzday.com.

Maybe using random translations of the word "nothing" could be nice: Nada, Rien, Nichts, 没有, 无, ...

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#39

Post by gbog »

spodek wrote: post #4

My biggest motivation, now nearing three years without missing a day writing usually 500 to 2,000 words daily, which applies to exercise and a million other habits you don't want to lose, is If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over. (which I wrote up here -- http://joshuaspodek.com/a-model-for-consistency ) Words to live by if you want consistency and discipline in your life. I'm also comin…

> If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over.

This is oh-so wrong. Haven't you heard of people working inconsistently? Haven't you heard of activities that just won't come to your hand?

If you are a real poet or writer, you might very well be completely dry and it will be quite impossible for you to write a single word on one page for months, even years! And then maybe the source of inspiration will get some water again, usually because of the winds, and you will throw your master opus in a month, and die happy.

So, ok, go on with your writing-as-other-lift-weight but please keep in mind that some other people might have another idea of what writing is.

Re: What I learned from writing 750 words a day for 365 days

#40

Post by kbenson »

gbog wrote: post #39
spodek wrote: post #4

My biggest motivation, now nearing three years without missing a day writing usually 500 to 2,000 words daily, which applies to exercise and a million other habits you don't want to lose, is If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over. (which I wrote up here -- http://joshuaspodek.com/a-model-for-consistency ) Words to live by if you want consistency and discipline in your life. I'm also comin…

> If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over. This is oh-so wrong. Haven't you heard of people working inconsistently? Haven't you heard of activities that just won't come to your hand? If you are a real poet or writer, you might very well be completely dry and it will be quite impossible for you to write a single word on one page for months, even years! And then maybe the source of inspirati…

Is it impossible that writing, even if not towards the current goal you are working towards, has some benefit? I mean, even for real writers and poets, not just the rest of the unwashed masses?
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