Stop calling it writing?
Hi Matey ⚓
I’ve decided. Calling it writing is wrong.
If we call it writing, we stop there. But that’s just the first part. The overlooked part is editing.
So maybe we should start calling all our stuff ‘editing’.
That way, before we click the button, we consider whether we’ve paid it the right attention.
1/ Quote I’ve been thinking about 📣
"The final cause of speech is to get an idea as exactly as possible out on one mind into another. Its formal cause therefore is such choice and disposition of words as will achieve this end most economically."
G. M. Young (Historian)
This is one of my favourites. Why?
1/ It reminds me that words are tools and you can’t very well hammer in a screw.
2/ It reminds me that words deliver ideas, change, and progress. But they won’t travel if they’re delivered badly.
The second one gives me confidence that helping people improve their writing is the most useful thing I can do.
2/ Some tweet about writing 🐦
Remember being told you can NEVER start a sentence with ‘but’?
But, somehow it’s OK to start with ‘however’, ‘yet’, ‘nevertheless’, ‘still’, and ‘all the same’? You’re now free.
And, if you’re on Twitter too, let’s be mates!
3/ Something that helped me this week 🙏
I’ve been researching writing software this week. One I particularly like is iA Writer.
I like the focus mode 👇
The team at iA Writer is obsessive.
Here’s an article explaining the years that went into their “detail obsessed quest for a better writing typography”. The idea is that there are fonts better for writing.
iA Writer favour monospaced fonts over proportional fonts.
They suggest 3 reasons:
Proportional fonts are designed for high reading speeds. As writers, we want to slow down and consider every word.
Typos are more easily discernable in monospace fonts.
Monospace fonts look unready for publication. They look like work in progress and force the writer to continue work on them.
From the article—
“This is not about how it looks, but what it says. Say what you mean and worry about the style later.”
Have a good week,
John
p.s. I really want to help. Real life examples are always enlightening, so why not put your writing in a google doc and share it with me (hello@johnharrison.io). I’ll make some comments and suggestions.