To acquire good taste seems effortless, yet many spend a lifetime eating overcooked pasta untroubled by it. We learn to cook by imitation, much as we learn to write. But how can we expect anyone to prepare spaghetti aglio e olio if they’ve never tasted anything but pasta from a jar? Why is it that reading great literature changes our perception, our sense of what makes writing simple yet subtly beautiful? Consider Tolstoy, who writes in Anna Karenina: ...
I teach a course on scientific writing for graduate students—an endeavor that, at first glance, might seem quaint in an age where artificial intelligence drafts emails, summarizes research, and even suggests titles more clever than our own. But far from feeling obsolete, I find it thrilling. Because what I teach is not just how to write. It is how to think. And thinking, as it turns out, begins in the hand. ...
photo credit: chiarashine via photopin cc As is often the case, ideas come about in the most unexpected moments. Lately, I’ve found myself taking notes while walking to work, while waiting for a coffee in front of a bending machine, or like now while getting dressed for work. It’s become a habit of mine to write what I think, when I think it. My iPod touch has enabled that. I could well have pen and paper with me at all times, but I’m not used to that and nothing beats the digital format. ...
photo credit: Unhindered by Talent via photopin cc I read the other day an email that desperately needed some editing. Writing without editing is pretty much the same as speaking with little attention to what we are saying. The great advantage of the written form over the spoken one is that you can go back an edit. Not editing what you write is both a poor use of the written form and a sign that you don’t care much for the person that will read your message. ...
I like to write, for writing reminds me of who I am, who I want to be, and where I come from. It is no mistery that I enjoy it, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I often get compliments on my writing, but still, I think there’s a long way to go before I feel more comfortable with it – I still struggle over single words or sentences. Lately, I’ve been rediscovering myself in many different ways. I find myself more aware of everything – and that is probably not the most interesting thing – if not by chance, by fate, but I do feel different. I certainly am not the same person I was a while ago. I write more, which means I exit my body more often. ...
photo by striatic. If there’s something I learned from the famous talk “149 Surprising Ways to Turbocharge Your Blog With Credibility!” by John Gruber and Merlin Mann, was that one should make a great effort to write as if the people you admire we’re going to read your work. This is true even if the people you admire are fictional, or like in Gruber’s case, an idealized version of himself. I like to think that this piece of advice is as valid for writing/blogging as it is for anything else you do in life. ...
photo by fiddle oak. In the past year or so I’ve read a lot about how different people get their stuff done, specially when referring to writing. There are some people who just wait for inspiration to knock on their doors, whereas others simply force themselves to write every day. Inspiration is a tricky thing, but no one can’t deny that when it comes, it certainly feels good. In the words of Cristian Mihai ...