Why I write, how I write and thoughts about writing in general.
Even though I like to think I write about software engineering, I tend to keep coming back to the ‘meta’ of writing. I write about how I do things and why instead of doing them.
Why Write
- Forcing me to structure my thoughts
- Taking ideas out of my head so I don’t have to worry about forgetting them (related to 🧠 Extended Mind Hypothesis)
- Creating a broader conversation by putting it online
Writing Process
This website is written using 🪨 Obsidian.
Rituals
I start by disconnecting from the internet and putting on noise-cancelling headphones.
There are multiple phases in writing:
- Expand: writing new content
- Rework: reworking content
- Input: turn to books and saved articles when there’s no inspiration
I go from top to bottom, trying first to write new content. If that doesn’t progress for any reason, I look into any existing work that might be improved. If that also doesn’t work because of a complete lack of inspiration, I read books and saved articles hoping that that would give me new ideas.
Expand
Rework
I have a very iterative approach to programming as explained in 🖋 Writing Is Like Programming. That’s why I have 🪨 Obsidian configured to order my notes by “Modified time (new to old)”, to make it easier to see which notes haven’t been updated in a long time.
Input
To not risk getting distracted by the internet, I have installed Instapaper to read articles offline.