I would someday like to be a writer. In no particular order, the reasons I don’t typically write.
I’m currently a graduate student, and while my research/teaching isn’t all-consuming yet, it does take considerable amounts of time.
When I do sit down and try to write something, it is usually not very original. For example, a couple weeks ago I wrote “A crow shook down on me”. I also tend to overwrite things, as evidenced in that writeup.
I have a history of starting large projects and giving up after a day or two—for example, I’ve tried NaNoWriMo twice, with less than 5% success both times.
Disclaimer: Typical anti-akrasia advice, as seen on LW and perhaps other places, has generally been unhelpful. Writing isn’t close enough to being one of my primary goals for me to prioritize it the way I prioritize research.
When you do write, what prompts it? Find out what the impetus is and then arrange to have lots of it. (Fo instance, mine is attention, so I have lots of beta readers and publish everything I write on the Internet.) NaNoWriMo isn’t the ideal writing environment for everyone.
Write down ideas for things to write about as you have them. Pick the best/most original/etc. the next time you have an opportunity to write. If you are short on time and find that you tend not to be pleased with the ideas you use, this is probably more workable than just writing about everything you think of.
Do one pass of editing on each thing you write, after letting it sit without looking at it for at least a few days. This will give you practice at drawing your attention to things you find “overwritten” after the fact; hopefully you’ll eventually nip those patterns in the bud before they make it into your writing.
Generic advice that doesn’t address anything specific you said: Do not delete things you write, ever. If you are tempted to do this, bury them somewhere in the deepest recesses of your computer, but never delete.
I pre-commit to writing down tomorrow (because right now drunk and sleepy) a list of ten ideas about things to write about, and within a week follow up and write about the best. The first step should take at most a couple hours; the second probably a day for a first draft. That seems reasonable given my current workflow.
I’m not sure what there is to be impressed about… perhaps you interpreted me as saying that I write to get attention? That’s not why; attention is merely what allows me to write for other reasons (which are mostly: because it is itchy to have ideas unrealized). Without anyone paying attention to me I will still be itchy but won’t actually write anything before going off and doing something else.
The idea is that by deleting something you condemn everything that was in it as useless. Even that incredibly catchy metaphor about cats and trash compactors. Or the perfectly good first page that is followed by 10 pages of dross. It’s useful to keep a backlog of things you’ve done and discarded. When you have distanced enough from the work enough, you can return and analyse, and learn not only from your mistakes, but also from the gems that may be found among them.If you delete your writing, you retain only the feeling of not being satisfied with it, unless you have perfect memory.
Alternatively, a backlog of truly horrible writing attempts gives you a chance to compare your various efforts and see how you’ve grown and, possibly, where you’ve gone wrong recently. Personally I keep most of my things on my laptop, including seperate files for various versions of the same story, ideas that never went past a single paragraph, various abandoned-in-progress things and stories that I felt were excellent at time of writing, but are actually weak.
It won’t directly motivate to write, but it does help improve over time, and quality tends to contribute to motivation somewhat.
“But surely it’s better to delete what you do nothing but cringe at, while keeping writing that’s mostly bad but has a couple good points! When you come back...”
“Stop. What you’re defending is what you already do. [wordless] Faced with a choice either to change one’s mind or to prove there’s no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. Domain experts are telling you you’re wrong. [/wordless] Change your mind.”
“I changed my mind! I’m such a good rationalist! Can I go brag on LW?”
“Knock yourself out. Maybe you can rationalize it by saying you need to show agreement more, and promoting a norm of publicly changing one’s mind in response to evidence, or something.”
I wouldn’t necessarily call “Why?” as presenting a choice, but point taken. I guess my real reason why I began not deleting everything is that I’ve lost a lot of my early writing and regret doing so.
What I wrote above still occasionally applies.
Huh, I might have been unclear. I was explaining why I changed my mind to agree with you, not criticizing you!
I deleted everything because after working on something for long enough, I start hating it and seeing the flaws in it and being ashamed of it and hating my past self for wanting to show it to everyone. I hear this is normal, so when in doubt I wait a few months then reread… and it looks even worse.
I would someday like to be a writer. In no particular order, the reasons I don’t typically write.
I’m currently a graduate student, and while my research/teaching isn’t all-consuming yet, it does take considerable amounts of time.
When I do sit down and try to write something, it is usually not very original. For example, a couple weeks ago I wrote “A crow shook down on me”. I also tend to overwrite things, as evidenced in that writeup.
I have a history of starting large projects and giving up after a day or two—for example, I’ve tried NaNoWriMo twice, with less than 5% success both times.
Disclaimer: Typical anti-akrasia advice, as seen on LW and perhaps other places, has generally been unhelpful. Writing isn’t close enough to being one of my primary goals for me to prioritize it the way I prioritize research.
In accordance with my commitment below, here are the ten ideas I came up with.
An introduction to real analysis using Python.
Gurren Lagann fanfiction where characters die left and right for being idiots. (Thanks chelz!)
Semi-realistic Solar System space opera. Moral horizon-hopping protagonist reclaims humanity’s drive toward space.
An argument against mathematical platonism.
An explanation of the taxonomy of birds.
A follow-up to the quantum physics sequence.
A type theory-based explanation of tensor analysis and differential geometry.
An argument against the usefulness of Rawls’ “veil of ignorance”.
An essay on romantic aesthetics, using Rand as a starting point but blowing away her chaff.
A review/update of Buckminster Fuller’s Critical Path.
Yes please.
When you do write, what prompts it? Find out what the impetus is and then arrange to have lots of it. (Fo instance, mine is attention, so I have lots of beta readers and publish everything I write on the Internet.) NaNoWriMo isn’t the ideal writing environment for everyone.
Write down ideas for things to write about as you have them. Pick the best/most original/etc. the next time you have an opportunity to write. If you are short on time and find that you tend not to be pleased with the ideas you use, this is probably more workable than just writing about everything you think of.
Do one pass of editing on each thing you write, after letting it sit without looking at it for at least a few days. This will give you practice at drawing your attention to things you find “overwritten” after the fact; hopefully you’ll eventually nip those patterns in the bud before they make it into your writing.
Generic advice that doesn’t address anything specific you said: Do not delete things you write, ever. If you are tempted to do this, bury them somewhere in the deepest recesses of your computer, but never delete.
I’m impressed by your honesty wrt motivations.
I pre-commit to writing down tomorrow (because right now drunk and sleepy) a list of ten ideas about things to write about, and within a week follow up and write about the best. The first step should take at most a couple hours; the second probably a day for a first draft. That seems reasonable given my current workflow.
I’m not sure what there is to be impressed about… perhaps you interpreted me as saying that I write to get attention? That’s not why; attention is merely what allows me to write for other reasons (which are mostly: because it is itchy to have ideas unrealized). Without anyone paying attention to me I will still be itchy but won’t actually write anything before going off and doing something else.
Oh. Nevermind then.
Why? (I currently delete most of my writing.)
The idea is that by deleting something you condemn everything that was in it as useless. Even that incredibly catchy metaphor about cats and trash compactors. Or the perfectly good first page that is followed by 10 pages of dross. It’s useful to keep a backlog of things you’ve done and discarded. When you have distanced enough from the work enough, you can return and analyse, and learn not only from your mistakes, but also from the gems that may be found among them.If you delete your writing, you retain only the feeling of not being satisfied with it, unless you have perfect memory.
Alternatively, a backlog of truly horrible writing attempts gives you a chance to compare your various efforts and see how you’ve grown and, possibly, where you’ve gone wrong recently. Personally I keep most of my things on my laptop, including seperate files for various versions of the same story, ideas that never went past a single paragraph, various abandoned-in-progress things and stories that I felt were excellent at time of writing, but are actually weak. It won’t directly motivate to write, but it does help improve over time, and quality tends to contribute to motivation somewhat.
“But surely it’s better to delete what you do nothing but cringe at, while keeping writing that’s mostly bad but has a couple good points! When you come back...”
“Stop. What you’re defending is what you already do. [wordless] Faced with a choice either to change one’s mind or to prove there’s no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. Domain experts are telling you you’re wrong. [/wordless] Change your mind.”
“I changed my mind! I’m such a good rationalist! Can I go brag on LW?”
“Knock yourself out. Maybe you can rationalize it by saying you need to show agreement more, and promoting a norm of publicly changing one’s mind in response to evidence, or something.”
“Yay!”
I wouldn’t necessarily call “Why?” as presenting a choice, but point taken. I guess my real reason why I began not deleting everything is that I’ve lost a lot of my early writing and regret doing so. What I wrote above still occasionally applies.
Why do you delete everything?
Huh, I might have been unclear. I was explaining why I changed my mind to agree with you, not criticizing you!
I deleted everything because after working on something for long enough, I start hating it and seeing the flaws in it and being ashamed of it and hating my past self for wanting to show it to everyone. I hear this is normal, so when in doubt I wait a few months then reread… and it looks even worse.