Revision can be just as creatively rewarding as drafting, if we approach it the right way. — One of the best books on writing is A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by acclaimed novelist (and writing teacher) George Saunders. 1 One of the book’s recurring ideas is that good fiction, at its core, rewards the reader’s attention line-by-line. As long as you write a line…

There’s a surprising benefit to a slower, more labor-intensive writing method — I was 8 or 9 when I saw Harriet the Spy. It’s a fun little movie about a girl who writes frank (sometimes unkind) observations about the people around her because she’s a ‘spy.’ The plot didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me was her notebook. Look at that…

How Ray Bradbury understood writing has more to do with athletics than literary genius — I was going through my zettelkasten notes on writing, and I rediscovered some notes I took on Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing. Bradbury doesn’t offer a whole lot of practical advice in his book, but he does provide a great deal of wisdom on what it takes…

How I built an ADHD-friendly writing notebook using Drafts & Ulysses — I knew something was wrong after I started losing time. When I started working from home in March 2020, I thought I was just dropping a commute. I didn’t realize everything else I was dropping too. I no longer had a routine that kept me oriented in the rhythm of…

Wayne is embedded in the sinister wilderness retreat where his sister disappeared. He can’t imagine what he’s about to discover. — Wayne tiptoed out of the massive cabin, careful to avoid the creaking spots on the floor that he’d memorized. Withina few steps, he left the dark, dusty cabin and entered the brilliant moonlight of the late summer midnight. He crouched as he walked into the center of the campground of…

Your only task is ensuring your first draft exists in the first place — There’s a wide gulf between what we know in theory and what we know in practice. We’ve all heard that we should write “shitty first drafts,” but what does that mean, practically, for our writing? …

Aesthetic differences between the two are ideological —

The “go hard or go home” mentality of self-improvement actually makes self-improvement harder. — What’s the chief problem with adopting a creative habit? Sustaining the habit after the novelty wears off. How it usually goes: I’ll get excited about a new kind of writing exercise/routine/project, and that excitement will sustain me for four, maybe five days. …

Breaking our promises to ourselves is how we build better lives around who we are today. — I make plans compulsively. When my wife and I went to a food truck festival with friends, I planned for how to maximize the number of stalls we could hit with minimal wait times. As soon as I got food from one stall, I rushed our friends to the next…