On Writing: Posting daily

You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly… Accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well. (Jennifer Egan)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I post something every day without sacrificing quality?”

“Distinguish between short-form and long-form writing.

The former you can finish in a single writing session.
The latter takes multiple sessions.”

“What if I can’t think of a short-form piece for the day?”

“The key is preparation.

You can use short- and long-form as a filter for your writing ideas.

I actually have two documents:

Writing (short-form)
Writing (long-form)

Whenever I come up with a writing idea, I evaluate it based on the estimated length, and write it down in the appropriate document.

Having all the short-form ideas in one place ensures I can easily find them, and have a constant supply of them.”

“Are you saying I should focus mostly on short-form writing?”

“You can focus on both, by stacking them.

You can split your writing sessions in two: one dedicated to short-form, the other to long-form.

Once you’ve finished a short-form piece, you can switch to working on a long-form one.

Once you’ve finished a long-form piece, immediately start a new one in the same session.”

“Why immediately start a new one?”

“Leaving things unfinished can be used strategically. In leaving a process open, your mind will continue to work on it in the background.”