there's a difference between being a good writer and being a considerate writer
i've seen very good writers—in terms of their ability to craft a sentence and wield words—release these massive blog posts that take 30 minutes to an hour (or more!) to read.
(this is not a commentary on modern attention spans, and i understand the appeal of long-form content)
it's not enough to write well. or rather, part of writing well is saying what you want to say efficiently, not just out of principle but out of respect for the reader's time.
super long articles may be necessary as part of the process of honing and refining an idea, and indeed writing does help to clarify your thinking, but these long meanderings go by another name: drafts.
in the end, writing succinctly and concisely is self-serving anyway, since the average reader is more likely to both start and finish something that doesn't appear to be daunting or a chore. this is reasonable behavior.
if you just want to get something out and don't care if anyone reads it then you can dismiss this opinion of mine, obviously. but if you want readers you would do well to consider them.
mark
npub1h2…azhwd
2024-06-24 17:06:11
Author Public Key
npub1h2sfcqslrmsmrkchapkpmvqj9fr662jdeaftjyuma8kmfmdpcspsgazhwdPublished at
2024-06-24 17:06:11Event JSON
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"content": "there's a difference between being a good writer and being a considerate writer\n\ni've seen very good writers—in terms of their ability to craft a sentence and wield words—release these massive blog posts that take 30 minutes to an hour (or more!) to read.\n\n(this is not a commentary on modern attention spans, and i understand the appeal of long-form content)\n\nit's not enough to write well. or rather, part of writing well is saying what you want to say efficiently, not just out of principle but out of respect for the reader's time.\n\nsuper long articles may be necessary as part of the process of honing and refining an idea, and indeed writing does help to clarify your thinking, but these long meanderings go by another name: drafts.\n\nin the end, writing succinctly and concisely is self-serving anyway, since the average reader is more likely to both start and finish something that doesn't appear to be daunting or a chore. this is reasonable behavior.\n\nif you just want to get something out and don't care if anyone reads it then you can dismiss this opinion of mine, obviously. but if you want readers you would do well to consider them.",
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