Shitty First Drafts (1995) [pdf]

This book (Bird by Bird) is one of my favorites; recognized it immediately from the submission title. I've long said to folks that much of her advice in Bird by Bird is applicable to software, agility, and entrepreneurship.

Others that come to mind from the book: her writing on "one-inch picture frames" and on "radio station KFKT", which I found to be very helpful around imposter syndrome.

It's a very entertaining (and easy!) read packed with a lot of advice that I've found more useful over time than I imagined. Recommend picking it up if you're looking to meander a little in your reading. It's a good journey.

This advice is so spot on. Too often, I try to write a perfect essay from moment one, and inevitably it is all a crazy, incoherent mess. What I have learned, like the author, is to let my brain get it all out in an orderly fashion (linearly, via writing), and that one linear act will start setting up background processes in my brain that are doing processing: filtering, highlighting, pattern matching.

By the time I start a second draft, it is often from scratch, with elements from the first brought in. It is far more coherent and organized, and may move in a radically different direction than the first draft did.

You iterate depending on how important and big this is. For something short, two drafts or so is fine. When I did some legal stuff (not a lawyer, but making some important legal filings) I did many drafts and outlines.

But that act of the first linear writing to get your brain marching is a key first step.

Maybe the "Make it work, Make it right, Make it fast" principle should be prefixed with "Make it".

Perhaps not the most important thing, but:

What's 1995 about this? The PDF was distilled in 2006 and includes a reference to a 2005 publication. The intro says the actual body text is from a 1994 book.

Bird By Bird is required reading for aspiring writers in a lot of writing programs. I haven't read it in a long time, but in talking with some people recently, the advice has stood the test of time and is still highly recommended.

Compare to diffusion model based de-noising, is that the point?

Lindy-compatible and a great metaphor for a MVP mindset