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Comment by frabia | Hacker News Reader

I like and believe too the notion that writing IS thinking and that cultivating this skill helps you form clearer thoughts. One question about this: I'm trying to engage more and more in writing for this reason, but I seem often not to know what to write about. For example, as PG has a lot of experience when it comes to startups, I feel I don't have as much knowledge to share, or if I have some opinion, I don't feel as confident in sharing it. Any tips on how to cultivate writing as an exercise in thinking in this situation?

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Just get going. Quoting https://randsinrepose.com/archives/your-writing/ :

* Less than 1% of your writing will be life-changing.

* 3% will be trivial to write.

* 4% will strongly resonate with others in a way you didn’t expect.

* 5% will be quite good.

* 15% probably should’ve never been published.

* 26% will elicit a reaction you did not expect. Positive or negative.

* 28% will become vastly better because you chose to edit.

* 30% will start as one piece but finish as another.

* 40% will be good solid writing.

* 45% will do much worse than you expect when published.

* 60% of your writing will never be finished. Be ok with that.

* 100% of your writing is worth your time.

>* 100% of your writing is worth your time.

Just curious, but do you think my collective 20 years of random posts across 10+ social media platforms, often with thousands of posts per platform, has been worth my time?

Well, I think mine have. There were some weird tweets, but on average… yeah.

> some weird tweets

Sounds like some of the 15% or some of the 28%. :)

What's "worth" in this question?

May be hard to answer. My view from the same behavior: yes, worth it.

Was everything productive for a career? For a relationship with someone else? Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

Would love to hear your thoughts on my first question!

And when numbers are just rethorical devices you can pull them out of thin air.

I have found journalling to be pretty effective about anything. Most times when I meet a block, I write about it. Doesn't require tons of experience to journal about stuff.

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