herbertl

Excellent, thanks for sharing!

Indeed obscurity is a gift in its own way. Reminds me of this: https://web.archive.org/web/20110401093801/https://jacquesma...

This is so cool, thank you for sharing! Do your readers mostly find your book through search?

> The only way you could tell the counterfeit wasn't real was that it was too well made and played like butter.

Fascinating! I'm no aficionado, though I've read that—similarly—luxury watches lose around two minutes per year.

I really appreciated this documentary, particularly the acceptance that pain, uncertainty, and constant work are unavoidable. Realizing that it's not something anyone should try to (or even can!) escape is reassuring. He's also co-authored a book on the tools: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13152847-the-tools

You may like what Inque is up to! No ads, one issue per year, no web version: https://inquemag.com/

>INQUE is a beautiful annual literary magazine dedicated to extraordinary new writing. Documenting what is going to be an era-defining decade, it will run no advertising, have no web version, and only ever publish 10 issues.

Your comment also reminds me of a meaningful, subtle, difference between comparing vs. referencing.

I'm proposing that writing—and editing—gets you to the big and small lightbulb mental moments more consistently and faster!

i.e., Thinking through putting ink on paper (or characters on screen) is more reliable and produces clearer results/expressions than thinking without.

That's a really interesting topic, thanks for sharing this! I've previously written about changing environments (https://forge.medium.com/to-do-better-work-change-your-envir...), prompts for changing equipment would also be very interesting.

For me, generally pen and paper for preliminary work (e.g., exploring the idea, journaling, taking notes), software and tools like Google Docs/Notion/Airtable for organization and fidelity (e.g., outlining, writing, editing, etc.). Another lens could be analog for chaotic creative work, digital for structured creative work.

I love the way you phrased this, I wrote a book entitled Creative Doing and it's really all about how doing and thinking are part of a loop! Everything is just a snapshot into the creative process and each person's larger body of work.

Okay! This is fascinating, I've long meant to dig into the relationship between writing and memory.

I do also think if you were to revisit a specific note, you might find something interesting along the way—a fascinating byproduct of writing physical things down is sorting through all of the texture before and after it. https://twitter.com/HerbertLui/status/1564087803029630976

Thanks so much for sharing this, I really appreciate it! If/when I write a follow up to this piece, I'll need to include this story and read Thompson's book. That fragment you shared reminds me of what consultant/author/teacher Roger Martin wrote at Medium:

> The most important advice I ever received on writing was from a fellow named Bernie Avishai, a great writer/editor and friend, to whom I was complaining about how much editing my writing took. He observed that the reason that I was complaining about editing was that I probably believed that I thought in order to write. My response was “Duh, of course, I think in order to write.” Bernie explained that instead, one writes to think. The human mind can only think so much without seeing a written manifestation of its thinking. You need to write down your thinking, however primitive, in order to be able to look at it and say: “That is not quite right.” Then you will be able to figure out how to make it better. And then by looking at the resulting improvement, you will be capable of saying: “That is still not quite right.” And so on, until it is a much more sophisticated view of your thinking.

The lesson for me is that editing is a feature of the writing process, not a bug. Now, I don’t begrudge editing. I realize that it is just part of the process of helping me think. I love the process of editing! Nothing that anyone sees from me on Medium has been edited less than a dozen times. Each time, it is a slightly better expression of what is in my head.

Via: https://medium.com/creators-hub/the-management-strategist-wh...

Thanks for sharing, and I totally agree! I'd respond by defining writing in this case as merely putting words on the page. No backspacing (save to correct typos), almost as if we were writing by pen.

Writing is a very separate process from editing, and the two processes need to be kept very separate; the editing is where the cohesion is developed and tightened up. Naturally, research is also a separate process.

Susan Sontag said every writer is four people: 1) The nut, the obsédé 2) The moron 3) The stylist 4) The critic

Similarly, professor Betty Flowers would define a writer as “madman,” “architect,” “carpenter,” “judge.” More here: https://herbertlui.net/the-four-inner-beings-of-a-writer/

In this case, the act of writing and putting thoughts together can represent the idiot/the moron/the nut at work (although upon reflecting, those words are unnecessarily mean and harsh). In other words, our chaotic energy gets a chance to play. More here: https://herbertlui.net/insights-from-the-idiot/

Thanks for sharing your experience! When you look for your next opportunity, what indicators would you consider instead of (or in addition to) the books/blogs?

Totally agree on word-of-mouth promotion. Rob Fitzpatrick writes about getting your book into the hands of 1,000 readers (Tim Grahl's number is 10,000 https://booklaunch.com/book-launch-numbers/). Fitzpatrick's four ways, and I'm quoting:

- Digital book tour via podcasts and online events (most scalable) - Amazon PPC (pay-per-click) advertising (easiest but unscalable) - Event giveaways and bulk sales (fastest if you have the contacts) - Build a small author platform via content marketing and “writing in public” (most reliable and valuable, but time-intensive)

Congratulations on your books!

(You also make a great point on the pain of being ignored or rejected that comes with promotion. Something to consider for a future post—definitely one of the most significant, overlooked, pains imho.)

This is a really interesting point, and I can see where you come from. Generally any time spent on coming up with promotional ideas is usually better spent on making a better product.

I wrote this one for people who doubted the value of their own work, especially when the marketplace sent them signals (or lack thereof) that it wasn't worth much; we conflate popularity and quality too much.

A lot of times I read something great, and I'm often glad, but I also think to myself, "I wish I read this earlier!" I'd love for more people who love creativity and making quality products (and hate self-promotion) to consider promoting their own work, because I know it's out there—I just want to see more of it!

Van Gogh is one great example of this, though his sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger pretty much made it her mission to promote his work after his death; her work is the reason his work gets the recognition it deserves.

Ah one more thing—I'm sure there's a better way to say this, but basically, the fact you're so considerate about noise is probably a great reason to actually post. I have a feeling the internet needs more people like you!

Great points about noise, and you really hit it on the nose with your final point—I've heard of a mental model of Twitter being likened to tapping a tuning fork and seeing who resonates (https://twitter.com/kevinakwok/status/1076967914580918277).

The most fun (and probably best) self promotion is done with fun in mind—Tom Critchlow's post on small b blogging vs. content marketing comes to mind (https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/02/23/small-b-blogging/), and he extends his thought with this one (https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/03/12/strange-attraction/). I also liked Matt Webb's post on this (https://interconnected.org/home/2020/09/10/streak).

Please excuse me if I'm being pedantic, I'd change the "hope" point to "showing a person"—even if it's just an email to a friend, cold emailing someone who you quote, etc.

Thanks for the kind words and for reading, I'm glad the post resonated. In situations like online community moderation, self-promotion is doubly sensitive, and timing needs to be super deliberate (e.g., probably only when the need arises, and then passively in signatures or something?). I appreciate you sharing, definitely will be noodling on that some more.

Thank you!

I haven't seen this before, this is great! Wow:

The result? The dozens of hours of preparation I put into the talk for the 200 people in the room ends up getting viewed by hundreds of thousands of people online.

Wow this is so cool, thanks for sharing this Simon!

Thanks for your comment, it's awesome to see. This essay is literally 12,000+ words (including quotes), you could make a book out of it! 3 questions:

1. Over the 2–3 months, how many hours did it take to write it? 2. Did the post reach more people than the video? (You're nearly at 1,000 views with it!) 3. Are you glad you wrote it?

Your final sentence really resonates. I think for some people, a note of pessimism is such a relief and freeing (e.g., "Oh thank goodness, I'd never have been able to meet that deadline anyway. Now let me get started on it"), but for others, that same note of pessimism causes inaction ("Why would I bother trying if it's impossible?! Not even worth getting started")

In spite of the headline that might suggest otherwise, I don't think the author was suggesting inaction through futility and nihilism. Rather, as he mentions in the conclusion, it's about accepting that we don't have as much control over circumstances as we'd like, and to let go of external standards and situations:

...that's precisely when you can throw yourself at life's real hard challenges: the impressive accomplishments, bold life choices, and deeply fulfilling relationships. You get to live more intensely, because you're no longer making your full participation in life dependent on reaching some standard – of productivity, of certainty about the future, of competence, etcetera – that you were never going to reach in the first place.

Obscurity, in some ways, is more valuable to the creator than fame (although I loved this piece and I'm glad the author shared it here). Guessing what the audience expects, or seeking external validation, can slowly (or quickly) suck the joy out of the creative process. I interviewed author Michelle Kuo about creativity, and her advice:

“The most important thing I can tell you is to relish writing in obscurity. I feel that I was the happiest as a writer when I was in hiding, when I was invisible, when I was secretly writing, stealing away portions of time at work, or writing on scraps of paper, or forming sentences in my head on the commute. That was a time before I had published really anything and before I even thought my writing would become a book, I was just trying to organize or to create order in my emotional life.”

I wrote a book on creativity with Holloway, and I wanted to share two of my favorite prompts:

Ignore the stats: https://www.holloway.com/g/creative-doing/sections/ignore-th...

Make something you won't ever show anyone else: https://www.holloway.com/g/creative-doing/sections/make-some...

This is particularly relevant to yesterday's discussion on books that are too long: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28636074

And a response! https://xdg.me/80-20/

A related read to your question: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/opening-smal...