#til, why are we doing this?
I've spent the past 4-5 months trying to improve my writing skills. My strategy was to:
- identify the areas I struggle with, and
- work on them, one by one.
Focusing on a single issue has its downsides, because this is a wicked problem, but at least it allows me to spend less time and energy on trying to figure out whether I made progress or not.
This is probably my 7th...10th(?) attempt at writing regularly. These usually end with one post and a few weeks spent on redesigning my website, researching blogging engines. If you're an engineer/tinkerer like me you might've organised a similar yak shaving orgy yourself.
I don't want to talk too much about the reasons why I want to write. I hope at some point some of these posts will become useful to someone besides me. Not being able to communicate on this level (that is, to organise, verbalise and share) makes me feel incomplete.
The areas I'd like to improve include:
- lack of confidence, self-consciousness
- structure, clarity
- fluency
- English not being my first language
Now, these are the areas I focused on first:
- fluency,
- lack of confidence, self-consciousness,
- my mental health (we're still in lockdown, writing helps me clear my head)
My approach is to use Ulysses every day. So far, I've been quite happy with the results. I clock ca. 600-1000 words per day and I do feel like it's much easier for me to just start writing. I don't care too much about editing, making sure everything is polished.
I like using it. I feel better, lighter after using it. I've become less self-conscious when writing.
I'd like to focus on writing for more than one person. I will start by sharing my weekly notes here. Initially these will be private but I will write them as if an audience existed and cared.
If you read this, there's a small chance I stuck to my plan and kept writing. Thank you for being here.