I think my limit for open-loop writing is about 14k words. For the book on temporality I’m working on now, I’ll probably serialize it online in some form before trying to put it together as a book. All in all, it was a wonderful outpouring of deep reserves of creativity and knowledge, the likes of which I haven’t seen online in a long time. Twitter is where all the history-making, universe-denting social media action really is. It is as close to a pure ideas-commons/digital public as we’ll ever get. Email today is now less a communications medium than a communications compile target.
Will Larson’s notes reflecting on writing “An Elegant Puzzle”
My writing pace accelerates whenever I find myself in a learning rich environment, which is why I wrote so much in my first two years out of school and over the past three years at Stripe. but even more important for me is that Stripe Press is a bit unusual: they typically buy completed manuscripts, rather than proposals. This gave me an extraordinary amount of latitude in my approach to writing, the book’s format and marketing the book. I am truly amazed by folks who are able to write when raising young children, caring for their parents, or otherwise committed: it takes a great deal of privilege to write a book. and I’m deeply grateful that I’ve gotten to do it. So far, I think the hardest bit will be a small sense of loss after it all quiets down, e.g. the return to normalcy. If I wrote another book, I would spend more time outline in detail to build the small pieces more intentionally over the course of the book. _whispers: “composition”_ Honest feedback is very hard to find when writing a book, since you have to find (a) someone who will give hard feedback, and (b) someone who is willing to read your book. That’s a small intersection.
“The reason I’ve found conversation more valuable than reading recently (inspired by my chats with @kevinakwok, to name one) is that reading is a uni-directional and often brittle bundle of information flow. Conversation adapts in real-time.”
The reason I've found conversation more valuable than reading recently (inspired by my chats with @kevinakwok, to name one) is that reading is a uni-directional and often brittle bundle of information flow. Conversation adapts in real-time.— Eugene Wei (@eugenewei) April 17, 2018
“For a ‘book’ is just the endpoint of a latticework of complex infrastructure, made increasingly accessible. Even if the endpoint stays stubbornly the same—either as an unchanging Kindle edition or simple paperback—the universe that produces, breathes life into, and supports books is changing in positive, inclusive ways, year by year. The Future Book is here and continues to evolve. You’re holding it. It’s exciting. It’s boring. It’s more important than it has ever been.”
