I’m starting a blog, finally. I’ve tried a few times over the years, but nothing really stuck. I’ve yearned to write Books, not Blogs, and as a result haven’t written much, or at least haven’t finished much.
In the past I have been similarly stuck when it came to public speaking and to making videos, to name two other communication-related areas of stuckness. I got unstuck with speaking by changing my attitude, and seeking out speaking opportunities rather than avoiding them. Eventually my public speaking became the form of communication I’m most comfortable with, although it took hundreds of talks for me to reach that point.
More recently I noticed how much frustration and difficulty I had when, once or twice a year, I had to record a short video about my research. At one point I recorded and re-recorded a single video over 70 times, and then deleted everything in frustration and disgust. Eventually I decided that the only way to get over my reluctance, fear, discomfort, and technical stumbling was to record a ton of videos, and post them all to my YouTube channel. So last year I gave myself the kiloTube Challenge to upload 1,024 videos to YouTube by the end of 2024. I didn’t make anywhere close to that number, ultimately, but still made well over 2 videos a week on average, and some days made and uploaded 3 or even 4 videos. Much more importantly, I got over my fear and discomfort and reluctance, and can now just sit down and make a video in one take, with minimal preparation.
I’ve also been stuck for years on writing books by myself. Although I’m co-author of the 2005 and 2018 editions of The Reasoned Schemer, I was able to rely on Dan Friedman’s expertise in writing books and finishing big projects, and his astounding amounts of motive force. For my solo efforts I’ve started many books, and put in a great deal of effort and though, but have yet to finish a single book after more than 15 years of attempts. Once again, my fear, frustration, impossibly high standards, and all the rest result in my thinking about how much I’d like to write a lot instead of actually doing the writing a lot part of writing a lot.
So, last night I decided I should just start a blog, and treat the writing of this blog no differently than the public speaking or the kiloTube Challenge. Think, write, edit, post, repeat, quickly, and just don’t stop. By finishing and sharing what I write, and by getting feedback, I think I’ll have a much better chance of finishing books. Maybe a book will come out of many blog posts. And maybe I’ll really enjoy writing shorter pieces. The first and second editions of The Reasoned Schemer took 18 months and 13 years to complete, respectively. While I learned a lot from those experiences, I think I have plenty more to learn by completing writings that take minutes, hours, days rather than months and years.
Thank you to Nada Amin for helping me set up this blog.
Will