One sentence - microfiction, microlife
Microblogging done beautifully: onesentence.org. Someday I hope to be able to write like that. =)
Microblogging done beautifully: onesentence.org. Someday I hope to be able to write like that. =)
This is dreadful. I’ve made no progress on my book, and I’ve noticed that it has steadily crept down my list of priorities. I suspect it has a lot to do with the kinds of people I hang out with and the kinds of places I hang out. 
I used to hang out in irc.freenode.net#emacs a lot, and I used to frequently check the RecentChanges page of http://www.emacswiki.org. Both were great sources for Emacs questions and answers, and they often inspired me to go and write blog posts sharing what I discovered.
Lately, I’ve been hanging out with Drupal geeks and social networking geeks–hence all the blog posts about Drupal and technology evangelism. This is because of work, and so my blog posts are about things I’m learning at work. My Emacs use is down to reading mail, reading news, and managing my day. I still use it every day, but I’m not doing a lot of development in it. (Hmm, maybe that’s something else I can set up.)
Maybe I should start writing from the front of the book instead - basic Emacs stuff, leading up to more advanced tips…
Oh no, I’ve hit the slump.
I spent some time working on the Wicked Cool Emacs today. Spam filtering - not something I’d set up before. I’m writing it because I promised to write it, but I can’t shake off the feeling that this part would be better done by someone who’s passionate about Emacs and spam filtering. I have Google handle my spam filtering for me, so I haven’t needed to do anything more sophisticated. Still, not everyone’s going to have the same set-up, so it would be good to document that too.
I’m tempted to jump to a different chapter and start working on that, just to make working on the book fun again.
Now that I have an idea of what a good Wicked Cool Emacs book chapter looks like, I find it much easier to write and edit chapters. I’ve just finished revising my first three chapters based on my editor’s feedback, and they will be finding their way to my technical reviewer soon. Bursty productivity indeed.
Oh, that and productive application of structured procrastination… =)
I don’t remember where I got the book recommendation to read this book, but it’s a fascinating read, and I aspire to this kind of life. (Although not in medicine - I couldn’t bear the responsibility!).
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Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande |
Here’s a quote for all you writers, bloggers, and other aspiring communicators, from the afterword on how to become a positive deviant [p.249]
My fourth suggestion was: write something. I don’t mean this to be an intimidating suggestion. It makes no difference whether you write five paragraphs or a blog, a paper for a professional journal, or a poem for reading group. Just write. What you write need not achieve perfection. It need only add some small observation about your world.
You should also not underestimate the power of the act of writing itself. I did not write until I became a doctor. But once I became a doctor, I found I needed to write. For all its complexity, medicine is more physically than intellectually taxing. Because medicine is a retail enterprise, because doctors provide their services to one person after another, it can be a grind. You can lose your larger sense of purpose. But writing lets you step back and think through a problem. Even the angriest rant forces the writer to achieve a degree of thoughtfulness.
… Most of all, by offering your reflections to an audience, even a small one, you make yourself part of a larger world. Put a few thoughts on a topic in just a newsletter, and you find yourself wondering nervously: Will people notice it? What will they think? Did I say something dumb? An audience is a community. The published word is a declaration of membership in that community and also the willingness to contribute something meaningful to it.
So choose your audience. Write something.
Atul Gawande, Better
My blog anchors my participation in the larger world, resulting in not only online interaction but real-world as was well. It makes me part of the conversation.
When I talk to people who don’t blog. I feel a strange disconnect as if the conversation we have stops there: stops at the e-mail exchange with each other, stops at the meeting, is confined within the boundaries of our encounters. When I talk to people who blog, the conversation is wide open and embraces the world.
It’s hard to explain that to the people who are afraid that they might have nothing to say. The truth is that you won’t discover what you have to say until you say it. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not everyone has discovered the use of writing in reflecting and connecting with others. People have other priorities. They have no time. And perhaps at the core of it, they are shy as I was shy, as I still am shy. But I can overcome my shyness because I want to be part of that larger conversation with them. With you.
Write, and join the conversation.
