“A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds”
⏳ We’ve got… 9% of 2024 left to live. Let’s make it count.
Issue #219: why books flop, surrounding yourself with freedom, and the mechanics of inefficiency
“One of the strangest things you learn if you’re a writer is how many people have trouble writing,” begins Y Combinator founder Paul Graham in his latest essay. I’m not really a Grahamhead, and I haven’t (yet) set up an RSS feed for his posts, but a friend sent me this one recently. It stood out.
This friend has published four novels. She’s working on a fifth. Whenever she tells someone she’s a writer, one of the first things they say is: “I’ve always had an idea for a book.” Everyone has an idea for a book! But the chasm between idea and execution is always wider than it seems.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know we’ve touched on the future of writing, specifically as it relates to AI. (See: “Can AI make art?”) Graham’s essay gave me a new way to think about this topic. His argument is essentially that AI is both widening and narrowing the gap between idea and execution. Narrowing it because you can just ask AI to write your book for you. And maybe, with enough time, the book will turn out good. Widening it because more people will lose touch with writing’s real, intangible utility: helping you become a better thinker.
In a few decades, Graham argues, society will be split between “writers” and “write-nots”: Those who choose to write as a way to clarify their thinking, and those who don’t — because they won’t have to. He draws a parallel between writing and going to the gym. Before the industrial revolution, manual labor made most people strong. Now, if you want to be physically fit… you work out. Strong people exist, but only by choice.
“A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds,” he writes. “It will be a world of thinks and think-nots. I know which half I want to be in, and I bet you do too.”
What do you think? You might find writing helps you figure that out — if so, reply to this email or jump into the comments.
📖 3 of my open tabs
- Author Scott Muska gets brutally honest about why his latest book of poetry flopped: “I… rushed something to publication that was not only not as great as it potentially could have been, but not really great to begin with.” Never in my life have I heard an author go this deep into why something they wrote failed to sell.
- Don’t surround yourself with “smarter” people. Surround yourself with people who are free in ways you are not. (Ribbonfarm via Nix)
- Kenny Minker, in Peru, pens an ode to the classic VW Beetle (they’re everywhere in Peru). Modern car brands prioritize fuel efficiency and aerodynamics, but the Beetle is one of the only design-forward cars in history — its engine is in back to make it as compact and cute as possible.
Your daily dose of practical wisdom
There are three ways to waste time: working on the wrong stuff, using inefficient methodology, and hesitating out of caution. (Martina Ivaničová)
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis
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