Five new things I’ve learned about writing* from reading about writing
*Non-fiction / business writing
This is a repurposed piece from my substack post, ‘#53: How I’m Redesigning My Writing Process’. If you want to read the full version of this, please visit Working Title on substack, where I write about business, philosophy and related themes from a design perspective.
#1: Digital writing is conversational. The best and most effective ones are the most natural.
Similar to public speaking, or oral communications, in general, it is incredibly hard to learn from someone if they aren’t good conversationalists. Speaking the language of your reader shows real empathy — as a writer, you care about them enough to connect effectively. This is not as easy as it sounds. This takes brevity, this takes humility, this takes courage. You have to be comfortable with taking out all the fluff and just going straight to the point with your writing.
Most of the time, it means if you can do one thing right with your writing, tell the truth. Everything else comes secondary.
#2: To write faster, break your thinking down into outlines.
I’ve learned this from Nicolas Cole’s fantastic book, ‘The Art and Business of Online Writing’. Get to the point quicker by breaking things down in a digestible, hierarchal format. It makes a lot of sense. For those who are familiar with design systems, particularly with type scales, this is nothing new. The most important elements are visible and are elevated for a better user experience. The same principle applies with writing — specifically for digital / business non-fiction writing.
One of the best examples of this is Sahil Bloom’s newsletter, Curiosity Chronicles, as well as his Instagram account.
#3: Deep work is the prerequisite to good writing.
Personally, I find it impossible to produce good writing without deep work. It is not an activity that can be done alongside other tasks. It requires focus. There’s a reason why it is grueling to write everyday: it takes a lot of mental energy to do this right, and to do this constantly. This is a small price to pay for the tremendous benefit it’ll bring to your life.
#4: Writing well is a skill, which means it can be developed, constantly. Everyone starts from scratch.
It took me a long time to realize that writing well is not a talent. It is a skill, it’s a discipline that gets better with time. It’s a principle that you can apply to pretty much every other discipline. You just need to put in the work — this is the hard part.
“Writing everyday is supposed to be hard. There are multiple reasons why you shouldn’t do it, especially if you prefer to live a comfortable and untroubled inner life as it is. It is equal parts pain and pleasure with no certainty other than discomfort for the writer. It can be brutally unforgiving.” — from the post #49: On Writing Everyday
#5: If your writing is good, it solves problems. To develop your intuition for good ideas, write well. (And vice versa)
This is one of the strongest points from the book, Write Useful Books from Rob Fitzpatrick and one I certainly can’t stop thinking about. Nonfiction writing is an excellent use case of this. If you can help other people succeed in some way with your writing, you are doing it right. Obviously, the goals would vary. In the book, he describes the outcomes as any of the following:
Achieve a goal or undergo a process
Answer a question or understand a concept
Improve a skill or develop a toolkit
Resolve a fear or inspire a change
Adjust their perspective or improve their life
from Rob Fitzpatrick, Write Useful Books
Here’s a diagram of my thinking on this:
In conclusion
Write everyday — even if it results to bad writing. Bad writing is just one step closer to good writing. Don’t overthink your tools or platform. Design an environment that allows for deep thinking. Put those thoughts into paper, constantly. Test the good ideas publicly.
Publish, when you are ready.
Keep working on this until you hit the jackpot (series, ebooks / books, community etc).
Sure, the end goals are, I imagine, as fulfilling as they sound like. The magic is still in the journey. This right here has to be fun and satisfying, otherwise you’re missing the point of it all.
‘What would you do if you can retire right now?’, a question I asked myself when I was doing my personal yearly review last December.
This.
Write, design, build products, learn and teach. Good writing is the foundation for everything I do (and want to keep doing).
It’s a gift I don’t intend on wasting.
About the author
Nikki is a Sr. UX Designer working for a data company in New Jersey. In the last 5 years, she has helped design & build a holographic platform, contracted for a research team inside Fidelity Investments, worked in the Design Operations side of an e-commerce company, mentored brilliant design students/career-changers, advocated for UX best practices at RookieUp, have co-taught UX courses at General Assembly and have also contributed directly to the growth of the Mentorship program on UXPA-New York. Designing for a better world is her life. She also runs her own newsletter, working title, about her thoughts on the future and more.
