Reflect Relentlessly

 If I ever end up writing a book, I hope it reads like Humor, Seriously , which covers one of my favorite topics -- humor -- in a fittingly hilarious way.  To be honest, when I started reading it, I wasn't sold immediately. I was concerned that it might be one of those books that ends up overstating its case. All non-fiction books run this risk. And I don't think the writers intentionally try to mislead their readers; what I think happens is that when you spend a large chunk of your time looking at life through a particular lens, you start to believe that that is how life works. For example, in  Range, the author, expounding his theory of why people should pursue a wide variety of interests, is dismissive   of the notion of sticking with things even if you don't enjoy it. But if you don't show such grit, and always move on whenever something starts to bore you, will you ever become good at anything? (As noted in Atomic Habits and Grit , the most successful peopl...

The process of good writing involves a lot of rewriting. Sentences never come out right the first time, or the second, or even the third for that matter. (Don't take my word for it; there's a great recent article in The Economist talking about this.) The best writers, then, are the ones who spend a lot of time and effort polishing what they produce. Of course, with time and effort, the words flow more naturally, and perhaps fewer iterations are required. But even the best writers will struggle to get the words down sometimes. (Just ask GRRM.) How does one become a better writer? Reading and absorbing the books recommended by The Economist is definitely not a bad idea, and something I hope I can get myself to do at some point (I'll add it to the list of things I hope to get to someday! Also on that list: learning to play the ukulele, performing stand-up in front of a crowd, and skiing down black diamonds). But perhaps a simpler way is to do what's recommended in Atomic ...