Owltastic Last week the Studiomates gave presentations about what we’re working on. This produced great conversations about the way we work, and the challenges we face when trying to be productive. During these talks, Rob Weychert (friend, champion air guitarist, fabulous designer) said, “I usually have to write about something to really understand it.” Rob also pointed me to this tweet from Mr. Zeldman, which shares this sentiment:
Rob and Jeffery’s statements resonate with many of us, and not just creatives. Jason (boyfriend, fellow Studiomate, iOS developer) regularly writes emails to his boss detailing a coding problem he’s having. Most of these emails are never sent, because the simple act of writing the problem helps him to solve it. Similarly, I’ll often drop what I’m doing to write a post about a thought that’s picking at my brain. Once the idea is “on paper,” I can go back to focusing on the task at hand.
For me, that’s the real beauty of writing. Ideas can be noisy, heavy things. Trying to ignore them is like trying to ignore a bored cat. It will sit on your chest while you’re resting. It will paw at you while you work. It will purr, it will scratch, but it will not go away until it is acknowledged. Writing is how I acknowledge an idea, so it will finally go to sleep.
Usually, the writing is pleasurable, if not easy. It’s a selfish, cathartic act. The hard part is publishing. After all, I don’t want to pollute your feeds with this noise. And the style of my site isn’t quite right yet. Maybe one day I’ll write something worthy of posting to my crappy little blog. But, in the meantime, it’s best to continue to Save as Draft.
But I’ve come to realize that, while it’s good to practice writing, it’s just as important to practice publishing. Posting my ideas teaches me to edit myself, spark conversations, and accept criticism. Being evaluated is an essential part of a creative career; it happens every time I try a new style, propose a first mockup, or give a presentation. Right now, I’m not very good at accepting critiques. I suspect that publishing will help me develop this skill.
In conclusion, this post has several aims. It is my start to developing a new habit: I will write ideas down, and release them. This post is also intended to be a warning: I am going to be publishing more things! If you find this an unwelcome declaration, I encourage you to back out now. Lastly, in writing this I hope to encourage all of you to follow suit: share your thoughts, start conversations, and don’t be scared.
17 Comments
Nailed it. I hope you stick to it.
Enjoyed this, thanks. Now, where’s my notepad…
Very. Good. Idea!
Ok, I’ve a question. Do you think this process is unique to writing, or can we get this organisation of our thoughts in other ways? (I’m thinking, for example, of saying things out loud in a speech to the cat: do you think that’s as effective, or is writing the key?)
Also, loving the mobile site design and custom form fonts. Any love for and “url” for the email/website entries?
— Alex
Also, what happened to the cute little “Is fire hot/cold?” style anti spam box? I really liked that
Great post, thanks for hitting publish. I sit here with as many un-published posts as I do published on my own site, so will be joining you in smashing that ‘publish’ button more often.
Well done. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you for the positive feedback!
@Cameron: Thank you! I will try. Studiomate meetings make me want to be a better writer, designer, and person.
@Alex: I think there are lots of ways to organize your thoughts, but writing helps me to be clear, concise (sometimes), and brave in ways that talking to my cat does not. Though that is still quite helpful. And the anti-spam box was part of a contact form plugin that rarely worked, so I had to remove it. Feel free to still comment with your thoughts on fire.
The part about writing emails knowing you probably won’t send it reminds me a story in the book Pragmatic Programer. It describes a process where a really good programer would look at a rubber duck he kept on his monitor and explain to it a problem he was trying to solve. The idea being, in the process of explaining something, you are often lead to the answer.
I just started taking this same approach, too. Good luck to both of us!
I think you’ve wrote it down eloquently. I constantly struggle with finding my voice as a designer, despite knowing my visual style. I have so many drafts of thoughts that I write down, but I never publish because it’s not ‘perfect’. You definitely nailed it as far as the act of publishing goes – learning to edit, refine and understand that you aren’t perfect (as much as we all wish we were) and accept criticism helps us grow not only as designers, but human beings.
Inception post…. writing your idea about writing about your ideas.
I like your things. I need to improve on this whole writing/communicating thing. — Question for you.. knowing about how VERY QUIET some workplaces can be… . .. . do you think there’s a connection between how much someone speaks in their daily life and how well they communicate via writing? I know you’re not a scientist, but I miss you and wanna hear your thoughts based on your new workplace
This is so spot-on. I particularly love what you said about ideas being “noisy, heavy things”. Really looking forward to reading more of your writing in the future!
Great insight. Writing for self analysis can be incredibly useful. Both professionally and personally I use handwritten (rather than typed) journals to sort through ideas and issues, it’s very cathartic and can often be really helpful in helping to reach a conclusion.
But publishing your work is also hugely important. It’s writing for a different audience, one you don’t know as yourself, but invaluable for receiving constructive criticism, assistance and helping you to hone the way you communicate with others.
Well put (says the guy currently without a blog). Reminds me of this Frank Chimero Etho.
Excellent advice. When you publish something, even if no one reads it, it makes you feel like you have more of a duty to write, as well as the desire to write. Love the quote at the beginning. Totally agree. If you can’t articulate yourself in writing, how can know what you actually want to say about anything?
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[...] in high school (who happens to be infinitely smarter and cooler than me) wrote an honest post on the importance of writing and publishing. I have to agree with everything she says because, well, she’s cooler and smarter than [...]
[...] in high school (who happens to be infinitely smarter and cooler than me) wrote an honest post on the importance of writing and publishing. I have to agree with everything she says because, well, she’s cooler and smarter than [...]
[...] Writing and publishing are important Last week the Studiomates gave presentations about what we’re working on. This produced great conversations about the way we work, and the challenges we face when trying to be productive. During… [...]
[...] addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};This isn’t news to anyone. But I thought that Meagan Fischer had an interesting way of stating this in a recent post. “For me, that’s the real beauty of writing. Ideas can be noisy, heavy [...]