I don’t find writing comes easily, either. By taking over the column, you’ve done wonders for my free time .

Check out “Story” by Robert McKee. I wish I’d read it while I was writing the columns.

yours, Marcus

Don’t worry as much about the changes that might occur, but rather worry about the changes that are occurring.

And the analogy to how we organise our homes was brilliant.

On the process of writing, actually think it’s not so far removed from the process of coding. Kind of in the sense of your column, think people tend to get hung up on writing “great prose”, the process of writing being somehow “holy”, when perhaps writing “accessibly” is a better target to be aiming for. Also I know people who say “I wish I could write” – like coding the best way to progress is to actually do something – dive in the deep end and try to swim.

Anyway – not that I’m a great writer or that you need advice but here’s a rough “dump” of the approach I use, for interest. Not that this in any way formal and better ideas appreciated;

- Identify the general structure of the text (the main events in the plot if you like), including the start and the end. Practically that might be putting some major headings in a text file, although most of this is offline (in my head). And keeping it most of it offline helps get me absorbed in the topic.

- Splurge text. Within the outline provided by the headings – throw in anything and everything relevant. I don’t care too much about prose, although if I find some nice sentences, work a little on getting them right first time. Main point is allowing the brain to be free to wander the subject, and bring is any many details and relevant points as possible. At the same time, if I find myself getting hung up on a particular section (e.g. the intro), I leave it and get back to splurging as much as possible. The main thing here is once done, I’ve removed the pressure of any deadlines etc. – I know I’ve got the volume done and the rest is fine tuning. Also find emphasizing velocity at this stage allows my “subconscious” to have more input – allows for a more lateral way of thinking and some of the most interesting ideas fall out of this I feel.

- Refactoring. With the volume done it’s then clean up time; working out what to throw out, making it readable etc. Haven’t got a well developed approach here but perhaps performing multiple “passes” of the text with a particular (seperate) objective in mind on each pass is the way to go e.g. this pass is the “read it like a reader” pass – trying to take a step back and see it with fresh eyes. Another pass might be to analyse the rhetoric – are the different paragraphs and headings fitting into a coherent argument. The intro and conclusion tend to get written last – typically find these the hardest.

It’s actually interesting to analyze the techniques used by writers for decent magazines and newspapers from this pespective – particularily editorials / columns where “patterns” tend to manifest themselves but also in straight news pieces, one “pattern” that’s become popular is something like the “let the reader identify” pattern, where the journalist begins and ends a piece in the first person, while a more traditional style of journalistic writing is packed in the middle, once you’ve got the readers attention. Like coders, journalists have to meet deadlines, and think what they’re doing is much more according to formula and strategy than “raw creative talent”