Never really thought about doing this. I should try following up my suggestions with recommendations on what to do next, such that I leave people with actionable next steps and cut out time spent deliberating

I'd like to strike a blow for line editing. From Peter Ginna's brilliant What Editors Do:

A line edit dials down to the paragraph/sentence/word level. As we said, it’s usually a much more expensive job than a developmental edit. A line editor will go through the pages of your book with a fine-toothed comb, looking for dialogue that feels awkward, sentences that don’t quite work, repetition, and more. Obviously this happens when the bulk of the work in terms of plot, character, beginnings, middles, and ends is done. It’s not that a line edit can’t address the bigger picture. But in most publishing houses an editor simply won’t do a line edit until the bigger issues are addressed, so as not to have to do the same work twice. It’s smart to stick with that order in self-publishing too. Line edits may or may not come with an editorial letter. But be sure that the fee includes time for you to meet in person or talk on the phone once you’ve had a chance to digest the edits. Often the same person could do both a developmental edit and line edit, if that’s what you decide to pay for, but you will also need a copyeditor. Copyeditors are the grammarians, the fact-checkers, the formatting gurus, the identifiers of repetitive words and phrases. They are the ones who make a book as smooth as a fresh jar of Skippy. The one instance where you might not need a separate copyeditor is if you hire someone to do a line edit who does a copyedit simultaneously. Some people have both skills and can pull this off, though it’s rare.

good idea!

Yong, E. (2020, May 23). "Hello! More of you have started following me in the last weeks since I last did this, so let me introduce you to YET MORE people I respect, who've created some pandemic writing that's really stuck with me. (And do check out the original thread below.)" Twitter. https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1263996750404243462

Writing is a great tool to compound your learning. To write about something, you need to first understand it. Forcing yourself to write after reading something can help you create a "generational effect". Your brain retains the information more by having to "create" the information as opposed to passively reading it off of a screen/page.

Writing in public is the preferential mode of writing. It allows you to receive critiques on your writing, which in turn can help you gain more knowledge. You can gain perspective, or discover new ways to tacke a problem.

This is one of the truest pieces of advice out there.

Chris Chambers & David Mellor with the Center for Open Science - Registered Reports Q&A Video

psychological safety!

clarity > speed & ideation

Incremental writing is a method of writing where you keep adding elements to a piece in a "creative phase". In this phase the manuscript progressively increases in size. This is followed by a "consolidation phase", a process in which the manuscript gets to the point and decreases in size.

Try writing fewer commas and using more periods. Make your sentences simpler, vary their lengths and your sentences will be like music

The magic word you should use more:

Want to learn one magic word that will immediately make year writing better? Meanwhile. Why? Most people, when they string thoughts and ideas together, rely on joining words like “so”, “then”, “therefore”, “however”, or “except”. There’s nothing wrong with them, but what they do is establish a chain of thinking that goes, “A, then B, then C, then D.” It’s linear. Even counterfactual joining words like “however”, “but”, “nevertheless”, even though they establish opposition, are still doing so in a one-track fashion.

Meanwhile does something else. It establishes parallel tracks of thought. A, therefore B. Meanwhile, C, yet D is a more powerful way to communicate complex ideas than one-track linear writing. When the punchline eventually comes, and those lines of thought collide into something interesting, you can make a better point than if you only had one track to work with.

Just write more:

A pottery teacher has two students. On Monday he tells the first student: “Your job this week is to try to create one perfect pot. Spend as much time as you need. Make it perfect.” Then he tells the second student: “Your job this week is to make as many pots as possible. I don’t care if they’re nice. Crank ‘em out.” Then on Friday, he comes back. What does he find?

Not only has the second student produced hundreds more pots than the first student (who’s laboured over his one shot at glory); every single one of her pots is better. The way you learn how to make a perfect pot is by making a lot of pots. Period.

Go make some pots.

1. Writing is rewriting. Write down your thoughts in a stream of consciousness. Don’t get hung up on diction. Then spend most of your time rewriting and reorganizing—sweat the details. I’m still rewriting posts days after I’ve published them.

2. Writing is a design problem. Example: never use the idiom of ‘the former or the latter.’ It forces the reader to go back and figure out what you’re referring to.

Very good advice.

This is key. The Trump donation consequence speaks to me. That'd be awful to have to do.

I need to hold my project out in front of my greatest enemy. If I finish it, my project and I live on, thrive, and enjoy watching the world enjoy the newfound sense of well-being they've gained as a result of connecting with my work.

But if I fail, my enemy wins, suddenly causing me to be a part of the problem my work was supposed to be designed to cease.

DAMN. This one I like!

But part of perfectionism is the avoidance of shame caused by someone else negatively judging your work. Sure, while having an accountability partner would, in fact, be helpful, pulling the trigger on getting one ain't easy.

(Wow, I'm being negative with these annotations. Sorry, though. Can't help it. It's how I feel. Would love someone to help me feel differently! ;-)

Yep, success is addicting...which then probably makes finishing projects easier, because of course...you want that high again.

But what if you haven't had that first taste of success yet? What if, as a result of having not experienced the joy it brings you and those you've helped, you then become uber-perfectionistic, causing you to obsess over every little detail in your project? That right there is (for me) why my projects don't get finished. I want my material to help people so badly that I, ironically, wind up injuring my confidence and momentum.

If I broke down writing projects into even more sub-projects, one of those would be editing. It's what throws me for a curve most of the time. I'll write something great, begin editing it, then a brilliant new take on a point comes to mind out of nowhere, something so great you can't just let it go. You have to build it into the piece. But, when you try to cram it in there, other parts of the material begin to fall apart. Pretty soon you've written a brand new article; an article that—yup—needs to be edited. And you can't promise yourself the same flash of brilliance won't strike again.

<= 8 words <--- 100% understanding

.>= 43 words <--- <10% understanding

I love writing process posts. I am reminded of my work with high school students where I had them create "Instructables" to post on their blogs.

a relevant Twitter thread here: https://twitter.com/TheDapperChef/status/1215048065477832704

List of words and phrases to avoid -- what are your biggest pet peeves in student writing?

See also: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wCs1hbrPOi7hvcQo4uI_f0gOg3pu4ZIGAd95fjkuyV0/edit?ouid=109120953305859132024&usp=sheets_home&ths=true

and https://www.dropbox.com/s/lmbgoziyjz9o0q3/Zaks%20Guide%20to%20Writing.pdf?dl=0

Totally agree with this ;)

As Dan notes, the subject "true writing" deserves its own page, but I get the sense that the WP author who put italics around this term should really have just put them around the word writing instead because I think that is all they really meant. What I mean (and I think what Dan means too) is instead perhaps better named "contextualized, disambiguated writing", though Dan should correct me on what his sense is.

This feels significant enough to have its own WP entry. Without true writing you cannot precisely convey knowledge to people who aren't within earshot.

writing advice

That is heartening...

"I think that when it comes to writing books, you have to start before you think you're ready, because you will always feel like you are never ready. I find that as you write the book, the road ahead becomes clearer; before that, the road ahead is just a distraction." ~ Stephen Harrigan

Research is a pure pleasure included in the process of book writing

Why researching during writing is recommended

How?

SEO tools to consider while writing a blog post:

• Ahrefs
• Keyword Planner
• Keywords Everywhere

Sources of ideas

Good question to ask while searching for idea to write about

Ideation - look for topics to write about:

Indeed, writing for others is a great devotion

Draftback Chrome Extension allows to "rewatch" your writing process

Proposition of steps to follow while writing. Active state requires a "hard-core execute mode".

1. Ideation (passive)
2. Tracking (active)
3. Outline (active)
4. Idea Arbitrage (passive)
5. Research (active)
6. Writing (active)

I didn't play Senua's Sacrifice personally, I saw a let's play of it on YouTube. And it was amazing. It makes so much sense now that there was such a great collaboration between the company, Trust fund, Uni and writer(s) - because the psychosis reflected in the game that you experience through Senua's perspective WAS really well done, and done with care/sensitivity. It also is the way mental illnesses should be done in games from now on.

How to Be a Better Person

Many philosophers throughout the centuries have preached the same thing that life is a journey and becoming better every day is a goal. As a general rule of thumb, most of us wish to become a better person. Unfortunately, many people become stuck and fixate on the mistakes they’ve made in life, preventing them from becoming a better version of themselves. Meanwhile, many others aren’t aware of how to go about bringing self-improvement. The good news is that it is possible for every human being on the planet to become a better person. Learning to love oneself is a skill, and much like any other skill, it can be learned. Take the example of an online essay writing service. No service becomes the best essay writing service without dedication and consistent practice. In a similar vein, no person can learn to be a better person without consistent and conscious efforts. Thankfully, thanks to thousands of years of human existence, we have other people’s experience to guide us towards the path to being a better person. Here are some tips that can help anyone become better versions of themselves. Compliment Yourself In our world full of comparisons and competition, it can be very easy to drown with self-pity and lack of self-esteem. This is further bolstered by the presence of social media in today’s society, where it seems like everyone is achieving success and living the best life. This is why it’s so important to be aware of one’s own good quality. Finding out the positives in yourself and complimenting yourself for it will allow you to break free from the mental shackles and adopt more positive habits. It also makes one happy and happiness, as we all know, is contagious. Don’t Make Excuses Making excuses or blaming someone else for mishaps or shortcomings is very easy. However, this leads nowhere. By accepting responsibility, owning mistakes and learning from them, one can grow in both personal and professional life. It breeds a sense of control over life, and ultimately makes one happier, which in turn makes one a better person. Let Go of Anger All of us go through different experiences in life. No one’s life is perfect, and there are bound to be negative experiences in everyone’s life. Human beings aren’t perfect; hence they tend to hurt others intentionally or intentionally. However, being angry at someone and not letting go of it only affects you. It casts a cloud over one’s judgement and decision-making ability. That is why it’s so important to let go of anger. Understanding that everything happens for a reason allows one to be content and focus efforts on other more important things. Practice Forgiveness This tip goes along with the last point. Forgiving others, as well as the self, is an incredibly elating experience. Forgiveness is one of the greatest forms of sacrifice. It requires sacrificing one’s ego, the greatest enemy to personal betterment and growth. Things like meditation and self-reflection can help a lot in this department.

On naming fantasy characters

Changes the audience and gets students to think about writing for a larger, perhaps more general audience. This is an important aspect if we want to have, say, highly technical disciplines, like sciences, learning to engage more broadly with the public. Having learners understand the importance of writing for an audience that is more general could become an important open pedagogy principle for disciplines that want to have their work have a broader impact with the general public.

This sounds very similar to how many some people today believe that as both are an act of creation, there are some similarities between writing and reproduction from a certain philosophical point of view.

supersededBy: https://www.robinwieruch.de/react-hooks-fetch-data

With this text appearing on bookbook.pubpub.org being an excellent example of just this. #meta

I'm sort of hoping for some discussion of Kathleen Fitzpatrick's process behind her book Planned Obsolescence which was released in draft form for open peer review in fall 2009, much like Annotations. It's the first example I can think of a scholar doing something like this digitally in public, though there may have been other earlier examples.

See also the author's own take.

If the Modernists loved revision so much that they kept at it throughout the literary process, including when their work was in proofs — and one of Sullivan’s key points is that these discrete stages actually encouraged revision — then why didn’t their printers and publishers complain? ... changing work in proofs is expensive.

That's because Modernists had the support money to revise and to experiment with the rules of revision.

In her memoir Shakespeare & Company, Sylvia Beach recalls Joyce’s publisher warning about “a lot of extra expenses with these proofs. . . . He suggested that I call Joyce’s attention to the danger of going beyond my depth; perhaps his appetite for proofs might be curbed.”

But Beach explains that, for her, the most important thing was that Joyce could work as diligently and obsessively as he wanted to:

I wouldn’t hear of such a thing. Ulysses was to be as Joyce wished, in every respect. I wouldn’t advise ‘real’ publishers to follow my example, nor authors to follow Joyce’s. It would be the death of publishing. My case was different. It seemd natural to me that the efforts and sacrifices on my part should be proportionate to the greatnes of the work I was publishing.

very good example of post with engaging style

Interesting connection to identity and self-representation there.

I'm interested in this apparent instrumental - abstracted - literary/metaphysical progression. It seems to be recapitulated with great frequency (and not a one-way progression.)

I'd like to understand this better. How much choice is required for an assignment to be "meaningful" or "authentic". I can't recall a single writing assignment when I didn't have some freedom to choose a topic (within the bounds of the class) - though there were certainly lots of formal constraints in the way I wrote.

The "gotcha" industry has this whole Inspector Javert aspect to it - plagiarism is a thing that students do intentionally to hurt teachers (not something which might come out of ignorance or have motivations completely unrelated to the teacher) and teachers become the agents of a justice system mostly interested in rooting out offenders.

Interesting how the events of the time shaped the story of 1984 (e.g. rationing in food and fuel). Also a potent image of Orwell writing while he was so sick. His journal entries suggest the inspiration for and the act of writing never stop.

Go, Ferlinghetti, for at least another 100 years.

This is Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive objectives. I selected this page because it explains both the old and new versions of the taxonomy. When writing instructional objectives for adult learning and training, one should identify the level of learning in Blooms that is needed. This is not the most attractive presentation but it is one of the more thorough ones. rating 4/5

what is plain language This government site describes the rationale for plain language and more importantly provides some tools for using it. Plain language can be useful when writing text for e-learning products, among other things; this is a useful site to review. There is a list of resources as well. rating 4/5

This 69 page PDF offers good advice on writing a variety of types of test questions. It is called "Is this a trick question?" Despite the length of the PDF, it is easy to browse if you are interested in writing a specific type of question. As may be suggested by the length, this resource is more comprehensive than others. Rating 5/5

Intro to academic writing

This paragraph outlines a truly augmented way of writing that cannot happen using paper. To me noting on paper has changed purpose. Sometimes it is an echo noting of a quote, a key word, a diagram. It is closer to drawing. But writing as thinking out loud, writing as trying to make sense...that is tech aided. I am sure my mind changes its processimg focus depending on whether I face a screen or a copybook. Just as you shift perspective when you watch through a camera lens to take a good pic...you see more.

In other words, don't write like an academic--or a lawyer.

I think Ong would take issue with the notion that there is no "material difference" between speaking and writing. Writing is a "technology" so to speak, and thus presents itself differently than mere thought through speaking. One can go back and edit writing, whereas orality is not so easily done.

Others have theorized that this is just not true. Yagelski sees writing and thought as running more fluidly together with experiences and "being in the world."

I would argue that speech, thought, AND writing evolve together.

I have never viewed writing as a calculation. This is an interesting idea.

Following their Foucault reference, this reminds me of his "Self Writing" piece. The self is formed through the physical, material act of writing -- "the present as actual" -- and the transmission of self across space and time through the letter -- "the present as virtual". The subject, then, emerges against the interplay of the material and the virtual.

We can also think of this pre-writing or even free writing as a mindfulness exercise which helps students reflect and potentially manage stress (beyond the stress of having to speak in public).

writing = therapy :)

This is an important point that a lot of people in fields outside of the liberal arts don't realize. Writing happens in all disciplines.

This reminds me of Foucault's Self Writing.

To relate this to writing, writing isn't simply a transcription tool for the brain; the process (the tools used to compose, the revisions, the space you work within -- the "material objects and practices") is itself generative of new modes of inquiry and ideas.

classic scholarly move -- I'm appreciating the repeated use of the personal "I" through here. I've noticed (both here and in Paul's class) that scholars of rhetoric seem more amenable to personal insertion into academic writing.

Cicero also identifies writing as essential in De Oratore. It crops up a few times, but one of them is in Book I, section 150 or so.

Throughout this section, Foucault characterizes correspondence as a way to reveal the self: "a certain way of manifesting oneself to oneself and to others," to "show oneself," "a decipherment of the self by the self as an opening one gives the other onto oneself."

This sort of 'opening' is to make oneself vulnerable, to be seen by others. (cf. Marback's "A Meditation on Vulnerability in Rhetoric")

This is characteristic particularly of writing that is intended for others (correspondence), but in what ways are other forms of writing equally--if not more--revealing of the self?

(That also makes me question whether any writing is truly for the self and not intended in some way for others. Even diaries/journals are written with the possible eventuality that someone other than the writer will read it.)

With the advent of social media and digital communication letter writing has become lost. With less letter writing, do think we have lost this type of training?

Hm. So in the analogy above, does that mean "others" in a community serve as reminders of how not to live (in the case of non-ascetics) or how to live (other ascetics)?

Plato wouldn't like that (Phaedrus, writing as destructive to memory).

Ong argues that writing in general (not just self-reflective writing) is isolating. In his "Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought," he says, "Writing is diaeretic. It divides and distances, and it divides and distances all sorts of things in all sorts of ways," one of which is the way the writer becomes reclusive and divided from the world when caught up in the act of thinking and writing.

In some sense, there is a link between these areas of art/writing and funding and what we see in social media influencers who in some sense are trying to create an "art" for which they get paid. Sadly, most are not making art and worse, most of them are being paid even worse.

Despite the fact this makes me sad, etc., to hear, it is beautifully said!

Ryan Boyd reviews John Warner's Why They Can't Write, and gives concise criticism of education in the U.S.

Careful, you're cherry-picking data here to make the results seem more dramatic. This appears to be just a fluctuation between 2007 and 2009, not an overall trend worth reporting.

Again, you don't need to write this out.

This is interesting, and readers will want to know the leading theories. Deaths went down for all other age groups but went up among the elderly. Why? Ask a geriatric specialist for thoughts on this. I know you didn't have time for that sort of thing, but you should try to follow up and make this even stronger for your portfolio.

You don't need to write all of this out. That's what the chart is for -- it shows us all of this. And the title of the chart is awkward and confusing because of the commas ('ER Department, Hospitalizations, and Deaths...'). I think your missing the word 'visits.'

This one is reminiscent of W. Zinsser's notes in On Writing Well. He makes the argument that one has to first trim out as much as possible, before considering adding back embellishments.

Potentially interesting further reading for blog post?

Potentially interesting for blog post on process. How to apply GTD to writing?

Essential part of the PhD and research process in general.

That's it! One of the most difficult things about the PhD is that it is definitely an amorphous task!

This could be a hint for instructional design/approaching teaching?

This is important to take into account. Furthermore, connect with Austin Kleon's 'Share your work' in thinking about the process, not the product.

https://zines.barnard.edu/judithbutler-rebellion

Succint summation of previous section and transition.

Nice summation of how practice-based experiences of time are not well-served by treating the objective-subjective dichotomy as properties of time.

Need for a different perspective to explore other emergent ways people engage with or experience time.

Strong why does this matter section -- 3 sentences.

Turns of phrase:

"We explicitly integrate the notion of social practices from this literature ..."

"We have obtained important insights ..."

How the concept of temporal structures fits in the literature.

Nice succinct high-level summary of DCog, LPP, and situated learning.

I adore this, b/c this is one powerful aspect of literacy IN ACTION. The writer (artist, performer, singer, etc.) is doing something, feels it intuitively. Then a teacher, or peer or fellow collaborator helps them to name what they are doing. Call it author's craft, or technique, or approach. But it invites the learner/actor to do deeper into their craft and join the discourse of actors before them.

Every writer should read this paragraph. Sometimes you need to sit on it, give it time to marinate. So many ways to approach sitting on it, of course, but that's just glorious detail.

This is flat out a paen to absorbing literacies through the early experiences with our families and communities, but especially, especially our parents. Kendrick says it himself, his parents sharing their culture made his glorious unfolding possible.

Not only does the hairstyle imply age but his use of Pentateuchal provides a biblical reference to prophets that lived over 100 years.

Imagery of acceleration along with elevation and excitement.

shows how he was forced to write in a certain way at The New Yorker Imagery of discomfort

Biblical reference here. Pretty clever

He uses a personal anecdote about his writing experience to provide personal insight

The verbiage in this portion also adds to the humor as the use of 'turned into' is unconventional

Colloquial and keeps with the humorous writing already prevalent in the intro

Spontaneousness adds to the humor and is a creative way to begin to talk about such a subject.

The use of everything instead of everyone dehumanizes their patients, both football players and arthritic ancients. Also, it adds humor to the statement in being so unconventional.

This is a grand, grand, grand piece of writing. Perhaps somewhere there's an open educator - rocker - knitter - skier who's not thrown by any of these terms, but for the rest of us at least one of these examples should be disorienting.

3rd grade writing standard 2-D

Can't annotate stupid JSTOR page images. But: "When we read for typos, letters constitute the field of attention; content becomes virtually inaccessible. When we read for content, semantic structures constitute the field of attention; letters - for the most part - recede from our consciousness."