Day 36
Writing is a skill. In here I send notes of my writing from the 50 days of writing course by David Perell, to reflect, develop and build my writing style.
In the 36th email from 50 days of writing, David Perell talks how to write like you talk.
He explains that when we talk, we emphasize words with sound, speed and body movement. Changing anyone of the above metrics will alter the meaning of our sentence.
He further break down the reasoning with an example of Rene Girard's work. I personally haven't read so, this is what David has mentioned -
His books are notoriously hard to read. They are high in word diversity, but low on clarity so I skipped right to his interviews. Most of them quoted him verbatim, so I slogged through them. But the best ones were groomed with the razor of a professional editor who widened the aperture of his vocabulary while maintaining the “oh wow, I’ve never thought of it like that before” punch that makes his ideas so profound.
Finally, David concludes this email by explaining how to choose the right words.
He states there are three words i.e.
- words people know and say,
- words people know but don’t say, and
- words people don’t know and don’t say.
We must always choose the words that fall under the 2nd bucket. It will make your writing sharper and more descriptive
My thoughts:
This email explains how to choose the right words and it is an important one. I struggle to find words when I am talking sometimes and usually end up using a similar word that passes the message along although it is enough I would like to have a conversation where I can not fumble for words and also be able to hold the conversations as well.
It will not only take months of learning but also lot of fumbles to get there, but once you feel the conversations pickup, you will be unstoppable.
Same goes for writing, you and I should write as we speak. It is the fastest way to kill two birds with one stone. I will write a series where I will just talk about movies or tv shows in my own words and write it in a format just as I am speaking to see the changes that can be quantified.
This whole 50 days of writing is making me a better thinker, rather than better at writing. This series is building the foundation strong. As I am reflecting everyday of the notes that I am taking the only striking thought I have is this is helping in a lot of ways.
For example,
- I am a learning UX Designer -
storytelling and conveying my design choices, the research insights, and the solutions found during the research conducted is going to be a huge part of my career and writing will help me articulate my thoughts better. - In my current job -
My job currently is to monitor the end-users issues and address them and I have taken up the responsibility to document each of the issues that help the team perform better the next time they get a similar issue and writing is a huge part of it as it helps me write that conveys messages clearly. - I type in a decent speed now -
After a few emails, I came across the one where David mentions Typing fast is better to get the initial thoughts out, and ever since I have been attempting at typing fast. I have looked at a few videos online and by Ali Abdaal and I have just practiced a couple of times a week. It has drastically changed the way I write. I don't look at the keyboard now, which is a huge win for me.
In conclusion, here are a few takeaways:
- Write as you speak.
- Use words that people can understand the meaning of but never use those.
- Clear writing is clear thinking.
Thank you for reading.
For more of Perell's work, you can signup for the 50 Days of Writing Course by clicking and signing up to receive one mail every day with an amazing take on writing.
