Post AuIpUldC9AI55x77ia by Jjchr@techhub.social
(DIR) More posts by Jjchr@techhub.social
(DIR) Post #AuIpUk6Xp4ZyMOpXBg by alech@chaos.social
2025-05-20T23:00:36Z
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@skinnylatte do you have recommendations for how to learn that? Books, conference talks, etc.?
(DIR) Post #AuIpUkvEmb82tcY1Ca by Jjchr@techhub.social
2025-05-20T23:27:18Z
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@alech @skinnylatte by writing. Seriously, the only way to learn is to write incessantly, for various audiences. Write your friends a long letter talking about the normal and really weirdly normal things that you observe in the market and on the streets. Write a journal describing how you felt during the day when things happened to you. Write an explainer for your aged parents on how to send an email (joke).
(DIR) Post #AuIpUldC9AI55x77ia by Jjchr@techhub.social
2025-05-20T23:32:36Z
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@alech @skinnylatte oh, also by reading. But not reading for content; reading for the pleasure of a well-turned phrase, a poetic description, a jarring interrogation, a lyric interlude.
(DIR) Post #AuIpUmDhxPUuvCCHdA by craigduncan@mastodon.au
2025-05-20T23:58:29Z
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@Jjchr @alech @skinnylatte I agree with all of this, especially keeping a journal or writing on a whim: review your own writing every so often but don't judge yourself when you are actually writing from feeling or imaginatively. Regular writing gets you in the groove, develops your personal style, and confidence to be yourself.Join a writing group or creative writing class.Read aloud what you have written. How does it differ from your normal voice?A writing group with respectful feedback is great for all of this and you will meet interesting people.
(DIR) Post #AuIpUmtXRsxT0vlgpc by Jjchr@techhub.social
2025-05-21T00:03:00Z
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@craigduncan @alech @skinnylatte and your written voice *should* differ from your spoken voice. All the inflections, body language nuance, contextual subtleties, etc have to be carried by the written word. That’s not to say that your written version should not be authentic; it is to say that you have to keep in mind the fact that your reader is not in either your same space or time. In fact, by writing you are engaging in time travel, so you must be conscious of the sometimes unknown (and possibly unknowable) context and perspective of your reader.
(DIR) Post #AuIpUnRDQftehNWaK8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-05-21T01:01:57Z
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(1/2)I agree with all the suggestions shared so far. I have done all of these things to sharped my writing skills and keep them honed.@Jjchr @craigduncan @alech @skinnylatte
(DIR) Post #AuIpfD0dD8TQu03TZg by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-05-21T01:04:03Z
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(2/3)I'd add that writing threads here is a great way to practice writing succinctly, and breaking big ideas into bite-sized chunks. I often find I start writing a post to express a knot of thoughts, and end up writing 10 or 15 posts. When I come back to those threads later, I often think that with some minimal editing, they could be a blog post.
(DIR) Post #AuIpqEKQe78WBBZQky by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-05-21T01:06:03Z
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(3/3)I haven't tried it yet, but I figure I could use a similar technique to write a longer piece (eg journal article or conference paper). Flesh out the topic I'm writing about as a series of bullet points, and write a blog post on each one. Then pull them together as a single draft, in a logical order, and edit as needed.
(DIR) Post #AuJARtF3Ua0MrrIAgC by smallcircles@social.coop
2025-05-21T04:56:48Z
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@strypey I also have the experience that trying to formulate something to fit the - in my case - 500 char length of a toot, is a great way to practice writing skills (at least for certain use case, in this case conveying messages clearly).Reformulating when running out of chars often leads to big improvement. Shortening sentences, swapping their order, and using simpler shorter words.I call it 'chiseling', and it also works great to hone ones own understanding of concepts, and mental models.
(DIR) Post #AuKeNrO3dc75jvSPeS by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-05-21T22:07:04Z
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@smallcircles > Reformulating when running out of chars often leads to big improvement. Shortening sentences, swapping their order, and using simpler shorter wordsExactly. I read my old blog posts and marvel at how waffly they seem now. Long sentences, long paragraphs, heaps of excess verbiage. Editing to fit within a 500 character limit has made me a much more economical writer.