Today Fred wrote a post about how writing is a conversation. There are some incredible gems in it:
What I have learned from writing online regularly for over twenty years is that writing online is a conversation.
What I mean by that is that you are not trying to publish complete ideas. You are engaging in a conversation with the world and you are a participant in that...
So to everyone out there who is struggling to polish their posts and make them perfect before hitting publish, I say "don't bother". Think about writing online like being at a cocktail party or a dinner. Think of it like a conversation starter or a witty reply that takes the conversation to the next level. Because that's what writing online is. A conversation.
I also didn't know that the term “freemium” emerged from a conversation on his blog. 🤯
I like the description of writing as a conversation. And one of the great things about it is that the more you do it the better conversationalist you become. One of the reasons is because writing is composable, and it has compounding effects. I've been saying this in my head for years, and it's time to get it on the page.
In software development, and especially in crypto, composability refers to the idea that pieces of code and functionality can be picked up, reused, and recombined ad infinitum (here’s a great piece on composability by Linda Xie). Writing is the same. Every idea and post becomes a Lego block that’s part of your toolkit, forever available to be assembled however and whenever you want. In a way, each post you write is a powerful primitive.
Over time I’ve found myself linking to my own ideas more and more. That’s because they’re readily accessible, and the ideas they represent are now part of my vocabulary. As you write more, these posts can be rearranged in different ways. They provide a reconfigurable foundation for new ideas to emerge, and in that sense, they continuously build on top of one another. This makes the next new incremental post or idea easier to flow out of you and the process of assembling thoughts more fluid.
Composability is powerful, and it's also a cheat code for getting thoughts and ideas out into the world.
Collect this post as an NFT.
Totally agreed, Jared. And great to read your regular posts! I started writing a regular company-wide email, 5 years ago. The schedule required me to regularly communicate what was Top of Mind (the name of the email series) for me at any point. To create more structure between ideas. It has also given me the building blocks to link ideas and to explore new concepts. Love the Lego metaphor. Writing is thinking and everyone would benefit from making it a habit.
smart that you do this quarterly i used to do it once a year in a big strategy doc and always loved the process bc it built on top of all the previous work but quarterly may have actually been easier and more helpful
This morning's post by @fredwilson.eth about writing being a conversation inspired me to write about how writing is also composable. https://jared.xyz/writing-is-composable
Love this framing and thanks for the shoutout!
thanks for writing it! i've been linking to it for years now https://jared.xyz/why-i-want-crypto-to-succeed
Great post. I'd love to explore tying in "writing composability" with actual "on-chain composability" to unlock new ways to remix, discover & reward. Eg: - represent individual sentences, ideas, thoughts, or posts as NFTs (already possible on Paragraph!) - allow anyone to embed these into new posts, referencing these ideas onchain as well as through writing - economics flow through to the original creators (rewarding writers for coming up with original ideas) - readers can trace back the "remixed content" to the original creators (new avenue of discovery)
Hell yes. Those are some brilliant ideas. Love that.
878 $DEGEN
🙌💜 Came here to say something similar about context-containers. Especially liked the not perfect to publish but do it anyway thought.
You gotta let that shitty first draft rip https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First%20Drafts.pdf
878 $DEGEN
legos building ideas not only software, great piece!
Good reminder to hit publish before the cake is baked. 🫡