Kushal Das, on developing his writing chops …
It boiled down to one thing. One has to write more. This is no short cut. So, I tried to do that throughout 2017. If I just look at the numbers, I wrote 60 blog posts in 2017, which is only 7 more than 2016.
Austin Kleon, on trying to get his son to draw …
Several times a day since October, ever since the Halloween decorations went up, my two-year-old son Jules has asked my wife or me to draw him an “x-ray.” (That’s his word for skeleton.) … We’ve drawn hundreds of skeletons for him, over and over and over again. He flat-out refuses to attempt drawing one for himself.
Seth Godin, on doing the work
Slow and steady The hard part is “steady.” Anyone can go slow. It takes a special kind of commitment to do it steadily, drip after drip, until you get to where you’re going.
Several times, during my programming journey, I tear my hair out over things I just do not understand. I fall off the wagon due to ill health. I’m old; no match for today’s young, smart, kids I feel so dumb, like I’m not cut out for this.
Yet, I have dreams. I have ambition. I’ve loved the way software has changed my life and I’d love to solve people’s problems by doing the same thing I have my back against the wall, literally, in terms of the risk, this current change entails. I want, nay, yearn to do this.
And the three wise men above, give me hope.
Here’s Kushal, on the results of his year long writing journey
Did your writing skill improve a lot?
The answer is no. But, now, writing is much more easier than ever. I can sit down with any of my mechanical keyboards, and just typing out the things on my mind.
If I just look at the numbers, I wrote 60 blog posts in 2017, which is only 7 more than 2016. But, the number of views of the HTML pages, more than doubled.
And Austin, on when his little one, started to draw
What happened? What convinced him it was time? The construction paper and the markers have been there at his disposal for months. Was it that we had visitors in the house for Christmas? I can’t come up with any convincing external factor that might have caused him to finally pick up the marker. He just decided he was ready.
As is so often the case with parenting, you do the same Sisyphean, seemingly meaningless task over and over again, wondering when the heck it will add up to anything.
And then, one day, often without warning or fanfare, the meaning arrives, and you still can’t believe it.
After all, you don’t get to blog post 7000, in a day. You do it one day at a time, drip after drip after drip.
The secret to writing a daily blog is to write every day. And to queue it up and blog it. There is no other secret.
And so, I grind away, filled with hope.