Good writing and mindfulness go hand-in-hand. I just never saw the synergies.

Verlyn Klinkenborg delivers a strike with Several short sentences about writing.

This blog post will not do it justice.

Here’s to trying. 🍻

Verlyn presents the reader with a color-by-number guide for improving your writing.

The book has no chapters.

Not a one.

It didn’t need any. The meandering conversation bleeds topic into topic.

  • Sentences: The atom of a written work
  • The writers mindset
  • Writing as a process
  • Be Clear
  • Read as a writer
  • Myths
  • Revision
  • Writing for your reader

Personally, my sentences have a tendency to be self-focused, a rambling stream of consciousness, and riddled with too many coordinating conjunctions.

Like that one ☝️

Mindful writing asks that we deliberate.

Offer artisan sentences.

Stream-of-thought writing is a starting point.

The most ragged of drafts.

The version we ship to production is anything but.

Stripping out the clutter from sentences will take time. Part of that effort will involve slowing down.

The goal isn’t to finish. The goal is to craft a piece worth reading.

Incorporating this philosophy will be challenging while crafting technical writing.

Challenge: accepted.