On Writing Well in the LLM Age
"Writing is related to character. If your values are sound your writing will be sound. It all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and work your way with humanity and integrity to the completed article."
-- William Zinsser 'On Writing Well'[^1].
I had fallen out of love with writing--mostly because I was so bad at it.
There was a time where I aspired to be a writer; the trouble was I 'knew' I could never be one. There were plenty of excuses: I didn't have the right stuff to be a writer (whatever that stuff was supposed to be), I didn't have enough life experience, I didn't have the right pedigree. I had fallen into the trap of believing that the ability to write well was something you either had or you didn't, rather than the result of hard work and repeated practice.
Reading 'On Writing Well' recently helped me to reflect on what I had so wrong about writing.