James N. Hanson

Sharing Insights and Connections

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A Prejudice against Online Publishing

I was listening to David Perrell interview Tiago Forte. They were talking about a reference to James Clear’s course, The Habits Academy, on the dust jacket of Atomic Habits. One of them pointed out that Clear’s course is entirely online, but that Clear never describes it as an “online” course. It’s taken for granted that the content will be delivered online, but “online” isn’t added as a qualifier.

This caught my attention. It made me realize that I tend to look down my nose at writing “online” and at “online” courses. Why? I don’t know exactly. But I see that I have a prejudice in favor of print and in-person instruction.

I’m not saying that the prejudice is right, good, helpful, or defensible. I’m just saying I have it.

In fact, I don’t think that the prejudice against “online” communication is any of those things. Once I examine it, I think it’s whacky.

So much good stuff comes to me online. Seth Godin. Austin Kleon. Not to mention the interview that sparked this post.

If people weren’t publishing material online, I’d be missing out on insights and connections I enjoy.

What happens if I set that prejudice aside? If I stop thinking of things as “online,” and merely as things worth reading, hearing, and thinking about?

How I’m Writing for This Site with Stages

Right now, I am writing for this site by moving my material through stages. These stages exist as a list in Roam.

One stage is Post Ideas (i.e., ideas for posts). Here I remind myself to “write it down.” It doesn’t matter if the idea is good or bad. If it’s an idea, I get it written down.

But with Roam, I have something written down already. So I’m usually writing down a tentative title and then pasting a reference to one of my preexisting notes. I may toss in a new note as a kind of explanation for what I’m thinking.

The next stage is called Draft it Up. Here, I make sure I’ve got the idea explained in words that make some sense. If I have multiple notes that are somehow connected, but which have only been thrown together, I do the work of spelling out the connection between them.

The next stage is called Shape it Up for Posting. In this stage, I add links and check for typos. I also add additional text to embellish or explain the thoughts.

Finally, I have a stage called Published. This is where I put items that I’ve published. This stage is my target. I’m trying to move the material through those earlier stages so that I have the satisfaction of moving the finalized post into this “end zone” stage of the process.

Right now, working within these stages is helping me write and publish in a way that feels manageable.

Every Day a Child is Born Who Has Never Seen Star Trek

On his podcast, David Perrell made the point that just because an idea is out there, that doesn’t mean that everyone has read about it or knows about it.

This reminded me of a line that I heard on Back to Work from Merlin Mann: Every day a child is born who has never seen Star Trek.

Things are not known once and for all forever. Classic stories are always going to be there to be discovered by a new generation. Nothing is every going to be so well known that it never needs to be re-presented.

What does this mean for you, the writer? Don’t stop yourself from writing about something just because it has already been written about. Write about it and it will be fresh for someone.

Write Every Day, Publish Once a Week

I was listening to one of the interviews that David Perrell did with Tiago Forte on Perrell’s podcast.

Perrell was talking about his writing course Write of Passage and the struggles that his writing students have. He articulated an achievable goal that he gives them:

Write every day, publish every week.

That advice lowered the bar for me in a very encouraging way: I can write a little every day, and I can publish something — even if it’s really small — once a week.

Beginning Again

In The Way, St. Josemaría reminds us that we always need to be ready to begin again. I have not written anything on this site since April. Well, it is time to begin again — to start writing.

And so with Josemaria I say: Serviam!

I will serve — serve by writing and then by sharing what I write.