Writing & Publishing Club
The prompt of this Writing & Publishing Club: “What's the smallest action you can take today towards publishing something?”. The actual answer will depend on a person, and might be something like:
— Registering an account on Substack.
— Writing an opinionated message to a WhatsApp group.
— Digging out a draft you had, pasting it into a publishing platform, and actually hitting the 'Publish' button.
— Meditating five minutes on your resistance to publishing, savouring it, then opening a google doc and writing the first scary sentence of the essay you wanted to write for a while.
All writing- and publishing-related topics are welcome
The last time there were seven of us last time and here are just some of the topics we discussed: using AI when writing, making editing more fun, publishing platforms: substack vs others, specific ideas for publishing (like Lime company scamming people out of money), pressure to conform to your audience's expectations, resistance to getting things actually published, getting fired for your controversial views, writing grant applications.
The format
Share drafts with each other in advance on the group chat
Introductions in a circle: tell about yourself, what you are working on, what would you like to chat about, what kind of advice you'd like to receive (if any), what kind of advice you would like to give (if any)
Split into circles: talk, write, share stories & advice, etc.
You might end up coming and getting the exact advice you need to unblock you on publishing the draft you have. You might end up coming and giving someone advice that unblocks them while realizing your draft is best abandoned and starting writing another essay. We also might just get together, hang out and have lovely time together — making little progress towards publishing (making a little progress is the exact theme of this club).
Who knows what the future might hold. Last time we ended up having one single discussion circle of seven people. But this club haven't met enough time to draw generalizations. This time we might end up having a single circle, or we might end up with some circles branching off.
Suggested Reading
1. Sasha Chapin, “How to Crush it on Twitter When You Don't Want to Do That”.
2. Sasha Chapin, “In praise of blowing up your life”.
3. Paul Graham, a short thread on twitter: “LLMs prove that writing is not an epiphenomenon — that what we write matters. They're trained mostly on writing, and yet people use their output to affect the real world. So all that writing was source code after all.”
This writing club started after me posting my mildly viral “Write It Just Like That” essay on the London Rational-ish WhatsApp and it generating a bunch of interesting discussions. If you haven't read the essay, you might want to check it out.
Post your suggestions on the WhatsApp group and I might add them here.
The venue
We are meeting at the cozy London Night Cafe on Aug 24th, one hour earlier than the previous time. The entry is £7 — this is the default entry price at the Night Cafe, and all money goes to the venue (and not me). There will be unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits.
Don't forget to join the WhatsApp group
For sharing the drafts in advance and also for any future announcements.