Becoming a better hive author with "The Craft of Writing Effectively" - Updated with notes

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(Edited)

What does it take to get an idea through to you?

I used to write posts on Hive about many different subjects. Philosophical, moral, generally intellectual stuff. I got frustrated because it seemed only a couple of people would read and understand it. I didn't know why, and I couldn't do better, so I eventually gave up on it. If my content isn't pleasing enough, then why bother? I still think about many different topics inside my head, but that's where they stay because it feels like they're too difficult to express to most people.

I'm 13 minutes into a video about the craft of writing effectively, where this teacher is explaining that's a common problem for high-level thinkers. We don't know how to write complex ideas in a manner readers can fully understand them with ease. He's saying we write to ourselves, as if they're notes of our rationale, or the rationale itself, instead of a fully fledged article. And I agree with him. That has to be why my work used to get so complicated.

So, before I'm done watching this video, only thirteen minutes into it, I'm going to experiment with this idea. This post is the text I'm using as source material for my next post, which comes after I'm done watching the video. It's going to be the same material, except it'll apply whatever I've learned from the video. I won't write as I think, I'll use whatever techniques presented instead.

That means that, when I'm done, I'll also write about this experiment. I won't simply rewrite this post, though, I'll present new ideas along with what's already written here. Except, I expect the style of my presentation will change radically. I really hope so. Because the video is one hour long and my attention span is lower than it used to be, though, it'll take me quite many hours to finish this project.

But I should be done today, so check back later! How useful is this video going to be to a person who has problems conveying complex ideas through an article directed to readers who aren't being paid to read me? We shall see.


My personal notes, as a screenshot, that you'll find very useful for properly understanding the video's workshop:

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Video source: Youtube channel UChicago Social Sciences



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5 comments
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I think I've seen this video as well. I will have to go rewatch it to see if I remember learning anything. I research so many different topics sometimes I lose track of what I'm doing. 😁

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I suppose you're a multitasker as well!

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The video has a lot of great ideas. We must know who our readers are and make sure that what we write is of value to them.

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