I've been working on an essay about opinions since October last year. It is getting close - though today's draft sits at three times my target word count. It is ironic this piece has taken so long to write, given the working thesis:
Opinions must be earned to be valuable. Without careful interrogation, the contents of our opinions may surprise us - under a microscope, they are outdated, inaccurate, harmful, or misaligned to our values.
In today's information environment, the obstacles to forming quality opinions are high. So too are the stakes if we let our thinking wither.
The world needs our opinions. We need to work harder for them.
It has taken me months to reach the official 'writing part.' Of course, the writing part is never just the writing part. It features side-quests and dead-ends: hours spent sniffing out sources, poring over studies, and grasping new concepts... all before discarding most of it, never to be seen again, in service of the final piece.
As my writing practice develops, I spend increasing amounts of time on my essays and book projects - doing the research, letting ideas percolate, scribbling notes as I make new connections. This is a shift. My first books and articles were produced at top speed, on tight deadlines. I told myself I work well under pressure, but it turns out I was just under pressure, so that's how I had to work. Stories, eh? Useful things.
To my continued surprise, my process has become less structured and linear over time. I'm more comfortable letting the work breathe. I leave more space to change my mind, test assumptions, and unspool nuance. I can put something down and come back to it - a habit I wouldn't have dreamed of five years ago. I also use Oxford commas now. It took a while, but I came around.
By the time I produce an essay or a book, I've read more than I would ever have predicted, especially once I include the reading around the reading - chasing down primary sources, contrasting opposing viewpoints, and churning through research method and context.
Then I write a draft - often many times as long as the final product - and start to filter and distil, making countless edit passes. I use different lenses as I go – what makes for the most interesting or enjoyable reading experience, what makes clearest logical sense, what will add something new to the discourse, what is relevant and topical. Then the line edits start - tightening phrases, simplifying words, removing repetition and redundancy, checking grammar, and so on.
To some AI developers, this manual, looping process is a waste of time. They are wrong. Eliminating the thinking process to instantly deliver a passable product is a net loss.
The thinking, drafting and editing process is the intellectual labour a reader deserves in exchange for their precious attention. It is the writing part. The process is just as valuable as the product.
If we remove recursive, exploratory, inefficient messy-work from the lives of readers, writers, students, advisors, analysts, and decision-makers... we will all be much worse for it.
New essay incoming.
Til next week,
AM
