Quantity over Quality is one of those things that seems to be debated periodically. Some would argue that quality should always take precedence over quantity. I suspect that it’s more complicated than that.
Naturally like many I like to think of myself as a perfectionist. Unfortunately though I am not by nature a natural writer. So I have to do something about it. So I am writing a new blog post every day written to certain rules. My worry is that I will be publishing a lot of blog posts that aren’t very interesting, to you my reader.
Aristotle apparently said Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
On my Developing A Writing habit goal today I read this:
For now, concentrate on the “habit of writing” more than the “craft of writing”.
This strikes me as pretty good advice. And so by extension I hope that by developing the habit of writing, the quality will grow with it.
Unfortunately though I am trying to develop blogging as a habit rather than writing. So I have to give some thought to the craft of writing. This is partly where the Hemingway app comes in. Although it isn’t a holy grail it does ensure that my writing is easy to read.
In an earlier post about who my audience is, I concluded that I was writing for myself. Even so I am publishing online and so some people are going to read it. And I don’t want to waste their time reading this if it is of low quality. After all time is the most valuable commodity of all.
Also everything I write reflects on me. As I have been bold enough to publish it I need to bear that in mind in the quantity/quality equation. However as I am intending to write without spending much if any time editing, what I am hoping is that you will give me the benefit of the doubt.
There was a great blog post on Work, Blog and Balance. Written by Mark Suster, an LA based Venture Capitalist, it is well worth a read
In it Mark says that he just writes, all in one go, without editing. And that he blogs for the hell of it, not for any other reason. He goes on to say that after doing the proverbial 10,000 hours it is now natural to him.
Eventually I hope that it will become more like that for me. I also hope for your sake and mine that it doesn’t take 10,000 hours. Otherwise it will get pretty boring for both of us!
Mark also gives another reason for his successful blogging habit.
Many Start – I finish.
Certainly for me I start, I do finish – but it takes me far too long and I really need to get better at this idea of doing it all in one go at one sitting. Often my blog posts become an exercise in procrastination.
Having said that I am only on Day 5, so there is plenty of room for me to get better. With today’s post I started recording three statistics:
- How long I spend writing
- How long I spend writing including all the procrastinations that come along
- How happy I am with the results.
The last measure should help my visitor decide whether it is worth reading or not. Anything above a 5 will have some value, anything below will just be me doing 500 words be worth reading!
The other thing that Mark said he siusAlong with Starting and Finishing, the other attribute Mark touched on was Focus, which is critical.
There is a great acronym for Focus:
Follow one course until successful. It is something that those of us who are not achieving what we should all need to bear in mind.
So whilst I am focusing on the habit of writing, I hope that I will hone my craft at the same time and will be able to generate posts of enough quality that are worth reading.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Time spent writing: 40 minutes.
Time From Starting Writing to Finishing: 5 hours
How Happy I am with Result: 6
