Read to Write

You may heard the saying along these lines:

If you want to be a writer, then write.

The overused cliché in life is when you hear people talking about writing such and such all the time but don't put down a single word on paper or type one on a screen. You won't ever be a writer unless you write. (I'm not talking about those who have finished unpublished work. They did the hard first step. They are writers in my book. There are numerous factors why this happens. But I am not going to address that here.)

While I wholeheartedly agree with this saying above, there's something else you need to do before you become a writer. You must read before you can write. 

As a writer, it's important you become an avid reader. (Audiobooks count too by the way.) This not only stimulates your brain, you can also learn how other writers write. As I mentioned years ago, I learned a lot from June Casagrande's book, as well as Professor Strunk and E.B. White,  William Zinsser, Philip K. Dick, Tolkien, and even the Bible.

It was a privilege to have learned from them and other writers. They helped shape my writing style as a technical writer. And I hope others can learn from me as well. 

Reading is essential to become a writer, including becoming a technical writer. If you want to get into technical writing, you should read technical books or publications themselves to see how they write. (And if there's a industry you want to get into, you should read about it.) When I dove into my first serious foray with API documentation, I read an e-book about this from Zapier to get an understanding. 

You can also read link to it in blog form. Recommend it if you want to get into API writing.

But reading other writers to become one shouldn't simply be about gaining knowledge or emulating someone else's style. When you read like this, it should accomplish two things:

1. See how you could have written it better. (The only big exception is the Bible because that is God's Word. You read that to learn who God is, what God says, and how He wants us to live.)
    
2. Give you the tools needed to create your own style.

While I still appreciate the writers mentioned above, especially the ones that have gone before me, I don't go to them much anymore. I've moved on from them to further hone my craft. But I still love to read. As you go on on your journey as writer, you should be able to do the same.

To be clear, this isn't about one-upmanship. This is about humbly learning from each other. Humility is key to grow as a writer. (I wish I would have learn that from sooner.) If we adopt this mentality, it makes for a much freer, more innovative, and better world. Think about what I'm saying.

Postscript

I will go on to say, if it's possible, you should read more and write less. When I was younger I would have balked at this advice because I was overly eager to become a professional writer. Looking back, I probably would developed my style earlier on if I would have read more. But would it have been style that I have today? Only God knows the answer to that. While this clip in context is about reading more and debating less, I believe there are grains of truth, where we can apply it in our own writing. Even Warren Buffet gives his reason why reading a lot is crucial. He also elaborates on this here. If we read more and wrote less, myself included, I believe there would be far less noise and better, wiser writing out there overall. Hope this helps.

Perpetual Problem with Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

When we look at back at something, let's be honest we all do this, and say I coulda have done this, or I woulda done this instead, or I shoulda done that, there's a problem if we let these thoughts go unchecked. The problem is we'll be stuck in a perpetual loop of regret.

Let's suppose we could go back in time and do X instead of Y. If we did X, then we'll say the same thing that I shoulda, coulda, or woulda done Z instead. Let's say you do Z, then we'll say same about A and B and so on.  But it's not just an neverending chain of things of we could have done. What about the neverending chain of events that would have been affected from the things we didn't do because we choose the alternative path?

Let's say we were able to do Y instead of X. How would it affect the world surrounding X if we didn't do X or maybe it would have affect W? 

It's maddening to think about it. So it's maddening to be stuck in a perpetual loop of woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Don't get me wrong. Reflecting on the past is good because it can help us learn from our past mistakes, grow from it, and help us move forward successfully. But if we're not careful, we end up dwelling on the past and fall into trap of endless rumination and perseveration. 

This is true with life, careers, and even documentation.

When we create documentation, though there should be fundamental questions to ask before you start, there are different ways to approach it. Different circumstances require different approaches. In those moments, sometimes, we just don't come at it the best way. I know I haven't many times throughout my career as a technical writer. There are times where I overlook something or didn't document the features as clear as I should have, especially when my knowledge was limited on a subject, or I didn't ask the SME the right questions, or both.

But rather than beating myself up in a loop of woulda, coulda, shoulda, I try to reflect on it and move on. Yes, it's hard to not go back and think I could have done something better. But if I did, it wouldn't be the documentation that it is. And if I could go back, I would probably make the content worse in some ways because of whatever unforseen factors. 

The fundamental flaw with wishing to time travel is we assume we're going to make it better. How do know if we will improve the past? What if we make it worse if we didn't let history play out as it did? What lessons would we fail to learn?

I'm not much of a fan of time travelling stuff or even some alternate history because of this flawed thinking. But I do enjoy the JRPG "Chrono Trigger" and liked PKD's novel "The Man in the High Castle" and still have a couple of Harry Turtledove's novels to read. Beyond that, I have no interest. 

Of course, I'm assuming the worst but it's the flip side of assuming the best. In either case, they're unproven assumptions, so it's fruitless to dwell on woulda, coulda, or shoulda.  The movie "It's a Wonderful Life" shows the downside of this kind of thinking when taken to its extreme. Though it's become cliché, the message is still powerful there. Besides, clichés wouldn't exist if they weren't effective with our psyche. 

The past is there to learn from, even with documentation, so we can move forward into the future. To yearn that we wish we could somehow change the past is a waste of one of the most precious gifts that God has given us: life and time. It will eat away at your soul if you do, where you can't see what's in front of you.

Unlike real life, the beauty of documentation is it can be changed. We can improve it by learning from our past mistakes and continue to improve it in the future.

So rather than pining away about the past or fretting about a future we can't control, let's focus on living in the present. Let's take each day and document at a time. I'm not saying this from a high holy horse. I'm telling myself this as well. I struggle with living in the present but I want to. Let's heed what Jesus said about this. For if we do, we'll have peace and know how to move forward, regardless of our circumstances, even if they're crappy right now.

Matthew 6:25-34 KJV

[25] Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? [26] Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? [27] Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? [28] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: [29] and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? [31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? [32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. [33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. [34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.