You Need A Shit Blog
I just read an article by one of my favorite writers, Henrik Karlsson, about how his work on his major pieces — which often take him months to finish — benefits from having a small, lesser-known "waste book" or "shit blog" for brain-dumping anything and everything.
"What has delighted me about the shit blog is how abundant it has made me feel. I sit down and type as fast as I can, and the results—well, they suck, but they don’t suck that much. They have a certain breeziness and some insights, too—insights of a different kind than I have in the serious essays. [...]
Another thing that happens when I have a shit blog is that I can burn through all the ideas that come into my head much faster, and take larger 'risks.' [...]
Over time I suspect the increased variance and risk-taking I do on the shit blog will allow me to stumble upon more interesting ideas. For two reasons. First, because I take wilder swings: when I can hammer it out in 15 minutes, typos and all, there is no reason to turn down any idea. [...] Second, when I write as wastefully as I do on the shit blog, I empty the barrel of my mind faster, so that fresher thoughts can flow up and replenish [...]"
While reading that, I immediately thought of this very blog you are visiting right now. This is that place for me: My small corner of the internet where I can put thoughts into words without much polish. I, too, have other publications where I try to do my best work.1 But here, I don't try to do "work" at all. I'm just showing up.
I hope you have a waste book like this, too.
Footnotes
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