“Act like every word you say has a fixed probability of being the perfect word, but it can only be discerned after it’s written.”
The probability is not fixed and the argument holds even so. Rather, think of your own writing habits as occupying a point on the speed–accuracy tradeoff curve that characterizes your writing output. Many writers are overly self-critical and set the threshold on output high when drafting: slow and reasonably accurate. For overly cautious writers, moving that threshold towards fast and somewhat inaccurate output shifts the balance between drafting and editing and often increases end-to-end throughput on high-quality text. For those paralyzed by putting the first word on the page, it can increase the throughput dramatically.
“Act like every word you say has a fixed probability of being the perfect word, but it can only be discerned after it’s written.”
The probability is not fixed and the argument holds even so. Rather, think of your own writing habits as occupying a point on the speed–accuracy tradeoff curve that characterizes your writing output. Many writers are overly self-critical and set the threshold on output high when drafting: slow and reasonably accurate. For overly cautious writers, moving that threshold towards fast and somewhat inaccurate output shifts the balance between drafting and editing and often increases end-to-end throughput on high-quality text. For those paralyzed by putting the first word on the page, it can increase the throughput dramatically.