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The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

On "Crap," Ctd

By The Daily Dish
Nov 14 2009, 6:32 AM ET

Steven Pressfield's thoughts fit nicely in the thread:

When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you. 

Ben Casnocha's two cents:



One way blogging makes you a better writer is it forces you to work hard for your readers' attention. On the web, it takes less than a second to close the page or click a new link. Your readers are busy and distracted.

This means you must engage the reader out of the gate and take nothing for granted. If you start sucking in the second paragraph, you'll likely lose the reader's attention. They click to a new page.

It's brutal. It makes you better.

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