cellio: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] cellio at 11:02am on 2004-11-16
It sounds to me like you hate writing to a spec (and perhaps to a deadline), as opposed to hating writing in the abstract. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in other areas too -- for example, the difference between doodling with a piece of music until a finished piece comes out and having to write a specific type of piece before next week's rehearsal. I think that's pretty normal.
 
posted by [identity profile] dglenn.livejournal.com at 11:10am on 2004-11-16
Well, if "to a spec" includes "I have this particular argument I want to make or idea I want to express", then yeah.

What sparked this entry at this time was the entry I posted over the weekend about electile dysfunction, why people should care about flaws in our voting systems, and what's going on.

But this entry also became an example of itself. I wanted to get it out of my head, but it was a pain to write. (Not as painful, nor provoking such feelings of insecurity, as the vote/recount/etc. entry, but enough to notice.)

Including throwing away 90% of what I'd written ... twice.
 
posted by [identity profile] dglenn.livejournal.com at 11:13am on 2004-11-16
FWIW, writing to a spec -- such as a user manual or a proposal -- if often even worse, so you're clearly not completely off-base.

OTOH, the musical example can go either way -- the spec can be an incentive to actually finish and polish the piece (though the deadline may be stressfull) while the noodling may stay in the "maybe I should write something based on that someday" state until it evaporates.

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