The biggest mistake I made when I started writing this book was trying to leverage it as an instrument of argumentation, a bad habit instilled through years of academic writing and a byproduct of social media culture, where so many of us get a dopamine rush every time someone proves a point we agree with. Like, “Yeah, you tell ‘em!” Social media often feels like the equivalent of a schoolyard crowd gathering around an escalating conflict and chanting, “fight! fight! fight!” It doesn’t feel like that for me now since I’ve curated a cozy corner of the web for myself, but it’s like I had social media PTSD when I began writing this book.
That approach actually made the early stages of my writing process miserable. I dreaded going to the page and rehashing arguments I’d made hundreds of times. After meeting with my editor, I realized how flawed that mindset was. I had to consciously extract the habits I picked up from academia and social media in order to write well again. Meaning, write from a place where I felt well, and writing in a way that felt artful - less lecture, more love letter.
Sincerely,
