I'm with you on "Team Immediately Reject Binaries." I think quantity or quality alone has its pitfalls, and one doesn't automatically lead to the other either. Obsession with quality puts you in a cave, and obsession with quantity puts you on a plateau. Perfectionism without deadlines is isolating and self-destructive, while repeating the same thing over and over has diminishing returns.
I think you can beat the paradox by existing in the fast lane and slow time at the same time; the insights spill into each other. My logging helps the prose of my long-form, and my excessive essay rewrites make it easy to shape daily typewriter essays.
Your main thesis is spot on though: you can't out-game the Pareto principle. You have to start with quantity, and from that wellspring comes ideas that are worth plucking aside and becoming a part-time perfectionist over (with deadlines & self-love).
I think the scope of quality should start insanely small. For example, if you've published 10,000 words total, the shift to quality shouldn't be an attempt to write a 5,000 word long-form essay (50% of everything you've ever written), but a 250 word essay (40x smaller) that you re-write 5 times based on successive rounds of feedback. As you publish more, you can expand the scope of quality.
I also find that quality doesn't come just from quantity, but variance: change what you read, how you read, do imitations, do exercises, set constraints, pray to a spider colony, etc. Random experiments can lead to big shifts.
Great job with this essay Camilo. It opened up a lot of threads that I'll continue to think about.
If you haven't read "The Paradox of Excellence" yet, check it out:
This is an excellent comment, Mike. And I recall you making some of these points in our last chat. I think the biggest insight here for me is the idea of variance. That's as close to a "silver bullet" when it comes to the writing process as any that you will find.
Michael. Wow - incredible insight and wisdom in here. Thank you for taking the time to post this so we can learn from you. I’m aware of your coaching offer and may enroll in the future. The timing wasn’t right for me now.
Team "Quantity becomes quality" here. I'm not writing to advance my career or impress a group of people one time. I'm here to be a writer, period.
Someday, maybe, when books are spilling out of me because I've become so good at writing BECAUSE I've published week after week after week after week after week, I will lose the desire to publish consistently. Until then.
Thank you for the mention Camilo, and you did a great job thinking this through and representing the key considerations of quantity vs quality. What I learned is that I should have left 10 comments on this essay if I wanted one or two of them to be useful and memorable. Alas, I'm taking my one shot, thumbing my nose at perfection, and erring on the side of not holding back as my guiding principle. And I'm glad you're hitting the slopes instead of hitting the bottle.
Camilo, I’m so honored to be included in this exquisite piece from you. So much of my writing journey is getting unstuck. And the perspectives you offer, in your symphonic prose, will help writers crystallize their thinking into quality expression that will benefit their readers.
Next, your contribution to my piece you link to below was significant. I was stuck in areas, and I needed your help, your thinking, AND your encouragement to finish and publish. I’m grateful.
Last, to be included alongside Rick, and in a finished essay with Steven, Michael, and Alex is an honor and is rarified air for me 🙏
I'm with you on "Team Immediately Reject Binaries." I think quantity or quality alone has its pitfalls, and one doesn't automatically lead to the other either. Obsession with quality puts you in a cave, and obsession with quantity puts you on a plateau. Perfectionism without deadlines is isolating and self-destructive, while repeating the same thing over and over has diminishing returns.
I think you can beat the paradox by existing in the fast lane and slow time at the same time; the insights spill into each other. My logging helps the prose of my long-form, and my excessive essay rewrites make it easy to shape daily typewriter essays.
Your main thesis is spot on though: you can't out-game the Pareto principle. You have to start with quantity, and from that wellspring comes ideas that are worth plucking aside and becoming a part-time perfectionist over (with deadlines & self-love).
I think the scope of quality should start insanely small. For example, if you've published 10,000 words total, the shift to quality shouldn't be an attempt to write a 5,000 word long-form essay (50% of everything you've ever written), but a 250 word essay (40x smaller) that you re-write 5 times based on successive rounds of feedback. As you publish more, you can expand the scope of quality.
I also find that quality doesn't come just from quantity, but variance: change what you read, how you read, do imitations, do exercises, set constraints, pray to a spider colony, etc. Random experiments can lead to big shifts.
Great job with this essay Camilo. It opened up a lot of threads that I'll continue to think about.
If you haven't read "The Paradox of Excellence" yet, check it out:
https://www.tangent.blog/p/the-paradox-of-excellence
This is an excellent comment, Mike. And I recall you making some of these points in our last chat. I think the biggest insight here for me is the idea of variance. That's as close to a "silver bullet" when it comes to the writing process as any that you will find.
Michael. Wow - incredible insight and wisdom in here. Thank you for taking the time to post this so we can learn from you. I’m aware of your coaching offer and may enroll in the future. The timing wasn’t right for me now.
This piece turned out really well man. Your writing, through your hard work and consistent publication, continues to get better and better.
Thank you good sir! You were a huge help in getting me unblocked.
Team "Quantity becomes quality" here. I'm not writing to advance my career or impress a group of people one time. I'm here to be a writer, period.
Someday, maybe, when books are spilling out of me because I've become so good at writing BECAUSE I've published week after week after week after week after week, I will lose the desire to publish consistently. Until then.
I love that conviction, Charlie! One of the many things that inspires me about you :)
Thank you for the mention Camilo, and you did a great job thinking this through and representing the key considerations of quantity vs quality. What I learned is that I should have left 10 comments on this essay if I wanted one or two of them to be useful and memorable. Alas, I'm taking my one shot, thumbing my nose at perfection, and erring on the side of not holding back as my guiding principle. And I'm glad you're hitting the slopes instead of hitting the bottle.
Haha why not hitting the slopes AND the bottle. I kid, I kid of course. But thank you for your thoughts and feedback as always Rick!
Camilo, I’m so honored to be included in this exquisite piece from you. So much of my writing journey is getting unstuck. And the perspectives you offer, in your symphonic prose, will help writers crystallize their thinking into quality expression that will benefit their readers.
Next, your contribution to my piece you link to below was significant. I was stuck in areas, and I needed your help, your thinking, AND your encouragement to finish and publish. I’m grateful.
Last, to be included alongside Rick, and in a finished essay with Steven, Michael, and Alex is an honor and is rarified air for me 🙏
Thank you James! And you completely belong in the "rarified air" of the other writers that I mentioned here.
Camilo, thank you! I will continue to work for that distinction!