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writing canonical resources is hard and confusing thread of me thinking out loud about repeating, remixing, and the differences between: - twitter threads (dated, can't edit) - blog posts (dated, can edit) - pages/canon (not dated, can edit)
from my DMs: > wanted to let you know I’ve been trying out complice and it’s been really useful - the whole non coercive approach is really like, relaxing > it feels good to use > Do you have any resources on non coercion as a concept? Like are there any canonical writings etc
and while writing it I pulled up this blog post of mine since it seemed relevant and I was like "damn this already says most of what I want to say in this thread" https://t.co/JPt78ZVeAb
but then I remembered what I just spent the morning talking about with @visakanv (recorded! will be live on youtube soon) which included a bunch of reflections on the writing process: remixing, repeating, writing 101s and canonical versions
and I realized that even if the "awayness can't aim" piece says literally 100% of what this thread needs to say, and perfectly, it says it inside a different container. it's not what someone will find if they're *looking* for resources on non-coercion
and so even repackaging the ideas inside a different question ends up being very different! this, but on a micro-scale, including my own ideas: https://t.co/0u7rjUcKX9
I don't want to become one of those guys who writes the same book 5 times in different contexts... ...but I am so far from that it's not really something I have to worry about. And it's not even bad that he does this—remixing something to a new context is helpful! https://t.co/HEW5iBDP1C
anyway, I'm going to try rewriting this, mostly, not trying to edit the other one to fit a new container, partially because I'm way better at writing than editing (and I enjoy it more) and partially because then I'll have more potential for new fresh ideas
although actually... maybe that's just not true. I've had lots of fresh ideas in the course of editing old posts and sometimes those ideas are so fresh they then make it hard to publish the thing because what felt almost-done now feels woefully inadequate
which is an argument in favor of just publishing things now eg I started trying to edit this thread into a blog post and ended up flipping inside out and rethinking the whole frame. https://t.co/MxMdZp6s8J
coercion = "the exploitation of the scarcity of another, to force the other to behave in a way that you want" (working draft, edited from some chats) (this is in the context of other-coercion; self-coercion needs a slightly different definition) 🧵 https://t.co/TCc1WEnwzR
but part of what makes things difficult I think IS actually the aim of creating a CANONICAL resource that was easy to write as a thread, since it was overtly a draft, but with my blog posts I feel they want to be more DONE before I publish them https://t.co/EUvFYcEAa7
I’m noticing a desire in myself to write comprehensive, ‘canonical’ essays on Alexander Technique, which each time I notice I choose not to do. I’m happy to repeat myself and rewrite things over and over as I get better at communicating this stuff, perfectionism be damned.
but weirdly it feels more easy to publish a page on the complice site that I could edit later, than a blog post that I could edit later. I think that's partially because many of my reads come from the post being sent as a newsletter....
...but also... a blog post FEELS like a final thing, but because it DOES have a date on it, it becomes complex to edit it because I neither want to imply that: 1. I stand behind all confusions remaining post-edits 2. I already had shit figured out years ago
somehow there's a sweet spot where something can be written as a snapshot of my learning at a point in time, and also its potency and clarity stands the test of time and it becomes "canon" I feel like I really achieved this here: https://t.co/MyrnAMacBb
that post now contains one [EDIT] parenthetical, but otherwise remains essentially the same except for maybe a few links added to pieces I hadn't yet written years later I reflected about the nature of unintegrated understandings: https://t.co/bD5JeI8epP
at the time I wrote this, I hadn't gotten the insight as deep into my bones as I now have, & I still have much further to go but the insight is still legit & the articulation is good & your integration will be yours anyway no matter how well I had it integrated when I wrote it https://t.co/3Pzq3t9oHW
what even is a tweet? what is an utterance? what is a thread? what is a post? what is a book? what is an essay? what is a conversation? what is a public collection of notes? https://t.co/gk21mKYPqC
we are still just barely understanding the nature of the mediums we are participating in and I think that's beautiful https://t.co/mYCCECAofW
I've found this prompt (which is best interpreted, in the context of the examples @visakanv gives, as "write one page about the topic without stopping or much editing") to be a helpful way to sidestep the perfectionist/canonist energy reason y not perfect https://t.co/ynnPXzWWuH