Tag: writing

The Two Ideas Deal

Akshat RathiLeave a comment

It seems that whenever I read/hear/watch anything interesting (eg. TED talks), it is usually full of many ideas. In them, almost always, few ideas are completely convincing to me, many I feel need more exploration to be convincing and some completely repel me.

There isn’t always enough time to be able to explore all the ideas that get thrown at me, of course. But in the spirit of being able to still absorb something of value from the time spent in being immersed in those ideas, I’ve thought of signing ‘the two ideas deal’ with myself.

According to the deal, of the many ideas that came my way in that time, I will incorporate/share/use one idea that completely convinced me and I will debate/explore/learn about one idea that completely repelled me.

How to become a writer

Akshat RathiLeave a comment

…or anything else, Ed Yong’s suggestion:

1) Pull your finger out and work really hard. Stay up late. Practice. Sacrifice your social time. Churn out a crazy amount of output. Practice. Enter competitions. Practice.

2) Give people a reason to read you. There are plenty of competent writers and not enough time to read them. Maybe you are the go-to person for a topic. Maybe you write like an angel. If you want to stand out, stand out.

3) Tell people about yourself. Promote your work. If you want to be recognised, then it’s not enough to be good and shout into the ether. And I don’t mean in a narcissistic, self-aggrandising way. You don’t even have to directly point to your work. Just let people know you exist.

4) If you are lucky enough to be given an opportunity, grasp it as quickly as possible because the momentum fades. If you haven’t been given opportunities, maybe you should try to create some. If you’re not part of a network (and want to be; loads don’t), are you sitting around waiting to be invited or did you cold-call and ask for feedback?

5) If it’s been several years and you’re not getting anywhere… that’s about right. Building a reputation takes time. It is demotivating and miserable in the meantime. Suck it up. Do what you do because it makes you personally fulfilled. Don’t expect a windfall; that will come after a lot of work.

6) Go to 1.

Context, Content & Quantity

Akshat RathiLeave a comment

Being said to whom, where and why? What is the message that needs to be conveyed? How much time do you have?

In any conversation, from telling others what you do to convincing others to buy what you are selling, three things need to be given special attention – Context, Content & Quantity.

Context: Make it as relevant to the listener as possible.

Content: Make it as simple as possible.

Quantity: Conveying the content in as little as possible without affecting the context or the message being conveyed adversely.