Here is an exercise: Spend a week counting all the original ideas you have. Then try to write each one down, in all its nuance, in 800 words. Perhaps you’d be very successful at this. Now try to do it for four weeks. Then two months, then six, then a year, then five years. Add on to that all other ambitions you might have — teaching, blogging, writing long-form articles, speaking, writing books. etc. How do you think you’d fare?
From Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic on why the Internet maybe needs to go a little easier on writers. And incidentally, the column he wrote for The New York Times recently which was part album review, part social commentary and part political agitation was excellent.
I have previously tweeted these links, so, apologies if this is repetitive. By the way, if you find me a little inactive here and yet somehow want more of me I should clarify that I remain very active on Twitter with links and debate on a daily basis.. but also I say quite a bit of inane stuff over there, so that’s the bargain. Make a decision to follow me on Twitter wisely.
blue milk 
I adore Coates but i think he’s being disingenuous here – he wouldn’t generally argue that we should go easy on sloppy writing. This is more an argument against having fulltime columnists at all, if the challenge is so impossible.
That is exactly what I thought.
Interesting, thought provoking, funny, sometimes a little ‘sex of the icky parental kind’ (but in a good way), flirty but never inane. I say if you aren’t following @bluemilk on Twitter what are you doing?
I really like my Twitter review!
Your tweets rock.
Thanks, you’re lovely.