# Larry McEnerney - The Craft of Writing Effectively (Highlights) ![rw-book-cover|256](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vtIzMaLkCaM/maxresdefault.jpg) ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/50766078) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Larry McEnerney]] **Full Title**:: The Craft of Writing Effectively **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **URL**:: [www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM) **Host**:: [[www.youtube.com]] **Highlighted**:: [[2025-04-22]] **Created**:: [[2025-04-23]] ## Note - Writing is for change readers' minds. - Start with the problem that readers care. - State the readers' costs causing by the problem, and benifits they gain when the problem is fixed. - Create instability/tension. ## Highlights - That's right, it's new and it's original, "but it is not knowledge." ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsempd8g6sr09d47m8jcaxta)) ^880682580 - taking articles in your field, print 'em out so you have a hard copy. Go through and circle every word in the writing that is creating value to the readers. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsen06cm2t164ne6g99tzpca)) ^880683553 - Widely. - Widely. - Accepted. - Accepted. - Reported. - Reported. Those are words that cued that there was a community of people who want to understand this. You don't have those words, you're not signaling any community. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsen6tx4tn4fxqkwb4v1vgmv)) ^880684075 - And I am telling you that every article published in that journal in the last 20 years has opened by saying readers are wrong. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsenbtjztkn67kg3nehby0g8)) ^880684443 - You don't have to explain it to 'em. You have to predict what they're gonna doubt when you say they're wrong. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsenfpy85t7sdtmakar56wjn)) ^880684597 - That's what introductions do. They give a quick version of why these people should think that they're wrong. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsenhmatgrehvqz9yepn9e90)) ^880684694 - Here's what your writing does. It helps a particular set of readers understand better something they wanna understand well. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsenvc06nf6cbwb1tw7mm7bp)) ^880685811 - Instead, you open with what I show you on page eight is a problem. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseydpawzxne5k08jbw82zeb)) ^880727848 - The problem needs to be located, not in necessarily in the readers, but in something the readers care about. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseyf5gjejdetpdkpq0nkpk5)) ^880728149 - Then you move to a solution and of course, notice your thesis can be in a solution only if the readers perceive the problem. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseyh6k7wactmsf42fxh27vy)) ^880728251 - we find that problems have two chief characteristics. One is the situation has to be unstable. That is, you have to generate a sense of instability. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseyjwhe5gde38zhp22f2yck)) ^880728464 - So the language that people use is a language of continuity and consistency. The horrible irony is your readers are actually searching for language of instability, inconsistency and tension. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseyna2dv9rnqsyd5s9jmwgz)) ^880728705 - What we mean is not always, but very often, you need to code, use code language to your readers to show them that the instability imposes a cost on them. Not on you, on them. Or conversely, that the instability, if it's solved, offers a benefit to them. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jseys5wyvq4dk1431bwbtz9d)) ^880729917 - Rule-governed training is very useful for people who are, and forgive me for saying this, who are churning out a lot of writing, each of which is a relatively low value. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdg7bcrzp4zqrrv4cfny545)) ^880508830 - In other words, the thinking that you're doing is at such a level of complexity that you have to use writing to help yourself do your thinking. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdgdavy0wnvdqf67v82e1pj)) ^880511373 - You've learned to write in a system where you're writing to readers who are paid to care about you. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdgt6mgdkhgdy6tm1ww879d)) ^880513732 - But more than anything else from now on, your writing needs to be valuable because if it's not that nothing else matters. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdgyhw5zy3jajchqtjfhfqx)) ^880514362 - The question is whether this particular community of readers values it, which is why it's so much about readers and not about content. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdh2593sp13xd1nb82hgvkj)) ^880514545 - Professional writing, what is it? It's not conveying your ideas to your readers. It's changing their ideas. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jsdhcn92yn7w6y5p7sbk333a)) ^880515527 #favorite