# Nathan Baschez - How to Write Essays That Spread (Highlights)  ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/24534438) **Source**:: #from/readwise **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Nathan Baschez]] **Full Title**:: How to Write Essays That Spread **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **Document Tags**:: #favorite **URL**:: [every.to](https://every.to/divinations/how-to-write-essays-that-spread) **Host**:: [[every.to]] **Highlighted**:: [[2023-02-19]] **Created**:: [[2023-02-24]] ## Highlights ### Why essays spread - Every article has **thrust** and **drag**. The thrust of a piece is what motivates readers to invest the energy necessary to extract its meaning. It is the reason they click. Drag is everything that makes the reader’s task harder, such as meandering intros, convoluted sentences, abstruse locution and even little things like a missing Oxford comma. When your writing has more thrust than drag for a group of readers, it will spread and your audience will grow. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gsksq3aredz3bj6v5k3z6gh3)) ^478522644 ### Sources of obsession ### Angles, not topics - Angles that spread usually check the following boxes: 1. **Surprising** — presents unexpected new information or theories 2. **True** — we actually believe it 3. **Important** — has an impact on our behavior 4. **Relevant** — related to domains we care about 5. **Cool** — we think we’ll look impressive for sharing it ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gsksv45cqh5b61hbw7x8kjp9)) ^478523221 - To sharpen your angles, ask yourself early in the writing process what the central question is. Once you can frame this, the rest of the piece becomes much easier to write. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gskswtbzw3cbzyrpzxr8dcze)) ^478523284 - “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” — [Not Albert Einstein](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/22/solve/) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gsksx3s7pg2qf2g0stff5v7c)) ^478523290 ### Plot a logical through-line - You can reduce 50% of the drag in your writing if you edit yourself so that each line follows logically from what came before. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gskszfsm42g3pr6487v8nyq8)) ^478523555 ### Ask for feedback ### Set and meet sacred deadlines ### Regard public recognition with bemused detachment - Never let the scoreboard (likes, views, subscribers, etc.) affect your motivation. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gskt2t47504nwfasn7ydjytr)) ^478524020 - Writers do awful things when they become addicted to public recognition. It becomes a sort of game where they try to make the numbers go up, and they lose touch with the reason to write in the first place. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gskt3ar5k7ge9e3stx01sqg9)) ^478524037 - I read a book called [*Big Magic*](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Magic-Creative-Living-Beyond/dp/1594634726) by Elizabeth Gilbert that taught me an important lesson: writing can and should be fun. You should do it because you get a thrill out of it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gskt43ybndd3xrp19213ed9k)) ^478524076