---
title: 3 lessons I learned after writing and publishing 10 atomic essays 10 days in a row
 
description: >
  I've been writing atomic essays with around 250 words each and hitting the publish button every day for the last 10 days. <mark>It gave me almost all the Twitter followers I have, helpful feedback, and at least 3 lessons.

template: post
output: atomic-essays/3-lessons-i-learned-after-writing-and-publishing-10-atomic-essays-10-days-in-a-row.html
date: "2021-07-05"
tags:
  - atomic-essays
---

<p>I’ve been writing atomic essays with around 250 words each and hitting the publish button every day for the last 10 days. <mark>It gave me almost all the Twitter followers I have, helpful feedback, and at least 3 lessons:</mark></p>

<p><strong>#1 Trust the process:</strong> writing is not an idea turned into finished prose in one take, but a process. The writing process has distinct moments:</p>
<ul>
  <li>In the ideation moment, the goal is to list ideas with the essential words you need to make an idea into an essay seed;</li>
  <li>During writing, the goal is to make that seed grow as much as possible and as fast as possible. Editing it now will stop writing from growing;</li>
  <li>When editing, <del>mercilessly</del> remove words you don’t <del>essentialy</del> need. Short sentences with strong <del>roots</del> ideas.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>#2 People will Like, Reply or Ignore (if they read).</strong> Either way is a data point. Either way worth practicing.</p>

<p>Facing writing and publishing through this perspective relieves the pressure of making a perfect essay. <mark>The goal is to create a good enough piece so that you have something to collect feedback and learn when people show up.</mark></p>

<p><strong>#3 Clever non-fiction writers create clear headlines.</strong> That sounds obvious to me now, but I’ve always thought that the way to go was: <em>“10 essays; 3 lessons.”</em> Wrong. If I had done that, you probably wouldn’t be reading this last line.</p>