Justin Blackman

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬: Whatever your politics, it’s impossible to deny Barack Obama’s communication prowess. He’s a magnificent storyteller, and as fine a writer as they come. And in the preface of his memoir, 𝘈 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥, Obama shares how he writes first drafts: “I only write longhand,” he explains, “computer word processors give the first draft too much polish, and more opportunity to make half-baked ideas tidy enough to appear passable.” 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿. I recognized the sentiment, though I’d never fully acknowledged it in my own process: I don’t write longhand (my hand cramps) but I write on my phone a lot, using one finger, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. In fact, almost every idea, note, and yes, first draft I've ever produced for VeryGoodCopy have been written on my phone, in a Google doc, pecking away, slow and steady, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬. Writing this way — with a self-imposed physical restriction — forces me to be thoughtful and intentional and rational about every word, every punctuation mark, everything I put down. When I’m on my phone, the idea is expressed slowly, methodically, unlike when I’m typing on a keyboard at 60 words per minute and everything is suddenly there and seemingly right. Writing slow is thinking slow, which, according to Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, is how we 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be thinking if we want clear, coherent thoughts. And what’s good copy if it’s not clear and coherent? 𝗧𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬. And to write slow, create bottlenecks between your thoughts and the words you put on the page, especially when writing a first draft: Write longhand. Write with one finger. Write with physical restrictions. 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬. Go on. ——— Image: Pete Souza/Wikimedia Commons