Publish quickly, edit at leisure, make the first version coherent.

Publish quickly. The network rewards the first person to show up on the scene to describe what is going on, and it's important to get a version of that story underway promptly. 

Edit at leisure. The editing process takes time, and it shouldn't be unduly rushed. If necessary, work at it one paragraph at a time, and publish each paragraph after it is finished. Every single piece of work can be improved at any time by an edit.

Make the first version coherent. A first version that stands alone and accurate to itself might just be a concise headline and a lead paragraph. Each subsequent edit can grow the whole thing, but the first thing that hits the wire should be so fully composed that there would be no more reason to keep working on it.

 

Comments

[Chris Lovie-Tyler]

This makes me feel better about the last couple of posts I wrote, which I published then edited, because I wasn't happy with them. It's not my ideal modus operandi, though. I prefer to polish stuff then publish it.

Really like your blog, Edward. It's refreshing to read a different take on the topics you cover. Keep the posts coming.

[Adam C. Engst]

This seems to ignore the effect on readers of incomplete and unedited text. Obviously, there's a reason to publish certain things quickly, but it's best if you can get something out soon without errors of spelling, grammar, and fact.

[Edward Vielmetti]

Adam,

Thanks for the comment. I hope that the "coherent" idea gets the point across that the first thing that you get to the world should be self-contained to the point of completeness as well as edited to the point of coherency. I don't know that this first public draft got that sense completely right.

The space that I want to leave in some of my own writing is for the "question mark node" (as Chris Locke put it to me about a decade ago) - the open point in the narrative where you are plain to yourself about what you don't know, so that you have a chance to fill it in when you are more ready.

I don't have a high tolerance for errors of spelling and grammar, and there's no point in publishing a non-fact. I'm willing, though, to make space for an incomplete image in my narrative because at times I'll want to go back and refine details from an evolving story.