What writing is for

Here’s an idea I recognise and agree with: writing is networking for introverts. I’ve earned lasting connections and friendships – and plenty of work – thanks to something I wrote, Future Ethics in particular. And I’m always happier in conversations where each side has some idea of what interests the other. See also Leisa Reichelt’s insight that Twitter et al might lend us a sense of ‘ambient intimacy’ although wow, how long ago that hope seems now.

Another benefit of writing: it forces you to figure out what you actually think about something. Those mental plasma clouds have to coalesce into some sort of starlike objects; if you’re lucky, they sometimes form constellations others can see from afar.