Write of Passage Weekly

Hello writers,

Welcome back to Write of Passage Weekly.

Last week, we talked about the benefits of being articulate and the power of storytelling. Today, you learn from a legendary fashion designer what it means to be a true craftsman.

First, David has just launched a new writing-focused podcast, How I Write. Most podcasts interview guests about what they’ve written. On this podcast, you’ll hear about how they write. 

It’s designed to help you improve your creative process by learning the habits and techniques of top writers across the Internet. Take a look:

Listen Now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple

Lean Into Tedium

Fashion designer Christian Dior once called this man “the master of us all,” saying that “clothes were his religion.” Coco Chanel heaped on the praise, calling him “a couturier in the truest sense of the word…capable of cutting material, assembling a creation, and sewing it by hand.”

The target of their praise? Cristóbal Balenciaga. Balenciaga discovered his passion for fashion at the age of three when he joined a sewing class. He made his first piece of clothing, a jacket for his cat, when he was six. He then went on to sew superbly, creating a piece a day, every single day, for the next 74 years. This relentless consistency kept his skills sharp. From choosing materials to cutting and sewing, Balenciaga did everything by himself and was involved in every step of a dress’s creation. This is what made Balenciaga a true craftsman.

Today, few people are true craftsmen. There are creators, pop-stars, and viral stunt artists but very few produce truly timeless pieces of work that are labors of love. Modern artists take shortcuts, and few embrace the tedium of their craft. Few are willing to get their hands dirty.

You might think it’s technology — things can be made faster and more efficiently. You might think it’s because of profit incentives — people and algorithms are designed to make as much money as possible. And you may be right. But these justifications ignore the obvious problem, which is that the creative work of today is more likely to be of lower quality. Few people seem to have the patience and discipline required to produce good work that matters.

Today, on the Internet, there are too many grifters and too few craftsmen.

Good work takes time, and any craft is difficult to master. Dedication, focus, and patience are essential ingredients in the recipe for successful, meaningful work. Balenciaga made dresses for the sake of it and enjoyed the challenges it posed, but people today create only as a means to an end. 

If you want to own your craft, do not give in to the temptation of expediency and convenience. Slow down, get your hands dirty, practice your skill, and lean into tedium. What you create will be timeless and beautiful.

How I Write Podcast

Today, David launched his new podcast, How I Write. You can read what an author writes anywhere, but only on this show will you hear how they write.

This show is about helping you find what works best for your own writing. It doesn't just cover writing methods and styles. How I Write is about what it means to be a writer today. How can you earn a living? What about building an audience? Should you use GPT?

The Internet has fundamentally changed writing. 

• Wielding the power of independent publishing, an army of writers on Substack have waged war against the mainstream media. 
• People are making a name for themselves by building audiences on social media. 
• Tim Ferriss has parlayed the fame he earned as a writer into a small fortune as an angel investor. 
• Stripe’s writing-first culture helped them achieve a stratospheric valuation. 
• Memos from the likes of Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett move markets and influence billions of dollars worth of cash flows.

How I Write is your compass for navigating these changes. It’s a show by writers, for writers, built for the age of the Internet.

The first three episodes were released today, and you can listen to them now.

1. The Cultural Tutor, on Writing Every Day, Growing a Twitter Audience, and Reading Old Books: The man started writing online ~15 months ago and has ascended to 1.5 million Twitter followers. Until now, he's been anonymous. Never showed his face. This is a masterclass in how to write for the Internet, source reading material, and build a writing habit. (Tune in here: YouTube | Spotify | Apple)

2. Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok, on The Story of Marginal Revolution: For the past 20 years, they have run the world's largest economics blog. This is the story of how they publish every day, generate ideas when they're stuck, and plan to teach millions of people the basics of supply & demand. (Tune in here: YouTube | Spotify | Apple)
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3. Jimmy Soni, on Interviewing Elon Musk, Writing Biographies, Lessons from Peter Thiel, and The Art of Research: A master of biographies and a professional speechwriter. If you want to write serious, research-backed non-fiction or build your writing career while working a full-time job, this episode is for you. (Tune in here: YouTube | Spotify | Apple)​

From Our Team

“Step Up to the Plate: Don’t Outsource Self-Expression”

John Warner hails writing as a source of connection, community and as a medium for great thinking. He asks: “Why outsource that to an AI?”

Happy writing,

The Write of Passage Team