Friction vs. Features

Posted by Paul Korm
Mar 27, 2023 at 06:46 PM

Depends on how one “thinks”. I mull over in my head complicated or confusing concepts or themes I am supposed to be writing about, often for weeks or months, trying to get a feeling for their geometry and texture, without words, sometimes with dreams, before writing. In fact, putting down words can prematurely stop the process and make continuing with thinking through a problem more difficult. Writing itself is friction and can force the brain to halt and abandon serendipity and the other pleasures of thinking.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
Here is how the developer of Reflect describes a frictionless
>“Writing is not the outcome of thinking, it’s the place where thinking
>takes place. Only once your thoughts are out of your head can you begin
>to make sense of them. Any kind of friction disrupts this process.