37signals’ manifesto asks, Would you read it if you didn’t write it?
Word up, as the kids say. Recently I was struggling to write an article in the style I thought I was “supposed” to. I realized that if I succeeded, it would result in a piece so boring that no human being could stand to read it (unless, like me, they were being paid to do so). So I put it away and went to bed.
When I resumed work in the morning I deleted the lead paragraph and replaced it with one that made me laugh. Then I went on to write the rest of the article with that as my jumping-off point. I was convinced it would never be approved. But it was, and as a result the article didn’t suck.
I should write that maxim down somewhere and post it someplace visible.
Wade Rockett 