This is gospel: "Good writing doesn’t start with a pen and paper. It starts with cultivating a mind that experiences life richly, that chases the questions that matter, and that goes to the depths in answering them. It starts with becoming the person who thinks interesting thoughts."
This resonates deeply. Especially the reminder that interesting writing isn’t about cleverness, but about attention. About refusing to stop at the first, most obvious layer.
I love the idea of the “animating question” as something lived, not manufactured. The questions that keep returning because they matter to who we are becoming. When I look at my own work, the pieces that feel most alive always come from that place. Not from trying to say something smart, but from following a curiosity that won’t leave me alone.
Also, the emphasis on creating conditions for thought feels important. Reading widely. Letting ideas collide. Making room for solitude. It’s a good reminder that thinking deeply is an active practice, not a personality trait.
Thank you for articulating this so clearly. It gives language to something I’ve felt intuitively for a long time.
I'm glad this resonated with you and very well put.
The idea of animating question was also new to me when I first read about it. It was something that helped me make sense of that all important question - 'why do I write?'
I’m curious about the relationship between interesting thoughts and self awareness. I’m thinking that connecting to yourself, being curious about what you are feeling allows you to recognise when you find something interesting and helps you explore. A computer can think about something and come up with ideas but it can’t feel the emotions associated with them. In an AI world it’s the feeling part that’s human and provides the creativity and self expression.
As far as feeling and empathy are concerned, I don't think AI will be able to replace us. And yes, you're right, that is where interesting thoughts come from. So for now, we are safe, unless the AI starts feeling and empathising hahaha.
I love spending time with young children because they have the most interesting, original thoughts!
I’m AuDHD and fully embrace their way of thinking because I’m wired to think original thoughts and we aren’t held back by what’s “normal”. There are no conventions. Just creativity.
A few years back, I read in an article that the best way to get people to talk to you and like you is by telling them how hard what they did must be. By showing curiosity about another person's life and mirroring their body language and empathising, people open up and share letting you discover new layers about them. Being curious means paying attention, observing, and listening. This can be done not only about people, of course, but observing how the metro works, or how people behave while waiting for the elevator. Many stories can come to life from the most mundane, daily, experiences.
I couldn't agree more. It saddens my heart that artificial intelligence and the quest to earn a living by all means have turned just anyone into a writer...they can prompt a machine to write for them without debth. Good riddance!
Good writing flows from the heart. Skills and intelligent thinking are not required to write something that resonates with the readers. The ideas can be found even in the daily, mundane tasks when we have a mind (and a heart) that can find the meaning in the mundane.
My debut book, "Roachayana: The liberating journey of a man with a roach," emerged from one such day-to-day problem with roaches. I wrote a blog to address this problem, which soon turned into a multi-page story. I am now surprised to realize that I published a book with what I learned about roaches.
If I can find inspiration from roaches, I am sure life has a bounty of opportunities to generate ideas.
Fascinating take on tapping our instinctual nature to be complex characters by sowing little details that spur ones mind to participate in the characters traits as they travel through time space and matter.
In 2024, I experienced a breakthrough — a moment that lifted me over the moon.
I was not wise. I was not exposed to the weight of consequence.
Ecclesiastes 7:16–17 warns:
“Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise… Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool…”
I had forgotten this counsel. In my euphoria, I became overly righteous and generous. I gave to everyone close to me without study or caution, without considering whether these people would act in kind if the roles were reversed.
I believed in the purity of my intention, but the world is neither pure nor fair. When the inevitable fall arrived, I swung to the opposite extreme. I became harsh and, in my judgment, wicked — punishing the wrong people, acting with anger and misdirected retribution.
Ecclesiastes 7:7 echoes the danger of reaction without wisdom:
“Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.”
The impulse to punish, to react with injustice, was madness born of imbalance, not virtue.
Marcus Aurelius reminds us:
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
“If someone does wrong, it is because they are ignorant, not because they are inherently evil. Respond with reason, not with rage.”
Seneca similarly notes:
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.”
I craved validation in my generosity; I craved retribution in my anger. Both were extremes of desire, both symptoms of unmeasured engagement with the world.
The breakthrough of that year, which initially felt like liberation, became a harsh teacher.
It revealed that virtue lies in measured action, not in extremes of emotion, and that wisdom is only effective when exercised with balance.
I so feel this. And it takes time. I remember a writing professor telling me this over 30 years ago while I was earning my bachelors. I nodded and understood it intellectually but didn’t really understand it. Many years later, now that I have passions, stories, traumas, travels, heartbreaks, things to laugh about… things I want to save others from, but know I can’t but want to try …you better believe I understand it!
I liked the Angela example. The move from “Christian self-help book” to “babies dressed as jazz musicians” shows the shift from surface trait to underlying pattern.
That feels like the key skill → Interesting thoughts don’t come from labels. They come from identifying the organising principle or assumptions driving a person or situation.
Additionally, the distinction between “interesting” and “useful” matters. When depth names the hidden structure shaping behaviour, it stops being clever and starts being decision-useful. There are lots of useless thinkers out there.
The animating question idea also resonated. Hold a narrow question long enough and the world starts offering you material. I feel like that’s how I come up with content ideas!
This is gospel: "Good writing doesn’t start with a pen and paper. It starts with cultivating a mind that experiences life richly, that chases the questions that matter, and that goes to the depths in answering them. It starts with becoming the person who thinks interesting thoughts."
I'm glad you liked this Matt. :)
I’d say 99.9999999% of the time, I always like your stuff ;)
That's lovely to hear. I'll try harder so you like it 100% of the times :D
This resonates deeply. Especially the reminder that interesting writing isn’t about cleverness, but about attention. About refusing to stop at the first, most obvious layer.
I love the idea of the “animating question” as something lived, not manufactured. The questions that keep returning because they matter to who we are becoming. When I look at my own work, the pieces that feel most alive always come from that place. Not from trying to say something smart, but from following a curiosity that won’t leave me alone.
Also, the emphasis on creating conditions for thought feels important. Reading widely. Letting ideas collide. Making room for solitude. It’s a good reminder that thinking deeply is an active practice, not a personality trait.
Thank you for articulating this so clearly. It gives language to something I’ve felt intuitively for a long time.
I'm glad this resonated with you and very well put.
The idea of animating question was also new to me when I first read about it. It was something that helped me make sense of that all important question - 'why do I write?'
I’m curious about the relationship between interesting thoughts and self awareness. I’m thinking that connecting to yourself, being curious about what you are feeling allows you to recognise when you find something interesting and helps you explore. A computer can think about something and come up with ideas but it can’t feel the emotions associated with them. In an AI world it’s the feeling part that’s human and provides the creativity and self expression.
As far as feeling and empathy are concerned, I don't think AI will be able to replace us. And yes, you're right, that is where interesting thoughts come from. So for now, we are safe, unless the AI starts feeling and empathising hahaha.
I love spending time with young children because they have the most interesting, original thoughts!
I’m AuDHD and fully embrace their way of thinking because I’m wired to think original thoughts and we aren’t held back by what’s “normal”. There are no conventions. Just creativity.
Lovely to hear this. The world needs more original, creative thinkers.
A few years back, I read in an article that the best way to get people to talk to you and like you is by telling them how hard what they did must be. By showing curiosity about another person's life and mirroring their body language and empathising, people open up and share letting you discover new layers about them. Being curious means paying attention, observing, and listening. This can be done not only about people, of course, but observing how the metro works, or how people behave while waiting for the elevator. Many stories can come to life from the most mundane, daily, experiences.
Absolutely. There's so much interesting stuff to observe in daily life only if we observe and pay attention.
And yes, I have also seen that people will talk about themselves, their lives, if we are genuinely curious.
I couldn't agree more. It saddens my heart that artificial intelligence and the quest to earn a living by all means have turned just anyone into a writer...they can prompt a machine to write for them without debth. Good riddance!
For now at least, AI hasn’t got an edge over the deep thinking human. :)
Good writing flows from the heart. Skills and intelligent thinking are not required to write something that resonates with the readers. The ideas can be found even in the daily, mundane tasks when we have a mind (and a heart) that can find the meaning in the mundane.
My debut book, "Roachayana: The liberating journey of a man with a roach," emerged from one such day-to-day problem with roaches. I wrote a blog to address this problem, which soon turned into a multi-page story. I am now surprised to realize that I published a book with what I learned about roaches.
If I can find inspiration from roaches, I am sure life has a bounty of opportunities to generate ideas.
Thanks for this post. I absolutely loved it.
That’s fascinating. I’m glad you liked my work. :)
Fascinating take on tapping our instinctual nature to be complex characters by sowing little details that spur ones mind to participate in the characters traits as they travel through time space and matter.
I’m glad you liked it. :)
The Perils of Extremes: Rapture and Fall
In 2024, I experienced a breakthrough — a moment that lifted me over the moon.
I was not wise. I was not exposed to the weight of consequence.
Ecclesiastes 7:16–17 warns:
“Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise… Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool…”
I had forgotten this counsel. In my euphoria, I became overly righteous and generous. I gave to everyone close to me without study or caution, without considering whether these people would act in kind if the roles were reversed.
I believed in the purity of my intention, but the world is neither pure nor fair. When the inevitable fall arrived, I swung to the opposite extreme. I became harsh and, in my judgment, wicked — punishing the wrong people, acting with anger and misdirected retribution.
Ecclesiastes 7:7 echoes the danger of reaction without wisdom:
“Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.”
The impulse to punish, to react with injustice, was madness born of imbalance, not virtue.
Marcus Aurelius reminds us:
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
“If someone does wrong, it is because they are ignorant, not because they are inherently evil. Respond with reason, not with rage.”
Seneca similarly notes:
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.”
I craved validation in my generosity; I craved retribution in my anger. Both were extremes of desire, both symptoms of unmeasured engagement with the world.
The breakthrough of that year, which initially felt like liberation, became a harsh teacher.
It revealed that virtue lies in measured action, not in extremes of emotion, and that wisdom is only effective when exercised with balance.
I so feel this. And it takes time. I remember a writing professor telling me this over 30 years ago while I was earning my bachelors. I nodded and understood it intellectually but didn’t really understand it. Many years later, now that I have passions, stories, traumas, travels, heartbreaks, things to laugh about… things I want to save others from, but know I can’t but want to try …you better believe I understand it!
I'm sure you must have a lot of interesting stories from your lived experiences. :)
I liked the Angela example. The move from “Christian self-help book” to “babies dressed as jazz musicians” shows the shift from surface trait to underlying pattern.
That feels like the key skill → Interesting thoughts don’t come from labels. They come from identifying the organising principle or assumptions driving a person or situation.
Additionally, the distinction between “interesting” and “useful” matters. When depth names the hidden structure shaping behaviour, it stops being clever and starts being decision-useful. There are lots of useless thinkers out there.
The animating question idea also resonated. Hold a narrow question long enough and the world starts offering you material. I feel like that’s how I come up with content ideas!
Thanks Peter. I’m glad it resonated with you. :)
Being interested is a superpower.
https://substack.com/@lancenormine/note/p-185151471?r=2u1w7u&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Cool article, thanks for sharing!