What I've always interpreted this advice as as is to read out loud what I write and then eliminate the parts that sound weird or like a robot.

Source: Writing for more than half my life and HN has liked some of my articles in the past

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hyperhello 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

My current best way to write is to just write everything that amuses me, then go back and edit out the tangents, and then usually reverse the order of the paragraphs.

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namanyayg 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Interesting, why reverse?

	▲	treetalker 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A common suggestion is to put the bottom line on the top line. Consider all the articles posted even here that make the reader suffer through the writer's own thinking process before getting to the point.
	▲	hyperhello 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I don’t know. When I jam out a comment I seem to summarize at the end when I’m done, and then I reread quickly and see the summary made a weird conclusion but was a fine introduction.
	▲	RyanMu 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		what?

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philipov 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I always understood it as advice for school children who don't know how to express themselves in writing and end up with a blank page. You are encouraged to imagine you're talking to someone to overcome the hurdle of translating thoughts into words.

	▲	Izkata 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Along similar lines, in elementary school we were taught the introduction/body/conclusion pattern to help organize our thoughts in essays, but actually using those words as headers makes you sound like a child. "Conclusion" is especially common. It just reads like you're blindly following that pattern and don't actually know how to tie your thoughts together.
	▲	Xerox9213 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I remember editing my then girlfriend’s (now wife) papers in university, when she was struggling to explain something succinctly. I’d ask her: well what are you trying to say? And she would explain it to me, clear as day. “Just write that.”

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AndrewKemendo 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This is how I write

I literally use my iphone voice to text to transcribe, then go back and edit.

It’s surprising that more people aren’t doing it

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theshrike79 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I still can't figure out a non-awkward place to talk to a device to generate text.

Can't do it in public, can't do it in the office, talking to my phone at home feels weird.

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antiframe 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think most people don't like editing text on a phone. I hate it.

	▲	AndrewKemendo 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’m trying to move more and more to my phone so I can walk around I’d love a great voice IDE