Writing simple words about innovation takes a long time

I pumped out another blog post last night about the upcoming launch of the Logan startup hub. The blog took about 45 minutes to write, and then another 3 hours to cut down.

A challenge when writing about academic topics is to know what I need to explain or describe, and what I just need to say. For example, before I talk about the launch of the Logan virtual innovation hub, I should probably explain what an innovation hub is and what it does. Then there are other examples of hubs to compare. What about other actors in the ecosystem that are not hubs? How does the hub interact with those other actors? What contributes to a hub’s success? Why Logan and why does it matter? How do I feel about it, and why am I choosing this area to focus instead of all the other things I could talk about? And does it fit what everything else I am talking about?

And then I look at my 3,500 words and the clock crawling towards midnight and go “Ugh…”

And then I look at how I write, and strip back words and cut down sentences. The more abstract the concept, the shorter and snappier the sentences. Knowing a lot about any discipline means you learn a new language, and I have to keep reminding myself to use language that would be understood by most people. This takes time.

In any creative process, writing, art, and video, there is a concept of “murdering your darlings”. This means cutting out copy or content you love, but drags down the piece and does not get you to the end goal.

With musical inspiration by Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan keeping me going, I decided it was good enough, hit publish, and called it a day.  Hitting publish just before I sleep is always a bit of a concern as there are always edits that become clear with a morning mind. However, I tend to just run with it and do minor tweaks based on feedback through the next day.

I have been blogging in some form for over eight years. In that time I have played with short form, image only, vlogs, daily news reviews, and long form. This time around there is an intention about the work, as I visualise myself on the road in only a few short weeks and walk through what the publishing experience will be like. I am conscious of the different assets I will need to maintain, such as the Startup Status blog, Startup Status YouTube, the LinkedIn posts, potentially Medium, and this scratch pad.

And with this brief 15-minute morning break reflection, I hit publish and get back to my developer who is asking me questions on Messenger.