Ask the Author: Danny Iny
Answered Questions (5)
Danny Iny
There's nothing like a deadline; that's really what it comes down to. When you know there's a deadline to submit a manuscript, that you just have to get done, then that certainly helps with writer’s block! It keeps you moving. Writing something that’s not great but something you can improve later, is better than not writing anything at all.
But I think a really important insightand this is what challenges a lot of writersis that writing is comprised of at least two different activities. One is figuring out what ideas you are trying to communicate and how those ideas fit together. And the second is choosing the words to articulate those ideas.
Those are two very different kinds of tasks, and writer's block often happens when you're trying to do them both at the same time.
And so, I try to be diligent and self-aware about whether I have a clear flow of ideas. If I do, then I sit and write. But if not, I will usually go for a walk and think and take notes on my phone about high-level outline stuff. And then, I come back and write. I try to separate those two activities out.
But I think a really important insightand this is what challenges a lot of writersis that writing is comprised of at least two different activities. One is figuring out what ideas you are trying to communicate and how those ideas fit together. And the second is choosing the words to articulate those ideas.
Those are two very different kinds of tasks, and writer's block often happens when you're trying to do them both at the same time.
And so, I try to be diligent and self-aware about whether I have a clear flow of ideas. If I do, then I sit and write. But if not, I will usually go for a walk and think and take notes on my phone about high-level outline stuff. And then, I come back and write. I try to separate those two activities out.
Danny Iny
First of all, there's something magical about being able to transcribe your thoughts essentially and sharing them with someone else across space, across time, across all kinds of barriers. It’s like assisted telepathy, which is awesome.
But another thing I also appreciate about the process is that, as much as you write when you feel like you have an insight or inspiration worth sharing and it would be valuable to other people, you feel like you've understood something to a certain degree.
The act of writing confronts you with the reality that you have understood it as well as you thought, and forces you to dig much, much deeper into your thinking and to organize your thinking, do additional research, and truly understand it at a much deeper level.
With Leveraged Learning, especially, it's been gratifying that the big ideas are things that I've been believing and feeling for years, and it’s been a struggle to explain to people in a way that was compelling because I wasn't doing the work to connect the dots for them the way they connected in my head. Writing the book forced me to dig deep enough to be able to actually do that, which was valuable.
But another thing I also appreciate about the process is that, as much as you write when you feel like you have an insight or inspiration worth sharing and it would be valuable to other people, you feel like you've understood something to a certain degree.
The act of writing confronts you with the reality that you have understood it as well as you thought, and forces you to dig much, much deeper into your thinking and to organize your thinking, do additional research, and truly understand it at a much deeper level.
With Leveraged Learning, especially, it's been gratifying that the big ideas are things that I've been believing and feeling for years, and it’s been a struggle to explain to people in a way that was compelling because I wasn't doing the work to connect the dots for them the way they connected in my head. Writing the book forced me to dig deep enough to be able to actually do that, which was valuable.
Danny Iny
I get inspired to write when I feel like I've understood something well enough to explain it to somebody else, when understanding that thing would be of interest and of value to the people who would learn it. I'm a non-fiction writer; it looks very different if you're writing fiction, I would imagine. As a non-fiction writer, you write when you have something worth saying.
Danny Iny
Leveraged Learning is the culmination of things I've been thinking about, noticing, observing, and feeling frustrated about in the education space for quite a few years. I’ve had this nagging feeling that something didn't make sense for most of my career. I quit school when I was 15 to start my first business and then took lots of different twists and turns. My experience in my MBA drove home that something just doesn't make sense in the educational system.
Since then, I’ve had this growing feeling that “the emperor has no clothes.” And that's where Leveraged Learning came from. It's just a very important topic and I've done my best to do justice to the various things that tie into it.
Since then, I’ve had this growing feeling that “the emperor has no clothes.” And that's where Leveraged Learning came from. It's just a very important topic and I've done my best to do justice to the various things that tie into it.
Danny Iny
I just wrapped up my latest book, Leveraged Learning: The Age Of Opportunity For Lifelong Learners, And Experts With Something To Teach. It's coming out on October 2nd. Keep an eye out for it!
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