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Writing · by Oussama Alaoui · 2026-09-13

A tiny win from Seoul that made my week after 47 tries

Would love to hear how other people handle this. I am especially curious about the version that works on a tired weekday, not just on an ideal Sunday.

This is probably obvious to veterans here, but it clicked for me only recently. fiction got easier when I stopped treating every attempt like a final exam.

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the practice run for a while.

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the practice run for a while.

27 sparks · 5 comments

Comments

Solar Rider · 7 likes

The kindness in this post is lovely.

João Pereira · 2 likes

I needed the reminder to start smaller.

Rapid Comet · 1 likes

Can you share what you tried before this? I noticed the same thing in Berlin. The small imperfections make it feel human.

Minh Nguyen · 1 likes

Helpful and not preachy, which is rare. The lunch break version is even more interesting.

Maya Williams · 0 likes

Glad you shared it; small wins count. I keep a note about prompts for exactly this reason.