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Not So Common Thoughts — Writing Style Guide (Derived Oct 14, 2025)

This guide distills shared patterns from the eight most recent posts:

  • chess-fundamentals.md (2025-07-27)
  • ai-content-curation-and-the-value-of-long-form-thinking.md (2025-08-03)
  • solving-the-book-memory-problem.md (2025-08-19)
  • ai-unblocked-learning.md (2025-09-08)
  • project-tree-2025.md (2025-09-15)
  • chess-analytics-in-the-url.md (2025-10-01)
  • midivol-app-store.md (2025-10-05)
  • 2025-10-24-volbar-user-feedback.md (2025-10-10)

Voice & Tone

  • First-person, reflective, and candid; mix personal anecdotes with actionable takeaways.
  • Self-aware, composed, and grounded in experience—write from a place of having lived through the insight.
  • Confident but approachable—write as an experienced practitioner sharing lessons.
  • Use direct sentences and avoid fluff; most paragraphs sit at 1–3 sentences.
  • Tension between personal need and broader principle is a recurring hook; bridge from known biases (like momentum) to deeper insight.
  • Do not always end with a question. A strong closing statement often works better than a rhetorical question.

Structure

  • Front matter follows: title, description, date, slug (optional), tags array, featured flag, unlisted when needed.
  • Introductions lead with a decisive statement, observation, or problem before offering context.
  • Use ## headings for major sections; titles are Title Case and specific.
  • Section count is flexible but each conveys a single idea (problem, approach, lesson, pattern).
  • Avoid lists for engagement purposes; use them sparingly and only for true enumerations (actual lists of items, steps, or data points).
  • Close with a short reflection, call-to-action, or restated principle—no formal conclusion heading.

Formatting Patterns

  • Keep pacing brisk with short, varied paragraphs; avoid listicle-style formatting.
  • Use bold very sparingly for key phrases only—avoid single-word bolding. Bold should highlight critical concepts or turning points that need to stand out (e.g., **the outputs became the goal** or **imposters who don't know they're imposters**). Use italics for emphasis or quoted thoughts (*"…"*).
  • Inline links back to personal projects, prior posts, or external references; descriptive link text is preferred.
  • Images reinforce the story; use Markdown ![Alt text](/images/file.png) or HTML <img> when width control matters.
  • Leverage tables or ASCII diagrams when summarizing structured information (see project-tree-2025.md).

Content Moves

  • Frame stories around a personal trigger (need, frustration, curiosity) and trace the response.
  • Highlight what surprised you, what changed, or the “pattern” discovered—connect personal insight to universal lesson.
  • When discussing work, spell out the operational steps or features before extracting broader principles.
  • Call out metrics or counts (e.g., “15+ projects in 9 months”) to ground reflections in specifics.
  • Reinforce recurring guiding question (“Of all the things you can now do…”) when relevant to choice and focus.

Language & Rhythm

  • Prefer active voice and present tense unless recounting a sequence.
  • Introduce rhetorical questions sparingly to prompt reader introspection.
  • Maintain conversational clarity—jargon is fine when contextualized.
  • Avoid filler transitions; let bold statements open sections.

Banned Phrases

Do not use these. They are cliché, performative, or both:

  • "doing the heavy lifting"
  • "the real question is"
  • "here's the thing nobody is talking about"
  • "that's the real story"
  • "what most people miss"
  • "this is where it gets interesting"
  • "it's not about ___, it's about ___"

Banned Patterns

Avoid framing sentences that announce a point instead of making it. These read as styled platitudes:

  • "The choice comes down to…"
  • "The discipline here is…"
  • "This is what X looks like."
  • "The key takeaway is…"
  • "The bottom line is…" Just state the thing directly. If a sentence starts by labeling what it's about to say, cut the label.

Images & Media

  • Place hero images near the top if they anchor the story; supplement deeper in the post when supporting details.
  • Use captions implicitly via surrounding text—no standalone caption format observed.

Publishing Checklist

  • Confirm YAML front matter dates and slugs follow YYYY-MM-DD and kebab case conventions.
  • Run through headings, emphasis, and links to ensure consistency with the patterns above.
  • Ensure closing line echoes the core principle or leaves the reader with a pointed question.