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DAY 30 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 30, and I am taking the liberty to share some lessons I learned along the way.

Where did it all start? Around late June, I watched an interview with Nicolas Cole, author of over a dozen books and one of the most-read writers on the Internet. He mentioned how, earlier in his career, he wrote every day on Quora and later wrote an article daily for Inc. magazine. He kept hammering the importance of consistency, and I got hammered to take up the 30-day challenge.

Fortunately, instead of sitting over the idea, I tossed it up by announcing it on LinkedIn. This was a subtle way of closing all the exit doors and throwing the keys out of the window.

I began with enthusiasm by sharing lessons from one of the most admired books on writing, "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. However, around day 12 or 13, I had exhausted it. This led me to dust off other writing books I had bought over the years but never opened. I moved to "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser, "Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein, and "Becoming a Writer" by Dorothea Brande. But despite expanding my sources, around day 25 or so, I was in despair, not knowing what to write about.

That’s when I learned a profound lesson: When you are committed, the universe helps you. Out of the blue, Mark Forsyth surfaced on my YouTube channel, leading me to his book "The Elements of Eloquence.” That saved me from a blackout.

Let me conclude with three takeaways:

1. WRITING IS SITTING
Writing starts not with writing, but with sitting down. This may seem a trivial observation, but this is where the battle of writing is won or lost. Aristotle was right when he said, “Well begun is half done.”

2. WRITING IS SWIMMING
One can read all kinds of books on writing, but like swimming, you learn writing by writing. Aristotle knew the secret when he said, “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

3. WRITING IS COOKING
Like great cooking is a fusion of different ingredients, great writing is a crafty integration of multiple principles, rules, and techniques. Even the smallest idea matters. Once again, Aristotle was right when he said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

I have never written so much with such consistency. This has truly been an act out of my comfort zone. Thank you for encouraging me.

Now, it’s your turn to create a 30-day challenge to enjoy the exhilaration and growth that comes with it. All the best!

DAY 29 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 29, and I am sharing the following lesson from “The War on Art” by Steven Pressfield:

TALENT IS BU****IT, WORK IS EVERYTHING

Think of a time, recent or long past, when you felt a sudden spark of inspiration to write a book, paint, learn music, or start a venture. But later, you didn’t.

The same person who wanted to do something new and creative somehow convinced himself to postpone or forget it. This is not your problem, this is not my problem, this is everyone's problem--and also the subject of one of the most admired books, "The War on Art" by Steven Pressfield. He opens the book with, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

Who is that Resistance? Resistance is the invisible internal opponent that plants the fear of failure and seeds of inadequacy. It instills a fear of criticism and nudges us to hide behind inaction. It convinces us not to start today but to wait till tomorrow, which never comes.

“Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is,” says Pressfield.

Pressfield himself suffered from Resistance for years. He wrote for 17 years before earning his first penny from writing and for 27 years before publishing his first novel. He worked 21 different jobs in eleven states. Along the way, he experienced bitter defeats by Resistance and also glorious wins.

Writes Pressfield, “Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”

According to Pressfield, aspiring artists defeated by Resistance share one trait: they all think like amateurs. They have not yet turned pro.

Pros show up every day, no matter what. They stay on the job all day and commit for the long haul. In contrast, an amateur writer or painter doesn’t show up every day, doesn’t persist, and lacks long-term commitment.

Pressfield exhorts all creative souls to answer the question: Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end, the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don’t do it.

After walking a long dark path to great accomplishments, his final message: Talent is bu****it. Just write, paint, or whatever you wish to do--day after day.

DAY 28 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 28, and I am sharing the following lesson from “The Elements of Eloquence” by Mark Forsyth:

ART OF NAILING A MESSAGE: ANAPHORA AND EPISTROPHE

When you nail a nail, you strike it once, you strike it twice, and you strike it again. With each strike, it goes deeper, deeper, and deeper, until it disappears.

In language, if you wish to nail a point, you do the same: You say it once, you say it twice, and you say it again. Repetition creates a rhythm, reinforces the message, and makes it memorable.

Some of the world’s greatest leaders have used this technique to make their words eternal. Here are excerpts from two of the world’s greatest orators. See if you can detect a pattern.

1. “I Have a Dream” Speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

2. Speech by Winston Churchill

“…we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”

In both cases, do you notice a few words getting repeated (“I have a dream” and “We shall fight”)? This is "anaphora," the technique of repeating a few words at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses.

Anaphora also has a sister: Epistrophe.

If you repeat certain words at the end of successive sentences, it becomes “epistrophe.” Like anaphora, epistrophe also adds emphasis, making the words special and memorable, like in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address:

“…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In this case, Lincoln repeated the words “the people” at the end of clauses.

So what’s the point? After all, you and I are not giving speeches at the level of Martin Luther King Jr., Churchill, or Lincoln.

The point is simple: If you've a point to make, make it again and again. For example:

Teacher to students (anaphora):
- You’re born learners. You’re true friends to each other. You’re the pride of your parents.

A leader to his team (epistrophe):
- You know you can do it. I know you can do it. We know we can do it.

Finally, for fun, the last one for you and me:
- We nailed anaphora. We nailed epistrophe. We nailed the art of making a message memorable.

DAY 27 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 27, and I am sharing the following lesson from “On Writing” by Stephen King:

RIGHT WORDS: CHOOSE WITH LOVE

How do you build a wall?

In the prologue of his book "Will," legendary actor Will Smith recounts a transformative experience from his childhood. When he was eleven, his father tore down the crumbling wall in front of the family store. But instead of hiring a construction company, he tasked Will and his younger brother, Harry, with rebuilding it. The kids got to work, mixing cement, sand, and lime, and laying the bricks day after day.

One day, their father caught them yapping about the impossibility of the project. That day, Will Smith received the lesson of his life. His father grabbed a brick from Will’s hand and said: “Stop thinking about the damn wall! Your job is to lay this brick perfectly. Then move to the next brick. There is no wall. Your only concern is one brick.”

If someone were to ask, "How does one write?" The answer is similar: You don’t worry about the whole article; you string words one by one, weaving sentences, paragraphs, and eventually the entire piece.

What bricks are to a wall, words are to writing.

Unlike bricks, however, not all words are equal. Some are incorrect, some are correct but not precise, and some are both correct and precise.

In his book "On Writing," Stephen King emphasizes choosing the right words:

“The word is only a representation of the meaning; even at its best, writing almost always falls short of full meaning. Given that, why in God’s name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only a cousin to the one you really want to use?”

The family of words, however, is huge (estimated number: 170,000). No wonder, cousins are readily available, but to find blood relatives, you need an intimate relationship with words.

Where do you start to learn more words and enjoy greater choice? By reading great writing and circling the "right" words you come across. And also by having a word-rich friend at hand: a thesaurus. It will let you know that leaves rustle in the wind, chalk squeaks when you write on a blackboard, and toast crunches when you bite it.

What happens when you use the right words? The prose comes alive, like in the opening paragraph of "Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight:

“I was up before the others, before the birds, before the sun. I drank a cup of coffee, a piece of toast, put on my shorts and sweatshirt, and my green running shoes. Then the back door.”

Notice the words “wolfed down,” “laced up,” and “slipped.” Knight could have used their cousins: “ate,” “put on,” and “came out of.”

The right words make a world of difference. Choose with love!

DAY 26 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 26, and I am sharing the following lesson from “The Elements of Eloquence” by Mark Forsyth:

CHIASMUS: ART OF FLIPPING AND IMPACTING

Why would a single sentence linger in my memory from a book I read twenty-five years ago? The book was "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life" by Gregg Levoy, and the sticky sentence was a quote attributed to Wayne Dyer:

“Have you lived 1,000 days or one day 1,000 times?”

Subsequently, another sentence reserved a permanent spot in my memory, this time from Wayne Dyer’s own book, "The Power of Intention":

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Again, I didn't understand why these specific words stood out compared to all others in the book.

Then somewhere, I read that classic line from John F. Kennedy's speech:

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

Again, I didn't know why, but it felt impactful.

The mystery behind the stickiness of these sentences was finally cracked when I recently picked up "The Elements of Eloquence" by Mark Forsyth. The book describes an age-old rhetorical device known as "chiasmus," the common factor among three sentences.

Named after the Greek letter “chi” (X), chiasmus reflects the X's symmetrical structure. Chiasmus involves crafting a sentence where the second half mirrors the first half in reverse order. Somewhat like...ABBA. This structure gives a pause to the readers, delivering impact and making the words unforgettable.

Once you recognize this pattern, you start noticing it everywhere. Here are some notable examples:

“You stood up for America; now America must stand up to you.”
— Obama

“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.”
— John F. Kennedy

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
— Winston Churchill

Leaving aside the leadership oratory, you might already have a few chiasmus nested in your memory. For example, haven't you heard the following?

- Do you work to live or live to work?
- When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
- If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

I wish I had known about rhetorical devices twenty-five years ago when I first got hit by a chiasmus, but I guess...

You learn when you're ready, and you're ready when you learn.

DAY 25 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 25, and I am sharing the following lesson from “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser:

DECLUTTERING: PATH TO SIMPLICITY

We hate clutter but love collecting it. Don’t we? Look around, and you may find clothes, books, and crockery--untouched for years. The disease of clutter, however, is not confined to our homes; it infects writing too.

Unnecessary ideas, phrases, qualifiers, adverbs, and prepositional phrases--writing clutter enjoys a wide range.

What does the clutter in writing look like? Here is an example William Zinsser shares in his book “On Writing Well,” a memo from the US Government in 1942:

"Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination."

Unable to tolerate the complexity of the memo, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with:

“Tell them that in buildings where they have to keep the work going to put something across the windows.”

At the gross level, clutter in writing reflects the clutter in the writer’s mind. However, clarity comes if one keeps asking, “What am I trying to say?” and then, “Have I said it?” Zinsser says, “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other.”

Clear thinking alone, however, is not enough. One needs eagle eyes to detect the clutter words and phrases, such as:

Redundant phrases
- Absolutely essential (essential)
- End result (result)
- Advanced planning (planning)

Wordy expressions:
- In order to (to)
- Due to the fact that (because)
- At this point in time (now)

Unnecessary qualifiers:
- Very
- Really
- Quite

Unnecessary adverbs:
- Completely destroyed (destroyed)
- Totally unique (unique)
- Absolutely perfect (perfect)

These are just a few samples from the heap of clutter that writers need to be wary of.

What would you do if your flight ticket allowed only one 17-inch luggage, but you’ve got stuff to pack well beyond the capacity of a 24-inch suitcase? You would examine each item, asking, "Is it needed?" Decluttering is scrutinizing every word, sentence, and paragraph and asking: "Does it serve the reader?"

DAY 23 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 23, and I am sharing the following lesson from “Stein on Writing” by Sol Stein:

SHOW, DON'T TELL

If you think of the most memorable story you've ever read, chances are you don’t remember the words, but you can easily recall the images the story conjured in your mind. These images stay with you because the writer did a great job of “showing, not telling.”

For me, one such story is “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank. Here is an excerpt from a diary entry by Anne Frank on 26 July 1943:
===
“The house shook and the bombs kept falling. I was clutching my 'escape bag,' more because I wanted to have something to hold on to than because I wanted to run away. I know we can't leave here, but if we had to, being seen on the streets would be just as dangerous as getting caught in an air raid.

I can assure you that when I went to bed at nine, my legs were still shaking. At the stroke of midnight, I woke up again: more planes!”
===
The words above are so vivid that you can feel the fear of that young Jewish girl hiding in a small house to save herself and her family from capture by N**i occupiers.

This is a classic "show, don't tell."

In his book, “Stein on Writing,” Sol Stein says: "The reader wants an experience that’s more interesting than his daily life. He enjoys and suffers whatever the characters are living through."

Here is an example from his book:

TELL
Helen was a wonderful woman, always concerned about her children, Charlie and Ginny.

SHOW
When Helen drove her kids to school, instead of dropping them off at the curb, she parked her car and, with one hand for each of them, accompanied Charlie and Ginny to the door of the school.

In the “tell” version, you can’t see anything going on in Helen’s world. But in the “show” version, you see her in action, caring for her kids.

How does one cultivate the skill to show—and not tell? By sharpening the power of observation. A fun exercise:

1. Pick any object, say, a tree near your home.
2. Set a timer on your phone for five minutes and start describing it non-stop. Your initial description might be basic (e.g., “I see a tree”), but as time passes and you continue, you will start to notice the shape of the leaves, the veins, the ants climbing on the trunk, and the different shades of green. If you stick with it, you'll realize that you'd never seen the tree properly ever before.

If you regularly practice with different objects and situations, your ability to describe life in vivid detail will grow rapidly. Slowly, these images will start coloring your prose, leading to more showing and less telling.

Next Monday, when someone asks, "How was the weekend?" try showing them instead of just telling "Great."

DAY 22 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 22, and I am sharing the following lesson from “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser:

LEAD: THE KEY TO HOOKING THE READERS

When you read an article or a book, the initial decision to read is solely yours. But whether you continue to read further after the first line, that decision is not yours. A powerful force takes over, and you’re no longer in control.

That force is "curiosity," our irresistible urge to know when we don’t know.

If what you’re reading somehow grabs your curiosity, you will have no choice but to continue reading. Curiosity is that powerful.

Writers know their words will fall flat if they don’t pique readers’ curiosity right at the beginning and keep them hooked until the end. Here is William Zinsser describing the importance of opening in his book, “On Writing Well”:

“The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn’t induce him to continue to the third sentence, it’s equally dead. Of such a progression of sentences, each tugging the reader forward until he is hooked, a writer constructs that fateful unit, the ‘lead’.”

Perhaps, it is easier to understand “lead” with examples:

===
EXAMPLE 1 (first paragraph from the Prologue of the book “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi):

“I flipped through the CT scan images, the diagnosis obvious: the lungs were matted with innumerable tumors, the spine deformed, a full lobe of the liver obliterated. Cancer, widely disseminated. I was a neurological resident entering my final year of training. Over the last six years, I’d examined scores of such scans, on the off chance that some procedure might benefit the patient. But this scan was different: it was my own.”

EXAMPLE 2 (first paragraph from the Introduction of the book “The Choice” by Edith Eger):

“I didn’t know about the loaded gun hidden under his shirt, but the instant Captain Jason Fuller walked into my El Paso office on a summer day in 1980, my gut tightened and the back of my neck stung. War had taught me to sense danger even before I could explain why I was afraid.”

EXAMPLE 3 (first sentence of the first chapter of the best seller “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides):

“Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband.”
===

In all three examples above, you encounter a situation that leaves you wondering, "What happens next?"

In the writer’s toolbox, you’ll find several tools to craft a lead: paradox, surprise, counterintuitive, impending danger, question, quotation, and shock. The bottom line, however, is the same: Can you give the readers a few pieces of an intriguing puzzle—enough to spark their curiosity—and let them figure out the rest?

DAY 21 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 21, and I am sharing the following lesson from “The Unpublished David Ogilvy” by David Ogilvy:

SECRET TO WRITING BREAKTHROUGHS: RELAX

Three days back, around 10 pm, when most people were preparing to go to bed, I told my wife that I needed to go to the nearby market. “Why do you want to go now, so late?” she asked. “Oranges! I want to buy oranges,” I replied.

She had seen me struggling with something for the last two hours; intuitively, she knew buying oranges was just a pretext.

Half an hour later, when I returned, seeing relief on my face, she smiled and said, “Looks like the problem is solved.” I replied, “Indeed!” Without saying much, I quietly went to my computer and started typing.

Earlier that evening, just like every other day, I sat down after dinner to write a LinkedIn post for my 30-day daily writing challenge. Though I had started at 8 pm, even after two hours of continuous work, I didn’t know how to begin my post. My thoughts were on the screen but all scattered without any lead.

What now? I’d already tried for two hours.

In those moments of hopelessness, I remembered David Ogilvy, the “Father of Advertising” and one of the greatest copywriters. In his book, “Unpublished David Ogilvy," he shares his technique to get unstuck when he struggled to write an advertisement copy. He would stop writing and instead drink rum, and play a Handel oratorio. Usually, after those deliberate distractions, he felt an uncontrollable gush of words, which became his first draft.

I didn’t drink rum or play music but diverted my attention from writing by going to the market. And it helped. After a relaxing walk, I returned with not just oranges but also a decent idea for the first paragraph of my post.

When our conscious mind is stuck, the only way to get out of the rut is to let the subconscious take over. That’s possible if you stop trying—and relax by doing something unrelated. It could be playing a musical instrument, taking a coffee break, or, in my case, going for a walk.

This technique, known as the “relaxation response,” works only after you’ve exhausted yourself with conscious effort. Is it just anecdotal stuff or does it have scientific validity?

The idea of “relaxation response” originally came from Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School, who studied the impact of deep relaxation to counteract the harmful effects of stress. His book, “The Relaxation Response,” explores the mechanism of relaxation and mind-body connection.

Writing is a delicate dance between the conscious and subconscious minds, and it is not uncommon to get stuck. However, to break through, stop trying beyond a certain point—and do something different. Buy oranges, if needed, but R E L A X!

DAY 20 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 20, and I am sharing the following lesson from “The Unpublished David Ogilvy” by David Ogilvy:

TO WRITE: BOW TO THE PROCESS

What do the world’s top athletes, performers, and investors understand about producing results that the rest of us may overlook? Surprisingly, they don’t focus on the results.

So, what do they care about?

They focus on what produces the results: the process. They don’t worry about how delicious the cake will be. Instead, they collect the right ingredients, mix them well, and bake at the right temperature for the right duration. They take great care of the process, knowing the outcome will be taken care of.

They are process-obsessed, not result-obsessed.

Interestingly, writing is no different from baking a cake; it’s a process-driven endeavor. What about the most accomplished writers? Do they also follow a process, or do they just sit down and have words, sentences, and paragraphs flow out in perfect sequence?

Let’s consider David Ogilvy (1911–1999), the “Father of Advertising” and one of the world’s greatest copywriters. In his book, "The Unpublished David Ogilvy," he shares his copywriting process:

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1. I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement that has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.
2. I write out the definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose that I wish the campaign to achieve.
3. Before actually writing the copy, I write down every conceivable fact and selling idea.
4. Then I write the headline. As a matter of fact, I try to write 20 alternative headlines for every advertisement.
5. At this point, I can no longer postpone writing the actual copy. So I go home and sit down at my desk. I find myself completely without ideas.
6. I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. This causes me to throw away the first 20 attempts.
7. If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy.
8. The next morning I get up early and edit the gush.
9. I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft. After four or five edits, it looks good to show to the client.
===

Dissecting Ogilvy’s elaborate writing process, you'll find three key steps:

1. MARINATE: He researched before he wrote anything.
2. WRITE: After soaking up the required information, he sat and wrote whatever came to his mind.
3. REWRITE: After pouring out the first draft, he polished it through multiple edits.

Even for a gifted copywriter like Ogilvy, the key to great writing was his process. Writing is hard but can be less hard if we bow to the process.

DAY 19 (30-DAY CHALLENGE)

On July 1, 2024, I started a 30-day challenge to write a note daily for the next 30 days. These notes share one nugget of wisdom from one of the most admired books on writing.

Today is day 19, and I am sharing the following lesson from “Becoming a Writer” by Dorothea Brande:

READING LIKE A WRITER: READ TWICE

What would a sedated patient think while lying in a hospital bed with sensors strapped to their body, needles in their veins, and an oxygen mask over the nose? Recovery, regrets, or nothing at all? What if the patient is Steve Jobs?

In Steve Jobs’ biography, Walter Isaacson recounts how Jobs, while recovering from cancer and a kidney transplant, refused to wear an oxygen mask because he didn’t like its design. Looking at the hospital equipment, he couldn't help but critique the design and suggest improvements.

He cared about his craft so much that he looked at everything from the eyes of a product designer.

Following Jobs' footsteps, what if we read every post, article, or book from the eyes of a writer?

That's exactly the idea that Dorothea Brande suggests in her book, "Becoming a Writer." To all aspiring writers, she recommends READING TWICE. Here is Brande’s three-step process to read like a writer.:

1. READ: First, read the article, story, or book rapidly and uncritically, as you normally do. Just enjoy it.

2. REFLECT: Next, dissect and analyze it with written notes. Start by writing a synopsis of what you have just read. Ask questions: What did I like and why? What I didn’t like and why? Which parts captivated me? Which ones were not so interesting?

3. READ AGAIN: Finally, read it again, this time slowly, and relate the content to your questions and answers. Analyze it purely from a writing perspective.

For those worried about doubling their reading time, Brande offers consolation: “After the first few books—which you must read twice if you are to make good use of the work of others—you will find that you can read for enjoyment and criticism simultaneously, reserving a second reading only for those pages where the author has been at his best or worst.”

Even in the hospital bed, Steve Jobs was still a product designer. When you read anything, who are you? A normal reader or a writer? If you're reading as a writer, read, reflect...and read it again.