Does anyone else have this problem?
When I think to write, be it a post, a tweet, or definitely for a longer essay... I'm plagued by a line of thinking that I carry over from my life in software:
Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY)
Which shows itself in bodies of code, literally trying to eliminate EVERY restatement, simply referring to the "one and only one" place that holds the only block that does that thing.
Or, the question I always when imagining (architecting) systems to be built:
is there an existing library that solves this? Never write your own tool when you can support an existing project.
And that question itself comes from an instinctual reaction to fight against the (NIH) Not Invented Here syndrome. I watch development funds wasted so often when people simply don't look outside their team for existing libraries, packages and such.
and... with all this habit deeply ingrained... I find myself finding other great essays (posts, comments) that already say the thing I had just been thinking to contribute.
A few friends have reminded me that that shouldn't apply to arts and letters in quite the same way. Because voice matters; that the way i say it, the stories i use, add aspects to the already existing writing on someone else's part.
So... at the risk of overspeaking... I'll be writing more. Watch this space. :)