[500 Words] Real G’s Move in Silence like Lasagna

It doesn’t matter what you write here, just write. 

Why? 

To get the feeling back. To restart the flow. To open up the mind spigot. 

Try to get to 500 words. You know, the old “perfect essay” length, although you definitely don’t need to worry about hitting a perfect form, impressing a teacher, or whatever. Just write. 

I already find myself turning off the latest and greatest in Artificial Intelligence technology that aims to help me write. As I was writing, two phrases were highlighted by Microsoft Word above: “open up” and “definitely don’t” are considered bad examples of conciseness, and I should try to make my message clearer to readers by shortening the phrases. These suggestions were ignored, and now I’m seeing a running grade in the top right of the corner, currently fluctuating between 88% and 94% in the middle of me writing this sentence. If you thought the teacher leaning over your shoulder while you were writing an essay was bad, try real-time grading by a computer that (based on what I’ve seen of Bing’s automated text ad suggestions) can’t write for shit. 

Ultimately, this article got a C.

Am I any better? It sounds like machine-learning algorithms have long been at the point where they can take an input like “a 500 word essay about writing, by an American millennial white man” and churn out something that A) hits the crunch requirements in the first participle phrase, and B) the stylistic implications of the second. But that thought to me only suggests I need to further distinguish my style from whatever it is American millennial white men are known for writing like on the internet (know-nothings / know-it-alls). Like, I could tell that same AI to write me a “Lil Wayne verse over a Bangladesh banger” and I don’t necessarily think it’s going to come up with an original thought as potent as “Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.” 

I think about that lyric a lot, in conjunction with the idea that you “don’t show something until it’s ready.” Especially right now, at a point in my life where I’m starting a whole business – something that is very easy to stand up as a potemkin village, with a website and paperwork and nothing going on but some tax strategizing, if that’s all you want to do with it. But I want to do more – make some impact. It’s kind of tough finding out how to thread the needle between winding up for that big punch and timing it to strike as the market is bobbing and weaving. But ultimately, I need to let people know that I’m working on something at all so that I can get them excited for it, get help if I need it, and make sure that impact really lands when I’m ready to let it rip. So I step off the cliff, wholly unprepared, trust falling into a society that doesn’t believe in safety nets. And I set little goals for myself, like writing 500 words.