Writing about Software Development
How I organize my time for writing
If you follow this newsletter, you know that I take a break at the end of the year. This year was not an exception. During my Christmas break, I went for some soft drinks with Angel Suarez, and we caught up because we will collaborate on a project related to this app called Xplorable (I will tell you more in the future about this), and about life. At some point, Ángel asked me:
Marcos, where do you find the time writing, besides working as Tech Lead for a company and have an actual life outside of the keyboard?
I explained how I organize myself for finding time for writing, even though I’m not a writer per se. To that, he told me:
Marcos, you should write about that. I’m pretty sure it can help more people.
And I took his advice, and so here we go today.
In today’s email, I will explain to you why I write about software development and how I find time for writing about it.
Before continuing, if you like my work and you want to support it, I would appreciate it if you could share this newsletter with your peers via:
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Now, let’s start with the Why.
Why do I write about Software Development?
It helps me to settle down my experiences.
Writing about Software Development helps me by:
Put in perspective my experiences and learnings.
Learn from my own experiences.
And, as far as the feedback I get from you, it helps others who will walk through my same track at some point.
Another question that Ángel raised:
But, Marcos, how do you find to topics to write about?
I write about what happens in my real work life, or about close friends I trust, which makes it very easy to find topics. Fortunately (?), in my daily work, many things happen, many learnings, every single day.
Because of that, the topics flow very smoothly.
How do I organize my time for writing?
In the train, I have 4 hours of commuting home.
I know, it’s a lot. Let me give you context.
Almost three years ago, because of personal decisions, I started commuting longer than before: by train, two days a week (I have a hybrid position), two hours from home to work, and two hours back.
I saw an opportunity in this new situation of my life, and so I started writing this newsletter, The Optimist Engineer.
Yeah, I know, I could use those four hours for something more human, like sleeping, or getting a dopamine boost from the infinite scroll of any social media app.
And I’ll confess that I do that sometimes, just not during the four hours of commuting.
I use my train rides back home to write. I invest two hours, twice a week, in writing a new newsletter. As I write these lines, I’m traveling at 298 km/h by train, in the middle of nowhere on the map of Spain.
I can tell you this aspect of my life has made me become consistent during these 3 years; since 2024, I have been writing a new issue of this newsletter per week. That’s a lot for me, I can tell you. In the past, I started this blog, which I gave up because I was not able to find a regular moment for writing.
The pain of having to commute 4 hours, twice a week, helped me to become constant.
If you want to start writing, my advice is:
Write about something that comes naturally to your mind. For me, it’s very easy to write about things that happen on a daily basis.
Find your slot. Same as for going to the gym, find a slot where you can write. I write for 2 hours, twice a week, only, that’s why my newsletter issues are no longer than 4 or 5 minutes of reading!
Hope this helps others, as my friend Ángel expected. If yes, I would love to hear from you and about your struggles. Write down a comment, I'll read you.
Happy New Year to everyone!