lol no

the point is empathy, not self-loathing

more like: sit in their chair

Pressfield frames it as switching back and forth between your POV and the reader’s POV. writer, reader, writer, reader

perfect

you still steer the car, but you keep checking what’s around you. if you only stare at your own hood, you crash into boredom

confusing jumps

inside jokes with no setup

three paragraphs warming up before the real point

sentences that make sense only because the writer knows the missing context

same. everyone does it

the draft is usually the writer explaining the idea to themselves. revision is where you rebuild it for someone else

manipulation hides the ball

empathy hands the reader the ball with better lighting

practical drill: after each paragraph, ask: “would i keep reading if a stranger wrote this?”

if the answer is “only if i already liked them,” cut harder