In late 2022 I decided to "up my writing game", and have been on the lookout for articles that make me go "I love this writing! Who the hell wrote this?" in my casual reading via WIRED and Apple News. So far, there have been three such articles:
- Looking for the first one
- WIRED: The Secret to Being Lucky substack
- WIRED: Is Moore's Law Really Dead? substack
The surprise pattern? They are are written by the same woman, Virginia Heffernan.
What I find appealing about her writing is that it is peppered with cultural insights yet feels very conversational. It's not an uncommon style, but there is something about the writing itself that really speaks to me. I can't remember what the first article of hers I noted, unfortunately, but the second occurrence was The Secret to Being Lucky. When I came across it in WIRED, I was astonished that someone actually wrote an article (if this is what it is...I'm not sure if this form is an essay or an articulate stream-of-consciousness) and I'd never seen anyone express the feeling of how privileged and lucky I feel.