Review

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reading · attention

Reading the same page twice

· 1 min read

The first pass is for plot, or for the argument. The second pass is for the sentences that only show up once you stop chasing the ending.

I used to treat rereading as a failure of the first read. Now I treat it as the actual read. The first time through, I am mostly asking where this is going. The second time, I can ask how it is built.

That second question is the one that changes how I write. A paragraph that felt smooth on Monday turns out to be three ideas hiding in one breath. A line I underlined for the feeling turns out to be precise.

What earns a note

If a page survives a second look, it earns a note. If it does not, I let it go without pretending I have a take. The notebook stays thinner that way, and the notes that remain are the ones I can still use a month later.