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Excellent Journey
Personal blog · excellentjourney.netwritingculture
Excellent Journey is a personal blog at excellentjourney.net about writing and culture. Since 2019, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times, most often “The ceramics class and quantity before quality”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (9) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Linked for a post retelling the ceramics class parable, where the quantity-graded group made better pots than the quality-graded one. Commenters cite it to support points about practice and shipping work.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 9 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- The ceramics class and quantity before quality11 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2019-03-13
What Hacker News says?
Another interesting point: People graded on quantity (making pots) made better pots than those graded on quality (one masterpiece). https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “I Can’t Answer Standardized Test Questions About My Own Poems (2017)”Submitted The ceramics class and quantity before quality as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI am reminded of the story about ceramics students being told that half would be graded on quantity and half would be graded on the quality of a single piece of work. https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic... It turns out that the students who were just churning out pots ended up making the pots that were ultimately better. I think there's probably something to be said for constantly creating.
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years””Submitted Art and Fear: The ceramics class and quantity before quality as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIt should be less popsicle sticks and paste and more "Arts and Crafts Movement". For those that dont know, Arts and Crafts movement in the states is known for some pretty interesting pottery that was produced at scale. https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “You've just inherited a legacy C++ codebase, now what?”Submitted How to Put on Socks as a story · 1 points
HN discussionCrawford's travails remind me of the story of the pottery class ( https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic... ), in which half a studio is graded on the sheer quantity of pots they produce, while the others are graded on making one perfect pot. The "quantity" group ends up making higher quality pots because they've practiced and learned from their failures. More succinctly, "real artists ship."
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “I Really Blew It (2020)”Paint more! https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “Ask HN: How can I learn how to paint?”It also overlooks the fact that if you don't put the hours in you will never be divinely inspired. I'm reminded of the outcome of the two groups of potters in a pottery class, one group challenged to make a perfect piece and the other to make as many pieces as possible: https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “So you want to be a writer?”> …someone who is slow and consist will be much more prolific throughout the course of a lifetime, than someone who is fast, but inconsistent. In this parable¹, the teacher divided a ceramics class into two groups. One was graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, and the other solely on its quality. The result was that the "quantity" group also created higher-quality work. King is a "quantity" guy, which…
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “The Virtue of Slow Writers”Art also takes practice. https://excellentjourney.net/2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramic...
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “Album-a-Day (2001-2008)”You need both. To get good at doing the thing, you have to do a lot of the thing. To optimize your doing of the thing, you have to spend time understanding the thing. Because pure doing eventually hits a wall. Take boxing for example. You can be really good, have great stamina, and even a fantastic jab. But then a coach looks at you and says ”When you throw the jab, try twisting your forearms 10deg more, and adjust…
Comment linking /2015/03/04/art-fear-the-ceramics-class-and-quantity-before-quality/
on “Why project-based learning fails (2018)”
