Write now - sense later.

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My links aren't designed to confuse - though I admit that occasionally that does happen. If it's any consolation, I can admit that sometimes they confuse me as well. Sometimes, toward the end of writing a column I realize that an entire paragraph that's on the "main" page actually belong nested as a link from a branch or a branchlet. Though sometimes the general structure of one of these columns is clear from the outset, at other times (such as these) the writing process, which includes the linking process, is most clearly a thinking process. And though I think I wouldn't mind it if my thinking were clear cut and ... well, let's not call it linear, but at least systematic, most of the time it's rather messy and dirty. As I write, as I more or less think out loud onto the page or the screen, I realize how these thought should best be shaped.

And of course to a certain extent these thoughts spring up unexpected. Sometimes I think I can do very well without them, but they continue to plead with me to be included in the final text. It might appear that I'm overly lenient toward these requests, but the truth is that only a limited number of them get through my censorship. If I'm convinced that they're not frivolous (or not too frivolous) I let them in. They don't necessarily augment the main text - sometimes they even contradict it. At their best (how I wish I could write "always") they're able to surprise - not only the reader, but myself as well.

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Go to: Hooray for the banality of linking, or
Go to: The (ir)relevance of hypertext