Write It, Then Remove the References

You read something that sparks a thought. You write about it. Naturally, you reference where the idea started.

Then you publish, and the piece reads like a book report. "So-and-so said X, and I think Y." The reader clicks the reference, reads the original, and forgets yours.

Here's the move: write the piece with the reference. Then remove it.

If the idea can't stand on its own — without leaning on someone else's name — it wasn't yours yet. Keep thinking until it is.

Your readers came for your perspective. Give them that. Not a bibliography.

The spark matters. The citation doesn't.