{"id":20656,"plugin_id":"plugins_6aa5c14ce164819185474f73c890b680","kind":"skill","collection_source":null,"comparison_source":null,"observed_at":"2026-09-30T23:16:24.671Z","digest":"f9bedb6ac4785a0f142f8c78f3650a93ad502d42b6ade5392fb8d7f08fae1e6d","against":null,"payload":{"description":"Finds where the writing shows its tracks—scaffolding, throat-clearing, process narration, and arrival sequences that should be erased now that the destination is clear.","included_files":[],"name":"cw-tracks","skill_md_contents":"---\nname: cw-tracks\ndescription: Finds where the writing shows its tracks—scaffolding, throat-clearing, process narration, and arrival sequences that should be erased now that the destination is clear.\n---\n\n# Tracks\n\n## Purpose\n\nFind where the writing shows its tracks. Annie Dillard: \"Process is nothing; erase your tracks.\" This skill hunts for the scaffolding still visible in a draft—the exploratory thinking, the arrival sequences, the \"how I got here\" that helped the writer but slows the reader.\n\nUse this when:\n- A draft reads like a journey log instead of a destination\n- You can see the writer thinking on the page\n- Sections narrate the process of figuring something out rather than presenting what was found\n- The piece feels like it's warming up for too long before it arrives\n- You've revised heavily and want to check for leftover scaffolding\n\n## Invocation\n\n- `/cw-tracks [text]` — Find the tracks in the provided text\n- `/cw-tracks` — System asks \"What needs its tracks erased?\"\n- Works on selection if provided, asks if not\n\n## Track Types\n\n| Track | What It Looks Like | Why It Should Go |\n|-------|-------------------|------------------|\n| **The Arrival Sequence** | \"After much research, I realized...\" \"It took me a while to see that...\" | The reader doesn't need your travel itinerary. Start where you landed. |\n| **The Scaffolding** | Transitional paragraphs that connect old thinking to new thinking. | These helped you build the argument. The argument can stand without them now. |\n| **The Thinking-Out-Loud** | \"What if we consider...\" \"One might wonder...\" \"This raises the question...\" | You already answered the question. Just give the answer. |\n| **The Hedge Trail** | \"It seems like,\" \"I think,\" \"perhaps,\" \"it's possible that\" — accumulated over drafts. | Hedges multiply during revision. Most can go once you know what you believe. |\n| **The Deleted Argument's Ghost** | A rebuttal to a point no longer in the piece. A transition to a section that was cut. | Old structure leaves phantom limbs. Find and amputate them. |\n| **The Discovery Narration** | \"I didn't expect to find...\" \"Surprisingly...\" \"What I learned was...\" | The reader experiences discovery through the idea itself, not through being told you discovered it. |\n| **The Warm-Up** | First 1-3 paragraphs that exist because the writer needed a running start. | Your real opening is buried somewhere in paragraph 3 or 4. |\n| **The Belt-and-Suspenders** | Making the same point twice in different words, because you weren't sure the first version landed. | Trust your first swing. If it didn't land, fix it—don't repeat it. |\n\n## The Dillard Test\n\nFor every passage, ask:\n1. Is this here for the reader or for the writer?\n2. Does this describe the process of thinking, or the thought itself?\n3. If I cut this, would the argument still stand?\n4. Is this the destination, or the road I took to get there?\n\nIf the passage is road, not destination—erase the track.\n\n## Output Format\n\n```\n## Track Report\n\n**Tracks found:** [count]\n**Severity:** [Light — a few fingerprints / Moderate — scaffolding visible / Heavy — the draft reads like a process log]\n\n---\n\n### The Tracks\n\n1. **[Track type]** — [Location/quote]\n   Why it's showing: [Brief explanation]\n   Erase it by: [Specific suggestion]\n\n2. **[Track type]** — [Location/quote]\n   Why it's showing: [Brief explanation]\n   Erase it by: [Specific suggestion]\n\n[Continue for each track found]\n\n---\n\n### The Warm-Up Check\n\n**Does the real piece start where the draft starts?**\n[Yes / No — the piece actually begins at: \"[quote from where the real opening lives]\"]\n\n---\n\n### The Clean Version\n\n[Rewrite of the most track-heavy section with tracks erased]\n\n---\n\n**What changed:**\n- [How erasing tracks improved the passage]\n\nIs the path clear now, or are there tracks I missed?\n```\n\n## Principles\n\n- **Process is nothing; erase your tracks** — The reader should experience the destination, not the journey you took to find it.\n- **The writer's discovery is not the reader's discovery** — You found the insight by wandering. The reader should find it by being led.\n- **Scaffolding is for building, not for living in** — Once the structure stands, take down the scaffolding.\n- **Trust arrival** — If you've arrived at a strong point, you don't need to narrate the arrival.\n- **Revision leaves residue** — Every round of revision can leave traces of earlier versions. The last pass should clean the glass.\n\n## The Box Canyon\n\nDillard describes writing as following a path into a box canyon—you dispatch reports from new territory. The reports are the writing. The path you took to get there is not. If your draft reads like a trail map, you're publishing the wrong thing.\n\n## Lessons\n\n[Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]\n"},"changes":[],"summary":"First saved snapshot. No earlier version is available for comparison.","summary_kind":"deterministic","summary_metadata":{}}