system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Philosophy students generally write essays in addition to lectures and reading. What should autodidacts be doing above reading?

My interests are fairly broad so please consider this a general question, but if specific advice is best, I'll be starting with Plato.

I'm not by any means unwilling to write essays for practice, but am not sure of their value in this case, as one can't give oneself effective feedback on that kind of thing. Also, I'm sure I don't know enough to be able to think up good topics anyways.
gpt
Not being able to effectively practice writing *is* a significant handcuff. You can get some benefit from having conversations with people online, although even particularly good ones will be a few levels too low in quality and length than what you'll want to do, and it can be hard to find even the particularly good conversations.

You might consider trying to find someone online who is willing to read something you've written, so that you're able to practice this.

Another alternative is to find philosophy clubs, reading groups, seminars, lecture series, etc., in a local university and/or in a more popular setting outside the university. These can get you exposed to ideas in a more lively setting, that can touch on some of the benefit you get from writing and speaking.