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ISSUE #35
August 30, 2022
Hello Wonderful! (I missed an issue last week. Sorry about that!)
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Writing well is hard.
It’s not "writing is hard." But, writing well.
Anyone can write poorly. And many do. Just click around. There's a plethora of poor writing on display.
Please don't be one of those bloggers.
There are natural talents, sure. But the majority of us have to work on the skill of writing. Like mastering the piano, it can take years of deliberate practice to learn the art of writing well.
The good news: with conscious effort, or what some call "deliberate practice," anyone can become a better writer over time with hours dedicated to the craft.
The good news is also the bad news.
Devotion to writing means time writing.
Some are born with a natural talent for words, rhythm, flow, and an ear for verse.
Some have to learn it.
Still, it takes practice for those natural talents to find their distinct voice, just as it does for beginners.
For beginners, it takes time not just to write well but to form a writing habit. Finding your voice, confidence, and a topic you write well that resonates with an audience takes time.
Start with developing the habit.
Find a niche that your readers enjoy reading.
Write relentlessly until you find your voice.
We don't see the effort most professional writers put into their writing. We often just see the success on the other side of the process. They hone their voice and confidence by writing on the same subject hundreds of times.
The good news is it's possible to be a great writer if you put in the practice and find a niche that resonates with an audience.
How to go from amateur writer to a prolific content creator
1. Successful content creators fire before they're ready.
You have to be OK with not being perfect, which is challenging for some. Don't waste time aiming for perfection, it doesn’t exist. The new writer will have a better chance at writing a year from now if they aim for good enough.
Don't wait until it's perfect. Get it out the door instead. Why?
It will never be perfect. You'll never fire if you wait for perfection.
You get feedback from your domain about what works and what doesn’t.
Readers point you in the direction of the topics you write well in. You learn where you need improvement and what resonates with your audience.
Successful creators don't wait for perfect because they know it doesn't exist. They ship it instead.
2. They're willing to fail in public.
The bravest thing you can do is fail in public. Failing in public is more valuable than not trying at all. When we fail in public, we get better. We refine.
When we share our writing publicly, the engagement, or lack thereof, tells us what isn't working, so we can do more of what is working and less of what isn't.
Steven Pressfield says in The War of Art,
Nothing is as empowering as real-world validation, even if it's a failure.
3. They don't know which topics will continue to interest them until they've written 100 posts or more.
I used to like writing about relationships. I loved it when I began my writing journey, probably because one of my first viral posts dove into the topic of intimate relationships.
Fifty posts later, it's my least favorite topic to write.
This is why many blogs fail. The writer gets tired of writing about the same topic again and again. Find something interesting so you can write five thousand posts on one topic or variations on the topic.
4. They don't wait for a muse or the "urge" to write.
If creators waited for inspiration to strike, we'd write once or twice a month. You must pick a time and a place to write and then stick to it. It's easy advice to give, hard advice to follow.
I will write for three hours at 7 am each morning in my office.
When you pick a specific time and place to write, you are more likely to follow through and create a habit than if you say, "I'll write 1,500 words a day."
"I'll write 1,500 words a day" isn't specific enough.
But it has a number in it you say? Still not specific enough.
When will you write all these words?
Where will you write them?
Where will your phone be when you are writing them?
What is your method for writing all these words a day?
A plan and a system ensure you'll follow through. Be very specific.
5. They know that just because they can churn out a daily piece of quality content, this won't stop them from evolving in other writing areas.
There is a difference between copywriting and writing The Great American Novel or a work of fiction.
Copywriting pays the bills. Writing a novel can pay the bills, but it takes much more time, effort, and love to complete.
You can have one without the other or both if you'd like. It’s up to you.
6. They take ideation as seriously as they do writing.
Content creators know ideation is the first step to writing quality content at high volume.
Writers and creators of all stripes look for ideas everywhere; in books, articles, TV shows, movies, a walk in the park, or taking a shower. They are idea people and usually have an opinion on most things.
There are three steps to content creation:
Ideation
Writing
Editing
Successful writers take all three seriously, but they know ideation is the jumping-off point to creating valuable content.
7. They create more than they consume
We all consume large volumes of content. Be careful what you consume—garbage in, garbage out.
Value in, value out.
The ideas, values, and perspectives you consume color your perspective, shape your thoughts and can change your behavior. Look at the recent QAnon Conspiracy lie or the anger levels and fantasy worlds of the people who consume Fox “News” all day.
Creators consume but create more than they consume.
They consume for value, imagination, and to satisfy curiosity.
They create to satisfy their curiosity and to give value to their audience.
8. They find freedom and joy in creating content.
Most successful creators are tinkerers. They play around at the edges of their chosen field and explore interests. The place where it feels like play to create brings joy.
Joy is important.
It sounds trite, but it will keep you creating. I can't stress this enough, if you resent your work, if it feels like drudgery, your audience will feel it too.
The articles I write that I'm most interested are usually the articles best received.
My most viral posts come from a place of joy or intense interest. You can fake it, but the audience knows a fake in the first few sentences.
Readers crave authenticity.
9. They don't believe in writer's block.
Writer's block isn't a real thing.
Writers have notes everywhere with ideas, headlines, drafts, and book ideas to write one day. They don't have enough time to write about all the topics and first sentences they have jotted in notebooks.
They know resistance, which every creator faces.
Resistance is simply thoughts getting the better of you, keeping you from sitting down in the chair to face the blinking cursor and the empty page.
Resistance tells you,
"you suck!"
"your best ideas are behind you."
"other writers are far better than you, so why bother?"
Prolific writers hear these insults from their inner critic, ignore them and write anyway. Your inner critic is a pro at self-sabotage. The best way to defeat the inner critic and combat resistance is to create a schedule you do not deviate from.
Sorry critic, go away. I'm on a schedule.
10. They are single-task focused.
Don't allow busyness or multitasking to stop you from writing. A single-task focus is the best way to get deep work accomplished.
Good writing is the result of deep work.
You, alone in a room, uninterrupted for hours at a time. No phone. No friends. No family.
The best writers, from Hemingway to Joan Didion, spent time alone in a room for hours with their typewriters and thoughts. The door closed, mind firing.
11. They are in action more than motion.
Be in action more than in motion.
Motion is when you outline an article, and action is when you write and share it.
Motion is when you devise an exercise routine; action is when you work out following that routine.
Motion is when you sign up for a course like, "How to Write Killer Content," action is when you write and share killer content.
Be in action more than motion. Don't allow being in motion fool you into thinking you are taking action. You are not. You may be preparing to take action, but don't just prepare, take action as well.
Action builds audiences and 15-million-dollar online empires. Motion keeps you consuming other's content.
See you next Tuesday. Have a great week!
Jessica - xoxox
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Righting well is hard, but writing good, is hardly right.