“Remove all apps from your phone where someone makes more money the more you use it.”
Cal Newport
There’s no such thing as too much white space.
The easiest thing in the world is to find a reason not to publish.
It won’t work if you’re not excited about it.
I was helping a client clarify his niche today and asked him a question:
If a college hired you to teach any class you wanted, what would you choose to teach?
The answer to that will likely be a good niche for your business and content.
10 thoughts about writing:
You don’t have writer’s block - you have an unwillingness to write something bad. Good writing begins with a goal - you don’t need to know what you’re going to write, but you need to know what you hope to get out of it. Writing is no less valuable today than it was 100 years ago and it will be no less valuable 100 years from now.
Writing is a collection of choices.
The more choices you make, the more specific your writing gets, the more unique and interesting it becomes. Every idea is a choice. Every action is a choice. Every character is a choice. Every sentence is a choice. Every word is a choice. And there are no “wrong” choices. That’s freeing for some. Paralyzing for others. But approaching writing with the goal of making more choices in what you write is a framework that can lead to some interesting places (and opportunities).
When I was a kid I used to fall asleep listening to talk radio.
(Before talk radio was a cesspool.)
In retrospect, I probably learned a ton from that.
I was 88-years-old. I wrote my first novel.
“You can’t write a novel.”
Fuck you, I’ll write a novel.
- Jerry Izenberg
Why do you expect to be perfect?
You don’t think anyone or anything else is perfect.
Pretty good is more than enough.
The more emotion you feel when writing, the more powerful that writing will be.
Your best writing probably happened when you were mad, sad, excited, scared, thankful, etc.
Having big feelings?
Might be a good time to pick up a pen.
“Every professional should have a five-minute demonstration of their skill that makes an important stranger say, “Oh, wow. Now I get it.” It’s the magician’s answer to the request, “Let’s see a trick.” It’s an outward-facing demo that proves your capability to others.”
Content creation is a lot more fun when you remember you can create whatever the hell you want.
Free your mind and the fun will follow.
Kids today will never know the joy of getting 12 CDs for a penny.
A lesson for one of my writing partner clients
When I work with clients as their writing partner I not only edit/rewrite their work, but I also teach them why I make the changes I make and how they can become a stronger writer moving forward. Here’s an example of a note I gave to a recent client explaining an edit I made for him on his social post: When possible, push your statements to make them more definitive (and therefore more interesting).
Austin Kleon on creating mixtapes
“Every time I try to make these mixes more conceptual or abstract, I freeze up. But if I just start with a good leadoff track and ask myself, What do I want to hear after this? the mix just sort of makes itself. I think this is also true of writing and drawing, too: if you start with big, conceptual, abstract ideas about what you want the thing to be, it’s easy to freeze.
Saw this post blowing up in Reddit’s Aging Parents subreddit.
Not surprised - it’s a great headline/hook that probably could be adapted and do well in other niches too.
Caring can be incredibly powerful.
But so can not caring.
The first thing Bill Parcells did in his first team meeting after being hired as the Giants coach was to yell at the players to sit up straight and take their hats off.
Phil Simms turned to the guy next to him and said “We’re gonna win.”
“I don’t understand this whole thing about computers and the superhighway. Who wants to be in touch with all those people?”
Ray Bradbury in 1995