10 lessons on writing...
I've been a writing for aliving for almost 20 years.
Here are 10 things I've learned:
1. To be a "writer," the qualifications are simple: You write.
2. Writing well is hard. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't been writing long enough.
3. You don't have to write linearly. If you know where you want to land, start with the last sentence ("punchline" or "reveal") and build around it.
4. Writing is the best teacher. I don't know what I really think about someone or something until I write about it.
5. Writing is one of the most valuable "hard" skills. Show me a company that doesn't need words written.
6. Writing is one of those things I believe anyone can do, given practice, feedback, and more practice.
7. You'll never be 100% pleased with what you write. (If you have the merciless spirit of a writer.) There will always be an edit you wish you'd made.
8. Writing fuels our economy. Think of the sales funnels, ads, marketing, and email sequences that wouldn't exist without the written word.
9. Sometimes you don't know what to write until you have already written. Writing plants the seeds, but editing waters and prunes to bring the words to life.
10. Writing allows anyone to create almost anything. You can create people, worlds, emotions, memories, anger, conflict, realities, realizations, hope.
Writing is a powerful force. But I'll tell you this: There is nothing that special about me as a writer. I have access to the same language and tools that you do. I earn a living writing because I work really freaking hard at it. You can too.
The Go and DO
I don't want to be another newsletter in your inbox. I want to be an actionletter. In every edition, I'll include a "Go-and-Do" [below] to help you take an action step TODAY that improves your LinkedIn™ performance, your business, or even your life.
If writing is the skill, then doing is the qualification.
Here’s your assignment today:
Step 1: Set a 12-minute timer.
Not 30. Not “when I have time.”
Twelve minutes.
Step 2: Start with the last line.
Write the sentence you want to end with.
The truth. The realization. The punchline.
Step 3: Write ugly.
No backspacing. No fixing tone. No editing.
Let the words be clumsy.
Step 4: Walk away.
Come back later and underline the lines you like. Rework all the rest.
Do this over and over again.
That's how to get better at writing.