Definitely a difficult task, Linda. Most folks can't build an audience, so slow progress is a lot of progress. And it compounds over time. All the best!
My own writing journey started with traditional offline publishing. But then even the tradpubs are going online these days. Seeing one's work "in print" is still nice. And I have the newspapers and trad pub books at home. But yeah. I guess it's the online world now.
John, thanks you for a super “contributing” post. So many aspects resonate - especially starting small (one paragraph) and the importance of finishing (no matter what). And not one who tries to be clever this still deeply resonated: “I still wrote about topics I cared about. I just started framing them in ways that actually served people instead of just showcasing how clever I thought I was.” For me it said: ‘be of service by way of what you care about.’
Genuinely glad to know you found this helpful, James! The writing process often humbles me in ways I don't expect, and it's good to be reminded we're here for our readers and not for the ego (at least not purely). Being of service is really the goal. Thank you for sharing!
Being of service is indeed the goal, to our readers and to ourselves if we connect, as you say, with our caring.
I write about money and meaning, two topics that I care about and see deep connection between but I suspect a lot of readers don’t, or subscribe for one or the other. I’ve thought in the past about only writing about one, or having two substacks, but in the end, I care about them both and the right readers who do too will find me and others won’t.
Thanks again for the forwarding read this Saturday morning in Boise, Idaho.
Thank you for this! I have been doing this but putting myself down because I wasn't growing fast enough.
Finding voice over time helps you more than any hack.
Definitely a difficult task, Linda. Most folks can't build an audience, so slow progress is a lot of progress. And it compounds over time. All the best!
When I started this writing journey, it was meant to start pitching offline instead of online. Just got hooked up by the online world.
My own writing journey started with traditional offline publishing. But then even the tradpubs are going online these days. Seeing one's work "in print" is still nice. And I have the newspapers and trad pub books at home. But yeah. I guess it's the online world now.
John, thanks you for a super “contributing” post. So many aspects resonate - especially starting small (one paragraph) and the importance of finishing (no matter what). And not one who tries to be clever this still deeply resonated: “I still wrote about topics I cared about. I just started framing them in ways that actually served people instead of just showcasing how clever I thought I was.” For me it said: ‘be of service by way of what you care about.’
Thank you again for serving us with this. 🙏
Genuinely glad to know you found this helpful, James! The writing process often humbles me in ways I don't expect, and it's good to be reminded we're here for our readers and not for the ego (at least not purely). Being of service is really the goal. Thank you for sharing!
Being of service is indeed the goal, to our readers and to ourselves if we connect, as you say, with our caring.
I write about money and meaning, two topics that I care about and see deep connection between but I suspect a lot of readers don’t, or subscribe for one or the other. I’ve thought in the past about only writing about one, or having two substacks, but in the end, I care about them both and the right readers who do too will find me and others won’t.
Thanks again for the forwarding read this Saturday morning in Boise, Idaho.