Can We Make It A Word?

Someday I’ll do a post that includes my most frequent notes to my editor when I’m sending her stuff I’ve written.

For today, though, I’m just going to touch on one of the Top 5 or so.

It goes a little something like this:

Language is an interesting tool. As a former classical studies major, I spent the better part of a decade studying Latin writing and theory. Which is a blessing and a curse.Continue reading

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Ira Glass, the voice and mind behind the This American Life radio show & podcast, is often asked about his creative process. How does he manage to keep putting out such exceptional episodes? Finding new material to talk about? Setting a standard in broadcasting that hundreds of thousands now strive for.

In an interview he did On Storytelling, he explains what NO ONE tells beginners.

Write For Yourself Not Your Audience Is Terrible Advice

There’s a long battle between content creators:

Should you write the things that are important to you, or should you write things that matter to your audience?

The first, writing for yourself, is about writing that which is on your mind and heart. There is a story somewhere inside you that needs to be let out for the world to consume.

The second, writing for your audience, is about writing content that will be interesting to your audience. It is about embracing the Ideal Reader concept and doing everything to serve them.

Purists claim that the first is the only way to be true to your artistry.

Marketers claim that the second is the only way to engage a converting audience.Continue reading

Why “No” Is Not The Scariest Thing You Will Hear

Many people will never step outside their box of comfort and complacency because the fear the rejection.

They fear hearing that tiny little word: NO

I somehow missed that sequence in my DNA structuring.

The way I figure it, if I’m already not doing something I want to be doing, then I’m getting a big old NO anyways.Continue reading