Category Archives for Articles
Do Introverts Really Make Better Writers?
Admit it.
You’ve taken at least one, if not several, personality tests in your life, likely of varying veracity.
From the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (INFJ), to the Buzzfeed “Which Harry Potter Character Are You?” (Hermione), we humans love it when tests can tell us who we are.
We’re self-definition and self-improvement addicts.
So, it’s no big surprise that these days the labels of introvert and extrovert have influenced our understanding of ourselves and others.
How to Use a Journal to Become a Better Writer
Am I a writer?
How do I come up with ideas?
How do I find an authentic voice?
What if I’m no good?
How can I keep my content interesting, day after day?
How do I make my writing more engaging?
Ever wondered any of these things? Well, I’m not here to sell you a webinar, or bribe you to join my mailing list with an ebook. I’m here to propose a very old-fashioned solution that can help with all of the above: writing a journal.
What’s Making It Hard to Find My Passion?
Finding our passion has become the new “dance like no one’s watching.”
Passion has become the new byword for vocation — an occupation or activity at which you’re particularly good and to which you feel a strong attachment. In short, it’s your calling in life, and you’re supposed to find it to allow you to follow the perfect career.
There is a bottomless well of advice out there on how to find your passion. But what if you’ve read all the articles, done all the exercises, and still can’t figure out what your passion is?
The Self-Loathing of Authorpreneurship
“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy….”
So writes George Orwell in the conclusion of his essay “Why I Write”, which — as the noted historical novelist Thomas Mallon has recently observed — displays Orwell’s “clear awareness that self-loathing and self-love are locked in a tight, procreative embrace.”
According to Orwell, the generative interaction between self-regard and shame are first on the list of reasons writers decide to write.
“Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc.”
As we’ll see, it’s often their emotional reactions to childhood snubbing — or similar experiences — that drive writers to take action, become authorpreneurs, and begin the hard work of building their brand in a competitive modern marketplace.