My #1 Writing Advice

October 1, 2024

My #1 writing advice, especially if you’re starting out:

Don’t write about topics or in ways that are less interesting to you, because you believe it’s more interesting for others.

That’s a terrible trade-off to make, and sets you up for failure in the long-run.

There are four reasons chasing interesting for others over interesting for yourself is a terrible idea:

Writing about stuff that’s less interesting to you sucks energy.

If it doesn’t interest you all that much, you can bet your readers will notice the lack of enthusiasm.

Making uninteresting things interesting is a much higher bar to reach as a writer than making things that are naturally interesting to you, interesting.

The most important thing as a writer is to keep writing. The easiest way to demotivate yourself is to write about less interesting things or in ways that cost you energy.

Selfish? Perhaps. I believe it’s self-awareness.

I’m not professional enough of a writer to write about things that don’t interest me. I write for myself first, and for my readers second. Writing grants me joy, and the act of creation is pleasure enough for me. Everything else is icing on the cake.

Let the topic grab you and stir up passion within your soul, so you can pull your readers in with the same eagerness and excitement that you felt as you were writing and proof-reading.

Don’t worry about being interesting. Make sure you find it interesting first and that’s a hell of a great place to start from.

Lots of great writing gets killed by over-thinking and under-action.

The most important thing is to keep that keyboard rolling. The easiest way to do that is by writing about stuff that naturally interests you.

It’s better to carve a great niche for yourself than suffering a writer’s block from the imaginary blue ocean you’re trying to chase.