Do you have a compelling reason to commit fully to your writing?
Some people write daily. Author and columnist Nicolas Cole has said this is what has pushed him to create his best work and achieve what he wanted with his writing. That includes being published in major publications like Forbes and Business Insider, and notching up more than forty thousand followers on Medium.
Others write several times a day. That is commitment.
So, I guess commitment is anything that drives us to stretch beyond what’s doable towards what that looks like we can get there with effort.
I forced my own hand earlier this year when I announced I would send out my newsletter every week instead of every two weeks as I’d been doing.
It was the best thing I could have done for establishing a productive rhythm for my writing.
Even though my list is small, I feel I owe it to each subscriber to show up as I said I would, every week.
Promising a weekly email means I have to write whether or not…
Whether or not I have time. Feel like it. Know what to write about.
Making a full commitment is the only way to get good at writing.
I’m not good yet – that takes commitment plus time. And so far, my ambition doesn’t match what I actually produce. But I’m okay with that since I heard American broadcaster Ira Glass explain it as ‘The Taste Gap’.
He says most writers and other creatives have the good taste to know that there’s a gap between what our final product looks like and what we wish it looked like.
‘It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.’ Ira Glass
Ira is the host of the highly regarded public radio show, This American Life. He’s smart and curious and hardworking. All of which is essential for good works of any kind including writing.
My own writing is mostly about the mindset that helps us to trust and use our own unique voice.
Some of my subscribers are in business but others are just along for the ride, getting fueled up for their writing journey – whatever that turns out to be.
I write less often about the mechanics and processes that underpin a strong and true writing voice needs solid mechanics and processes but these are nothing compared to the values that can superpower writing.
- To be generous and respectful in intention.
- To move forward with patience and compassion.
- To be brave and curious.
This is how to develop a real and true voice.
And when we use our life experiences to enrich the writing, we enhance relationships and build a bond with people we have never even met.
That’s how I feel about you. We may never have met but writing for you has inspired me to do better, work harder, think deeper.
Thanks to you I am developing a voice and a body of work that is getting me closer to closing my taste gap.
Thank you.
