The Ultimate Course for the Aspiring Writer
The Ultimate Course for the Aspiring Writer: Lesson 5
Stay Connected
This is the end, my friend.
We’ve reached the final installment of How to Get Paid to Write and I must say, it has been an absolute pleasure. I hope you will continue on this journey with me. I learn just as much in my attempts to convey these invaluable lessons I have learned along the way to you as I did learning the lessons themselves, perhaps even more. And I have so much more to say.
It brings me so much joy to think that I have something to offer that may help you get past even one hurdle on your way to becoming the writer you want to be. That you know you can be. And I know it too. So, without further ado…
To be a writer, you have to be wired in—a conscious observer sensing and feeling and questioning everything that is happening in each moment, paying special attention to the task of keeping yourself in check. A lot of us allow ourselves to have those “bad days” where we give a sub-par performance, below what we are capable of doing on our best days. But if you want to be an all-star as a writer, putting in work at your highest level each and every day, you must stay connected.
There are four main things you must maintain a connection to as a writer - the world around you, your readers, your work, and yourself.
The world around you
As I said, staying connected to the world around you is a must. The thing is, you can’t say anything worth reading if you’re disconnected from what's going on. You don’t have to write in direct response to current events to be connected, but you do have to be aware of them. Because that’s what’s in the forefront of people’s minds, “What is going on in the world right now and what does this person have to say about it?” That’s what tethers you to your audience.
There are several ways to do this:
Stay on top of current events. There are plenty of news sources and platforms out there so you can find the ones you like and keep a pulse on what is going on.
Stay in touch with your friends, colleagues, or whoever you are able to have meaningful conversations with that get your gears turning.
Read, listen to what people have to say, voice your opinions and learn from others.
Stay switched on. Often when I get stuck trying to come up with some analogy or the next part of what I’m writing, the idea comes to me when I’m not looking for it. The trick is being ready at all times for that idea to come to you.
Your readers
It’s not fair to treat your readers like your therapist. They aren’t there to listen to you bore them to death with your past traumas and how those have affected you but somehow you have managed to pull through - save it for someone who cares. Your readers are taking time out of their hectic lives to read what you have to say, and they either want to learn something, be entertained, or both. If you have even a single line in your writing that doesn’t serve either of those purposes, take it out. Don't be a vampire, sucking the life out of your audience. You are the one who should be providing them with something they can sink their teeth into, not the other way around.
Your work
I really like the term “staying in the pocket” when it comes to being connected to your work. For the musically savvy out there, you know what this means.
When musicians perform together, staying in the pocket refers to the band “staying in time”, or “in rhythm” - the more precisely each musician plays their part on the beat, usually dictated by the drummer, the better the band sounds as a whole.
It takes a lot of practice and focus to maintain that precise playing for a whole set. If even one of the musicians is out of the pocket, the sound suffers (and usually so does that musician when the band lets them have it after the show).
The same phenomenon occurs when a writer writes. While you aren’t performing with other writers - unless you’re in a writer’s room, I suppose - you still have an obligation to stay in the pocket. If you aren’t, the results will speak for themselves.
Surely you have caught yourself writing nonsense and gotten rid of lines or whole paragraphs when you realized you weren’t really paying attention to what you were writing.
The key is getting into that “locked in” headspace, where you have the topic you are writing about in the forefront of your mind while simultaneously seeing ahead to the direction you are taking it.
Trust me, when you get into that zone, you will know - your fingers don’t stop typing and you sort of feel like how Neo must have felt in The Matrix, seeing everything you are going to write next before it happens... Coffee helps.
Yourself
Connecting with yourself? Oh boy. Queue defense mechanisms.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to dig that deep to be an effective freelancer. But meet me halfway: you want to connect to people emotionally, so you have to be somewhat emotionally invested in what it is you are talking about.
This doesn’t just apply to blog-posting - even in areas like sales copy, if you can’t internalize the perspective of your target audience, there’s a very small chance you will actually get through to them.
On top of putting yourself in your readers’ shoes, it is also your job to be your own hype person, and at the same time, your own devil’s advocate.
Picture a court case where your writer persona is on the stand and you are the prosecutor and the defendant, poking holes in your own arguments and defending them at the same time, doling out equal justice from both sides. The difference here from a regular court case is if either side wins, you lose; it is only by balancing the two that you can come out on top as a writer.
On the same topic, you won’t get away with writing on autopilot. A lot of this comes down to taking care of yourself and surprisingly, a lot of writers and people I know don’t do such a good job in this department.
You have to do whatever you need to do - step away from the computer, exercise, eat something, eat better, drink some coffee water, take vitamins - in order to keep your focus when you write. Without proper self-care, you can’t stay in the pocket, and if you can’t stay in the pocket, you can’t write effectively.
Now brace yourself, because I’m about to blow your mind. These four things that you need to connect to as a writer? They are all - wait for it - CONNECTED. :O
It’s true!
If you can’t connect to yourself, you can’t connect to the world around you.
If you can’t connect to the world around you, you can’t connect to your work.
If you can’t connect to your work, you can’t connect your readers.
And if you can’t connect to your readers, well, YOU CAN’T BE A WRITER!!
Each of these four areas are essential elements in a writer’s toolbelt. I can’t tell you how much value I put on this idea in my own process. Whenever I find myself struggling to write at peak performance, I run through this checklist.
Am I taking care of myself and operating at my peak level?
Have I checked out the latest news and seen what’s happening in society this week?
Okay, I’m well-fed and well-rested but this article is not working, did I do enough research and nail down exactly what it is I’m writing about or is this too vague?
If I were one of my readers searching for articles, would I click on this? Would I want to buy this product if I saw this description?
It’s sort of like when you are about to leave the house and you check to make sure you have your keys, your wallet, phone, etc., and I have the same reaction as someone who realizes they are missing one of those items when I figure out what I’m missing in my work.
It’s usually an issue of forgetting to eat something or not getting enough sleep/exercise, but there have been times when I’ve caught myself slipping up in one of the other connection zones.
But I know you, aspiring writer, you won’t falter like I used to because I’ve given you the secrets ahead of time!
There you have it, my friend. You have completed The Ultimate Course for the Aspiring Writer, and you are now ready to pursue your writing career with full force.
But the lessons do not end here. Oh no, I have much more to teach you!
Please be on the lookout for my next post, it’s sure to please. Or excite. Or confuse… whatever it is, it will definitely do something.
I can’t wait to see what you do and where it takes you. Please let me know! I can see you staring at the clock like it’s the last day of school and summer vacation is about to start, so I’ll leave you with these final reminders:
Forget the million-dollar words and gold stars. Write interesting content!
Fight your laziness! Find your true calling and get passionate about it!
Don’t strive for success arbitrarily; define your goals and achieve them!
Are you a fighter or a philosopher? Find your voice and tackle adversity the way that works for you!
Stay connected!
Until we meet again, aspiring writer :)
Class Dismissed!
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