The Power of Showing Up

Writers will often cite something called Writer's Block as a reason they are unable to write. All artistic or creative people have felt something similar - the lack of a creative impulse. Or their "muse" went on vacation or something.

Seth Godin argues that Writer's Block isn't real. The problem isn't that you aren't coming up with good ideas, it's that you aren't coming up with enough bad ones. 

Isaac Asimov published 400 books(!) by getting up, going to his typewriter at 6:30 in the morning, and typing until noon. 

Every day. 

He said, "It doesn't matter if it's good nor not. I just got to keep typing."So subconsciously he was telling himself, "Well, if you're going to type anyway, you might as well type something good." And so something good came up. But he refused to bargain with the self-consious ever and say, "Oh, I'm dry. I'm getting up." Nope. Type.

What could you create if you would just show up and keep at it?

(For a great podcast on this, check out this week's Akimbo podcast with Seth Godin: "No such thing as writer's block")

Back to My Journalism Roots

I had my first column published in our local paper, the Pine City Pioneer, this week. The new editor (Traci LeBrun, who seems to be doing an excellent job) contacted the local clergy and asked if we would be willing to write a column from a faith-based prospective on a rotating basis, so I'll be writing one every month and a half or so. 

It reminded me of high school where I wrote a column for our (award-winning) school newspaper, the Paw Print (at Bayshore High School - go Bruins!). One particular column was a satire where I imitated the style of a columnist at our town newspaper, the Bradenton Herald. The Herald published it and the columnist made some very nice remarks about it and my future as a journalist (um... about that...) 

So now, 40 years later, I'm still writing columns for the local paper. I guess some things never do change.

Seth shares how to write like a blogger

In addition to being a youth pastor, one of my first passions is writing. Seth Godin has a great blog post that I thought was very interesting and a wonderful way of spicing up any writing. I was going to just quote part, but one of the geniuses of his blog posts is that they are so short and easy to read but hard to distill any more than they already are. Plus I hate having to jump to something when I'm trying to read a blog, so here's the whole thing. If you like it, you will want to check out his blog regularly. Great stuff.

Write like a blogger

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

You can improve your writing (your business writing, your ad writing, your thank you notes and your essays) if you start thinking like a blogger:

1. Use headlines. I use them all the time now. Not just
   boring ones that announce your purpose (like the one on this post) but
   interesting or puzzling or engaging headlines. Headlines are perfect
   for engaging busy readers.
2. Realize that people have choices. With 80 million other
   blogs to choose from, I know you could leave at any moment (see, there
   goes someone now). So that makes blog writing shorter and faster and
   more exciting.
3. Drip, drip, drip. Bloggers don't have to say everything at once. We can add a new idea every day, piling on a thesis over time.
4. It's okay if you leave. Bloggers aren't afraid to include links or distractions in their writing, because we know you'll come back if what we had to say was interesting.
5. Interactivity is a great shortcut. Your readers care about
   someone's opinion even more than yours... their own. So reading your
   email or your comments or your trackbacks (your choice) makes it easy
   to stay relevant.
6. Gimmicks aren't as useful as insight. If you're going to
   blog successfully for months or years, sooner or later you need to
   actually say something. Same goes for your writing.
7. Don't be afraid of lists. People like lists.
8. Show up. Not writing is not a useful way of expressing your ideas. Waiting for perfect is a lousy strategy.
9. Say it. Don't hide, don't embellish.

What would happen if every single high school student had to have a
blog? Or every employee in your company? Or every one of your
customers?