Where to begin? The sentence I feared this time last year. It was lockdown in most cities across the world, and a real dark period in my life. Writing down thoughts on paper, or journaling, was not high on the priorities. I don’t why, as there wasn’t a lot else I could do, or so I kept telling myself in those early days of stagnation. Hello, bullshit excuses, doubt, and sheer laziness. Jesus, I did let myself slip upon reflection. Prose? I thought that was a skill performed by horses at the equestrian.
So, just how did I start to climb again? The answer was to be uncovered in putting pen to paper. Why was something I found so easy in a professional capacity so damn difficult now? Fear. Writing about your journey, lived experiences, and times when life knocked you down is a difficult process.
When you add judgment, critique, and scrutiny to that mix, you are either running for the exit or showing real courage and pressing publish on the keyboard. Thankfully, the latter came to the fore. Why? Sit back, turn the phone off, and read the process of turning post-it notes into published stories with these five tips.
1. Write for yourself.
What? This goes against every marketing tip online for building an audience of connected readers. Agreed. However, how will you engage people in what you write if you don’t find meaning in the words? These are my thoughts, feelings, and experiences of my life. Moments of struggle, adversity, happiness, and elation we all feel. As the main protagonist in non-fiction writing, you’ve got to share parts of your most inner thoughts, feelings, and self.
Not a lot of people can go deep or don’t want to. It’s hard, so why do it? Becoming self-aware takes patience, resolve, and bravery. Expressing your opinions, beliefs, and views of how you see the world is not the modus operandi of a shrinking violet. No, this demands the mentality of a navy seal who refuses to ring the bell. Does this sound like you? What are you waiting for? Get started. Now.
Writing is an act of discovering what you think and what you believe.
–Daniel Pink
2. Sit down and do it.
No bullshit talking about what you’re going to do. Lift the pen and start. When you want to become a writer you need to write. Simple. It doesn’t matter how many words you write. The process lies in the doing. At the outset of my journey, I was writing post-it notes. These barely readable sentences started to formulate more clearly once I moved to journal in a larger writing pad. Publish them? I didn’t know where to begin, let alone why would I even want to?
Nonetheless, as the days turned into weeks I found myself getting up at 5:15 am daily and writing. What was happening to me? Fuck knows, but I was itching to get started daily. Ideas for what I wanted to write poured out of the pen. How can I describe what I was feeling? The fear had evaporated and was replaced with a real purpose to start communicating what I was experiencing. Is this my calling? Did I discover a gift in the tunnel? Who cares? Just keep writing and ride the wave. We hear stories all the time of writer’s block. Thankfully, I’ve yet to encounter this thought barrier.
3. Find a publication or editor.
Initially, I began writing bi-monthly to the Medium platform. I joined the partner program as this provides an opportunity to monetize your stories. What it fails to mention is that you need to be churning out stories at the pace of Clark Kent in Superman to make any type of income. Did I start writing for money? I thought. No, was the answer. These stories were important for my personal growth, self-actualization, and perspective.
After around 4 months, I stumbled upon The Good Men Project. I signed up with the intention of publishing stories that aligned within their expansive range of categories. Taking part in some weekly social action calls with the founder in those early days, I wanted to do more. Upon speaking with one of the editors, I was informed that becoming a columnist required you to have been published 3 times.
Reaching that target was carried out at pace. Now the hard work begins. In gaining your blue ticker you must commit to a story per week. This brings accountability and commitment to a writing schedule. Do you accept these terms? When do I start? Get submitting. Moving into a columnist position, I was assigned an editor. This has been a real learning curve for me. One I embraced. Constructive critique is all part of learning your craft. I’m in no way the finished article.
Remember that bad writers think writing is easy, good writer’s think that writing is hard, and I think there is a lesson in there somewhere.
–Bill Glavin
4. Keep it simple. Add value.
What message are you communicating? Are you authentic, authoritative, and assimilated into the story? For me, writing about topics that I have experienced is why I’m here. Given the various paths I have walked, I’ve covered social justice, parenting, soccer, the Northern Irish conflict, career, community, mental health, and education. I believe most people can relate to one of these areas.
Most people want the fast track to success or instant gratification. As a writer, you need to understand that people’s attention, learning styles, and ability to consume information vary widely. They want to know answers to problems. So, words such as: how to, what I learned, the secret of, etc. all rank highly on SEO.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t reach Stephen King’s readership. Writing is all about perseverance, enjoyment, and self-determination. It can transport you to any moment in your life instantly. You will experience a tsunami of feelings once you begin. The mission, if you choose to accept; give people solutions.
5. Reading is essential.
How can you grow as a writer if you don’t consume information? There are thousands of genres to read. I love books on stoic philosophy, redemption, mindset, real-life challenges, biographies, and leadership. This is where I find my grounding and inspiration. The world around us is littered with news daily.
Can you connect your interests with these stories? Researching your topic is crucial. How will you inform, excite or build curiosity in the reader without grasping what you want to communicate?
There are no excuses for not accessing knowledge. The internet, print media, audio, kindle, amazon, etc. are all within touching distance. Tap the screen and start reading. At the outset of this story, I asked the question;
“Where to begin?”
Start anywhere. Today. No bullshit, procrastination, or excuses. You can pay me in smiles.\
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The Good Men Project gives people the insights, tools, and skills to survive, prosper and thrive in today’s changing world. A world that is changing faster than most people can keep up with that change. A world where jobs are changing, gender roles are changing, and stereotypes are being upended. A world that is growing more diverse and inclusive. A world where working towards equality will become a core competence. We’ve built a community of millions of people from around the globe who believe in this path forward. Thanks for joining The Good Men Project.
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