Keep missing your moment.
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Welcome to The Writing Rundown, a weekly newsletter that offers advice, short essays, and reading suggestions to help driven writers (like you!) improve their writing craft. It's nice to see you here! If someone forwarded you this email because they love your writing, you can subscribe here. Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes “I woke up in the morning and saw, the world has moved on.” ― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz Ask Me Anything …“I'm really passionate about writing, but sometimes I worry that by the time I finally get an idea down on paper, the moment has passed, and everyone has already moved on. Do you think it's still worth writing about a topic even if it feels like others have already said everything there is to say?” - Keep Missing My Moment Dear Miss Moment, I get it. It’s hard enough to be writing online, but then you add the rush to be THE FIRST opinion that people read. Feels like there isn’t even a point to trying if you want to jump on a trending topic or cultural moment in the zeitgeist…but you are a little too late. There are two things to remember in situations like these. The first is that annoying old writing advice adage: No one can tell your story better than you. A whole slew of other writers and talking heads might get to their commentaries and takes before you do, but that means you just have to use that extra time you’ve taken to make yours better. What angles are other people missing or misinterpreting? What gaping holes has no one sewn up? What personal anecdote or situations can you apply that give a whole new perspective? Write your introduction, revise it, and reread it again at least 3 more times. They’re all rushing to be the first, which often means they are reporting on the most basic facts and low-hanging observational fruit. This is your opportunity to write about something in a way no one has read before. The second thing to remember is that time is a topsy-turvy wibbly-wobbly upside-down of Jeremy Bearimys. Believe me when I say that no reader is up in your head as much as you are. They have their own heads to worry about! They can’t spend all their energy freaking about when you wrote a piece and whether it still matters. If you focus on the first thing here, then you have a better shot making people forget about the second. It’s like a spin on that old Maya Angelou quote “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” People will forget when something happened exactly, people will forget whether it’s still relevant…as long as you write about it in a way that makes them feel. _____________________________________________________ Each week I answer a question from a reader about writing, editing, creativity — and everything in between. Do you have a question you’d like me to answer? Hit REPLY and ask away! What You Missed on Craft Your Content …Our articles have the same mission we do — to help you to make your own words even better!
In Other Reading This Week …Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?
Weekly Writing Tip …A quick chance to learn from the masters. “All artists know that living a true creative life means facing an endless series of beginnings: It’s starting over after setbacks; it’s pushing forward through doubt and despair; it’s trying again when someone tells you no; it’s slogging ahead when no one seems to like or care about what you make; it’s ignoring the voice inside you that tells you to stop; it’s striving and failing, again and again and again. There is no point of complete security, no award or recognition that bestows total confidence — a life in art means that, to some degree, you’re starting anew every day.” — Hanya Yanagihara Bygone …Exquisite words from years gone by. Honorificabilitudinitatibus [on-or-if-ih-cah-bill-ih-too-din-it-ta-tie-boose] (n.) – A loanword that carried over from Latin this means the state of being able to be honored. With authors like Shakespeare, Dickens, and Joyce tossing it into various pieces (as well as Pinky & the Brain in later years), it lingers, though rarely used. Fun Fact! It is the longest word in English with an alternating consonant-vowel pattern. Sorta synonyms: worthy, qualified, certificated This Week’s Writing Resource …Why not use the tools at your disposal? Permission Bot — Are you struggling with something creative, a decision you know you need to make but you just can’t push yourself to say the words? This bot from struthless asks what you’d like permission for, why you haven’t done it yet, and spits out a real-world pep talk permission slip/letter that will feel like a weight of the world is taken off your shoulders. For the Upcoming Week …Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right! To be fair, he might have been rocking a green cut-crease that day. ‘Til next time! ~ Elisa PS — Since I’m going to start writing more essays on my site (not CYC, but I’ll explain more next time) I think I’m going to stick with answering questions from you about writing, editing, creativity, and more. What do you think? Do you have a question about any of those topics for me? |