The Significance of Personal Publishing
October 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The ability to self publish on the internet, where nobody controls anybody, may very well be one of the greatest milestones of the early 21st century. Anybody with access to a computer and the web can exert their full intellectual and emotional facilities to whomever chooses to listen. I must say this has got to be one of the truest freedoms of expression to date.
Even with all of the marketing, the hype and even the money, blogging remains a natural extension of one’s persona. The writer must now be mindful of their audience, their readers and their market as they attempt to deliver a consistent message of value and authenticity.
This is no easy task for me, personally, because blogging under Wordful has so far been an intellectual struggle. I’m constantly at odds with connecting my deep, evolving thoughts to a mainstream, monetizable audience. In other words, writing as a marketer marketing as a writer does not come easy to me.
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Why Following Your Passion is a Must
October 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Today I spent a three very agonizing hours in front of a blank screen trying to write sales copy for a website. I would start a sentence, read it three times, delete it and start over again. This went on for quite some time and I ended wasting my morning. Talk about counterproductive.
This incident reminds me that nobody benefits from dispassionate work. I’m no copywriter and I’m no salesman, either. What I love to do is think big ideas and at least write about them on this blog. I feel like I’m working on a grand vision that will take years to realize. Once disparate ideas will fuse together to form “the great idea” that I’ve worked so hard to make a reality.
That’s why it’s so important to focus our limited time on activities that produce personal vitality and value for others. In my case, just because I write and I’m known as “Wordful” doesn’t mean I write sales copy. This all-can-do attitude, even within the writing niche, has costed me tons of time and energy. I should’ve started this blog years ago but I didn’t because I had to try everything else first!
In a nutshell: If you simply do what you love to do, others soon will love it too.
How to Beat Content Gluttony
October 13, 2008 By 10 Comments
Over consumption of content is just as bad as overeating. But instead of health problems, we run into time problems and eventually–life problems. If you spend too much time around purposeless content, your life will begin to reflect those values.
There are three main types of content on the internet: information, entertainment and community (a fourth one — products — exist but we won’t worry about that). They’re all part of any human’s healthy content diet. Some people require more of one thing than others to thrive.
At some point or another we’ve all been guilty of blowing off a whole day at work to read news, catch up on gossip, buy something cool or play a meaningless but highly addictive video game. And maybe we leave our desks feeling unfulfilled and guilty, knowing that we’re one day farther away from realizing our life goals.
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Sunday Evening at the Keyboard
October 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment
How to develop vision: first, search deep within yourself and meditate on your passions and strengths. Then, try to learn everything you can from other experts in your field. After that, beat them at their own game by doing it quantumly better and with more originality.
Is it that simple? In theory, yes, I believe it is. But for me it’s a rapidly evolving struggle filled with anxiety and tempered excitement, and here’s why:
I don’t personally subscribe to the traditional monetization model of niche blogging. I think there’s a difference of greatness between talking about one’s passion to attract attention and actually putting into practice. Am I someone who talks about editorial strategy or one who actually commands editorial strategy?
I follow the blogging blogs — the ones closest to Wordful’s model — and to be honest, I’m not feeling it. They offer great advice and a bit of community but the topic matter is saturated. Entertainment value is low.
They’re writing about writing…is that what people want more of?
My First Comment Leads to More Questions