Chosen for further distribution

Editor’s Choice — Top 10: How Hacks Are No Substitute for the Real Writing Skill

Let’s have a look at our top 10 stories today

Are you trying to use hacks to earn money while writing? Does it mean you don’t want to read and write a lot? Why else would you like to use a hack?

People create hacks to finish something quickly. It means you go into something, use a hack, and get out as soon as possible — to do something you enjoy doing. For example, to watch Netflix.

You just had to follow their tactics. That was all! Sweet deal, right? ~ Darius Foroux

It implies spending less time brainstorming, writing, and editing your piece. But if you spent more time doing these activities, you’d become better over time.

Aren’t you trying to break the 10,000-hour rule? The rule is the idea promoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness in your field of activity.”

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” ~ Malcolm Gladwell

The rule is not magic. Nathan Colin Wong, MD, questions the idea in a paper about this rule. He says, “A urologist accumulates 16,800 hours of experience during his or her residency program. But is it enough?”

What happens when you are busy writing? You can find a good explanation in Frans Johansson’s book “The Click Moment.” He argues that deliberate practice needs another thing: ‘the aha or click moments.’

What happens when your brain sustains an idea for a long time? Or you come back to your work, again and again? Your neurons fire and make new connections. It is like you are trying to build your mind like a bodybuilder builds his body.

When you practice your skill, it also helps you to be more creative.

When you prefer hacks, you ignore the real skill. In simple words, you may read 100 blog posts about improving your writing, but you’d hate to read a 300-page book. Yeah, you guessed right. That was me. But then I corrected myself after three months and started reading books.

You only become better by working on your skills. ~ Darius Foroux

Darius Foroux shares his personal experience, “And trust me, I’ve tried to look for shortcuts and hacks over the past ten years. Maybe I’m missing something those geniuses are selling, but I can’t find it. All successful entrepreneurs say this: there’s no way around hard work.”

This advice may seem like something everyone knows. But believe me, we waste more time trying to find hacks than doing what it takes to do the real thing.

Just as writers try to find hacks and copy ideas, coders don’t want to code. A coder spends a lot of time looking for ‘libraries.’ No, not the brick and mortar kind. These libraries are premade snippets of code to do a particular task well. When I failed to find a library, I started coding. I often wasted hours trying to find a library for what took me an hour to code from scratch.

When you spend a lot of time with your work, you want it to be better. Is there a way to convince you to spend more time with your work? Ask yourself, “Will my readers like to read more of my stories after reading this piece?”

Your current piece becomes an advertisement for all your past work.

When you are proud of your work, it brings you the satisfaction you crave. There is no better sleeping pill than a job well done.

Here is a list of our top 10 stories today — by writers who spend some quality time with their work:

10. Just Stop Trying to Reach Large Publications — Just Keep Writing

Roberto Hernandez is a programmer, entrepreneur, and author. He writes and teaches about programming, productivity, self-improvement, and business.

Once and for all stop trying to reach large publications. It is a waste of time. Don’t look for them. If you really love writing, be a lone wolf for a considerable period.

There will be the right time and place in your writing journey where they will find you as long as you keep writing. I promise you.

9. How To Make A Guaranteed $1500 Per Month?

Samra is passionate about covering different topics. Check if she is talking about a hack?

While making a six-figure income takes a lot of time, skills, and effort, anyone can make an extra $1500 per month or $50 per day.

Maybe, you are writing to pay your college fees or have a family to take care of. Maybe, you want to save some money for your 60s or just need an additional source of income. The reason is, you can always apply for a writing job and make as much or as little as you like.

8. How To Write Six-Figure Articles?

Kiran Yasmin is a professional academic and content writer. She has spent nearly ten years in the writing industry and can cover almost all types of topics.

She is an excellent writer. Her writing style is easy to read, direct, and very engaging. She has thousands of followers. Do check her other work.

In the freelance writing industry, money is considered motivation to work harder and better. Various aspiring writers feel shame about what they are earning every month. In an urge to make more than enough, they take writing courses and often copy the content or ideas of top writers.

They are not ashamed of their skills and hard work. They are probably ashamed of confessing that they are making pennies. This may not be the case of every single writer, but it is obviously the situation of those who are writing solely for money or have families to take care of.

7. A Wonderful Friend Bought My E-Book!

Karen Madej is a wonderful writer and a fellow editor. She is a poet and she is delighted to be learning from others.

Karen is an excellent writer. Her writing style is honest, humble, and frankly engaging. Do check her other work.

Amazon notified me this morning via email. I managed to click on the Japanese link without realising it and assumed it was a scam. I sent the email to spam. Then I thought it might be worth investigating on the KDP website.

Ten minutes later I’d managed to access one of my many Amazon KDP accounts through Amazon.com. I realise my bank account details are for a closed Czech (not a spelling mistake) account from six years ago. I updated them pronto. Perhaps when the payment of £2.77 bounces back from Prague it’ll come to me in Scotland!

6. Don’t Get Baited by Entrepreneur’s “What I Would Tell My Past Self” Advice Stories

Giorgos Pantsios is a full-time writer, learner, and polymath from Greece. He is exploring life. He is a modern philosopher.

He is a fine writer. His writing style is simple, direct, and engaging. Do check his other work.

If I listened to any advice my mother gave, sorry mom, I would have a lot of limits in my life. It would be error-free, but at what cost? Less wisdom. less insightfulness. I could save some time avoiding the mistakes she noted. but I would lose the deeper meaning. It’s like reading the summary of a book and pretending I know the whole story.

I won’t lie. It’s nice to have a “parent” that will tell you what to avoid and what to do. I often seek lessons from others. After all, being in a society means sharing. Learning from other’s mistakes.

5. Making Kimchi Showed Me How I Sabotage Myself

YJ Jun is a fiction writer. She dives into rabbit holes about stories — written, filmed, or otherwise.

She is a good writer. Her writing style is honest, charming, and thought-provoking. Don’t forget to say hi.

My kimchi was bad — again, for the fourth time in a row. I glared at my black marble countertop as I crunched, trying to make sense of how the pickled cabbage could taste too bitter and sweet at the same time.

I went over the instructions again in my head. The day-long process of prepping 20 ingredients; salt-pickling the cabbage; dicing, boiling, and blending things together for the sauce; pulling on nitrile gloves to mix the pungent sauce with cabbage; and triple-checking instructions every step of the way to make sure I did it right this time.

4. The Art Of Avoiding Conflict

Liam Ireland is an author, writer, Illumination editor, and a top writer in short stories and poetry.

He is an excellent writer. His writing style is easy to read, informative, and very engaging. Do check his other work.

One of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned in life is the art of avoiding conflict, or preventing conflict from escalating. I know it sounds easier said than done, but it’s always worth a try.

Roman historian, essayist and politician Tacitus is famous for having coined the sentence “He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.” Some people have mistakenly taken this to mean that one should be a coward rather than a smart thinker. Either way, although this little gem of wisdom offers one way in which you can survive a conflict, it is not the one to which I refer in terms of avoiding conflict or an escalation into actual physical violence.

3. “What Should I Do With My Life?”

David Gerken is a meditation and mindfulness teacher. He is a dad of three precious kids. Former Washington, DC political aide and Writer for THE WEST WING.

He is an extraordinary writer. His writing style is elegant, charming, and thought-provoking. Do check his other work.

For many people, “What should I do with my life?” is the most perplexing question they face. This is especially so in America where the culture demands certainty, purpose and ambition from its membership.

The fundamental problem is that the place most of us go to supply the answer to this monumental question is the egoic, conditioned self. And the ego has no clue what your true path is.

2. If You Want to Write Well, You Must First Learn to Read Well

The Maverick Files is a thinker, finance professional, loving husband, a doting dad, and fitness enthusiast. He is an MBA in Finance & Marketing and Comp. Science Engineer.

He is an excellent writer. His last 7 out of 8 stories were chosen for further distribution. I had 8 out of 9 — so you see, he is giving me some healthy competition there. 😃

I’ve always been the laziest when it came to reading. If you’re going to judge a person’s intellect or intellectual curiosity by what and how much he’s read, you’re going to judge me as a very dumb guy. I wouldn’t even have too many arguments in defense.

However, in my mind, it isn’t about how much you consume as a reader, it is often about how you consume.

1. Did You Write this Crap?

At number one, it is Britni Pepper. She has always enjoyed telling stories. About people, places, and pleasures.

She is an outstanding writer. Her writing style is witty, unusual, charming, and extremely engaging.

If you start reading her stories, you’d usually finish them. Read her, follow her, and wait for her next piece.

I’m in an online book club and one person asked for recommendations on books NOT to read. Oh boy, did people pile on!

Everyone had a book they hated. Mostly books I’d enjoyed, which may say a bit about the variations in taste. I enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love even though some very nasty things were flung at it.

This post is part of the Top 10 Series — you can meet 500+ top writers with these links:

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–Curated 23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–31–32–33–34–35–36–37–38–39–40–41–42–43–44–45–46–47–48–49–50–51–52 –53–54–55–56–57–58–59–60–61–62–63–64–65–66–67–68–69–70–71–72–Curated 73– Curated 74–Curated 75–Curated 76–Curated 77–78

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected in the Top 10, please share another story with a brief introduction and a short convincing review — in the comments. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

I am inviting you to join our private Facebook group for Illumination writers. Also please follow my publication — positive minds.

Iꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀɴʏ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇ, ᴛʏᴘᴏ, ᴏʀ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ɴᴏᴛᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. Tʜᴀɴᴋs.

To be included as a top 10 writer, read these curation guidelines carefully.

You can read my curated stories here.

CHOSEN FOR FURTHER DISTRIBUTION

CHOSEN FOR FURTHER DISTRIBUTION