It’s Not What You Write

It’s how you write it

You’ve done it. You’ve made the commitment to do this daily writing thing that you keep reading will bring you fame, fortune, and about twenty-eight dollars a month on Medium.

Good for you!

Welcome to our little clan of madness. Yes, it does seem like we’re all a bit off, but that’s to be expected given our chosen poison. Daily writing, publishing, and promoting are not for the dilly-dalliers of the world. I’m not sure if you realize what you’re in for here, but I applaud you nevertheless. Welcome!

Chances are that you’ve already dipped more than a tentative little toe into this pool. We all kind of worked our way up to the daily grind. Did I say grind? I meant…well, ok, yes. Grind. I meant grind. There’s no way around it, it is a grind to come up with scintillating content that draws readers like bees to honey day in and day out for months on end. What, you thought this was just for a couple of weeks?

Dilettante!

Allow me to reassure you on a couple of points. Oh, who’s kidding who here? THE Point. The big, fat, gnarly, complacent, smiling Point that is gently rocking back and forth. That Point thinks it’s got you by the nose hairs. We’ll see about that.

What is that point???

Here is The Point:

How are you going to come up with something new and interesting to write about every day? I can see the panic in your eyes and so does our friend, The Point. As I said, you’re probably not a total neophyte here and have already been rummaging through your past for anecdotes funny and touching. You may have already hit some winners like the one about how your Dad surprised you with the puppy on your eighth birthday (after that Godawful fight with your Mom where he slammed out and threatened to never come back). Amiright?

You may very well have taken a deep breath and unearthed some of your more personal and even uncomfortable experiences. How’d they do? Some of mine have rocked it hard (I’m looking at you, Vulva!) and others have quietly slipped under the water and disappeared.

At any rate, if you’re like thirty years old or younger, you may be looking in your treasured vault of experiences and thinking there’s not a lot left. Of course, if you’ve logged six decades plus (yeah, that’s me), you may still have a fair amount to work with. If so, you can kick The Point to the curb and get right back to work. I know I will right after polishing this baby up.

But you may want to keep one ear cocked to this conversation because whether you believe it or not, there is a wall speeding towards you and it’s better to be prepared than deal with the consequences. Yes, this is the voice of experience speaking.

Emptying the vault

I started out bright-eyed and optimistic with decades of finished and partially finished stories, some had even been published (ask me how much money I made, g’ head). I had found Shangri-La! Readers galore. Publications brimming over with promise.

Yeah.

At any rate, even with that much stock, I realized sooner or later that I was going to have to come up with new stuff and come up with it nice and regular. That wall I was talking about? Yeah, that.

There is no lack of super helpful articles all over online, and right here on good old Medium, that promise to clue you in to the secret to coming up with flowing rivers of breathtakingly fascinating content. I don’t read them myself, or more accurately, I don’t bother with them anymore. Here’s why.

You’re looking for the real way in? Nothing to it. First, write about any old thing that comes to mind. Seriously. What did you burn for dinner last night? Any good dust-ups on social media? How long did it take you to read “Infinite Jest” the first time? What dumb, cute thing did Fritzie do today? Constipated? Any idea when the damned landlord is going to fix the intercom so everyone can take down the little notes for UPS? And so on.

Really. Anything.

What’s the catch? I can see it in your eyes. No way is it this easy. You’re right. It doesn’t matter what you write about as long as you make it sing, make it turn cartwheels, made it recite the Gettysburg Address in pig Latin, make it send rockets red glare into the night, make it sneak up on the readers, kiss their cheeks and pick their pockets.

In short, write it like no one has ever thought it could be written.

Take chances. Be reckless (but be consistent with your metaphors; Medium readers are no slouches and they’ll spank you in a heartbeat if you start mixing metaphors and other shenanigans). Be bold! Write with all the darkness and joy and snot and confusion and little wrinkled brows and ecstatic vision and terror and accusation and relief and stupidity and curiosity and closed doors and third-grade humor you can muster. Then do more. Oh, and proof that sucker like six times. Typos really kill the impression you know what you’re doing.

But really. You can write about pets, relationships, houses, philosophy, sex (always popular), failure (also very popular), work, your kids, your neighbor’s kids, disease, your favorite television shows, books, cleaning, addiction, geography (I’m not kidding), music, parents and grandparents, gardening, or travel.

You can even write about how to conquer writers’ block. But you’d better make that baby sing like Diana Damrau nailing the “Queen of the Night” aria from “The Magic Flute”.

Ok, Ok. Yes.

Yes, it’s true. You’re absolutely right. I haven’t written a new piece in two days, well three now technically because it’s after midnight. Interesting that you noticed. What gave it away? Me promoting old material for two full days now?

Does this mean I’m out of the club?

Oh, hell no!

It’s not that kind of club. You’re in if you say you’re in. If you’re really interested in being part of this madness, you’re welcome to it. If you miss a day? Who cares? We’re not exactly keeping score around here.

What we are doing is reading you get better and better at this crazy dance by virtue of doing the steps every day no matter how you feel. Hear that? That’s us cheering you on. Ok, some of us are actually ignoring you because, come on, we’ve got to get this piece put together and published. You understand.

Don’t you have something to write?

© Remington Write 2020. All Rights Reserved.