WRITING
Where You Lead, I Will Follow
In Three Easy Steps
We can mark our age with the songs that we hum. Recently, I’ve been humming Carol King’s “Where You Lead.” Yes, that qualifies me as the “over 60” set, but it also suggests that followers are on my mind.
If I want to feel small, I click on writers that I follow and see how many multiples of followers they have over me. I don’t do that often. Most days I am okay with my 787 followers (maybe I will earn a few more after I post this). Recently, though, I have considered what makes a follower follow.
Using the classic rule of three, I’ve examined what has led to my choosing who to follow. I don’t subscribe to, “Follow anyone who follows you” or even, “Why limit how many you follow? The more, the merrier.” More followers mean more dilution and greater difficulty at tracking the writers I really want to follow.
So here are the three factors that govern who I follow:
The Writer’s Voice
This might sound either obvious or vague, but to me, the voice needs to ring true and feel authentic. Anything that sounds arrogant, know-it-all, self-important, or status-seeking doesn’t work for me. I also nix virtue signaling or stating the obvious. An example of the latter would be something like, “True Leadership is Hard to Find,” which thankfully, to my knowledge, hasn’t appeared as a title at least, on Medium (yet). Another example is, “A Career in Writing Doesn’t Show Me the Money,” which has been written about way too many times.
A voice that demonstrates curiosity, humor, and knowledge work well for me. If they add a tinge of self-deprecation, it’s a home run. That is why, for example, I have been following René Junge on his path to becoming an erotica writer. He is candid and full of information, and I am curious to learn through him even though I have no intent on becoming an erotica writer. Who knew, though, that there were so many niches in one very specific category? Or even the trade-offs he faces as he sequences content development and translating his content from German to English for the broader market.
Topic
Lessons learned are always a favorite, and especially when it is on a topic that I care about. Business always resonates for me — how we win or fail, unusual strategies, creativity, and innovation — all matter to me.
There are many writers I follow here. A few of my favorites include Niklas Göke, whose piece on what he learned in losing $300,00 generated a wonderful family dinner conversation. Similarly, I follow Sean Kernan, who generates consistently strong content. After reading about how Burger King succeeded, I can never look at their hamburgers the same.
Topics relating to family that bring poignance and a life lived with dignity matter to me greatly. Noah Hawley hit it out of the park when he wrote about raising sons, which I have bookmarked for an eternity. The ability to tell a story with a mix of humor, empathy, and insight is a rare and valued skill in my world.
Dogs are another hot topic for me. I came to dogs as a middle-age mom and became a dog whisperer that surprised me and my family. A dog in our morning pack was just put down, which motivated me to write my first dog eulogy, which was a lot about us, and a little about the dog.
Length
I never thought I’d be that person who wouldn’t happily read a 10-minute piece. Guess what? I’ve become that person. I will read up to 6-minute articles without giving it too much thought and will eagerly digest a 3 or 4-minute piece. I’ve become the statistic we read about — short on time with a limited attention span.
At least I practice what I preach. My pieces are usually 4-minute reads (which means I need to finish this one quickly). Occasionally a writer will come along whose long pieces I will read. To them, I say, “You’ve overcome extreme odds.”
Final comments: I did not write this as a promo piece to highlight certain writers because if I did, there would be many other writers to mention (for example, I am a big fan of Holly Jahangiri and many others). I wrote this as a snapshot of how I pick the writers that I follow. The voice, the topic, and the length all have to work for me.
From a writer’s perspective, I want to grow and create a following that will appreciate my trajectory or at least be humored by it. This year I decided to take on satire, knowing that I had a limited skill at best. With a little help and little more failure, I persevered. Readers will judge, but I am glad I’ve experimented.
I figure even if I am not growing a following, I am growing in other ways. So I am going to break the classic rule of three and add a fourth rule that matters to me. I appreciate writers who take a risk.
So writers, bring it on! I am ready for some new bold writers to expand my view. Where you lead, I will follow …