Comments on: How a Non-Writer Cranks Out Content

By: Five Ways to Inspire a Culture for Content Marketing by @Frank_Strong

Five Ways to Inspire a Culture for Content Marketing by @Frank_Strong — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:05:16 +0000

[...] contrast will be stark because few people can’t fake the funk for long. For many, it’s hard enough to produce valuable content with passion day in and day out. Great content marketing stands to benefit from a team effort and a [...]

By: blfarris

blfarris — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:27:20 +0000

@BarbaraAlevras I can tell. It’s gotten a lot of love! I’m so glad.

By: BarbaraAlevras

BarbaraAlevras — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 16:13:33 +0000

@blfarris You’re very welcome. Can you tell I love that post?

By: blfarris

blfarris — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:42:32 +0000

@barbaraalevras You’ve been so generous with this post! Thank you…

By: PhilipNowak

PhilipNowak — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:58:48 +0000

Brad,

Writing is really hard for me too, but I have so much to share. It’s funny as I don’t consider myself to be a great or natural writer, but I’ve had people hint at the fact that maybe I should consider a writing career.

1) In 4th or 5th grade, my teachers asked me to join the Young Author’s group. It was basically an elite group of word snipers (I thought of us as the Navy Seals of writers) that wrote stories, poems, and other prose.
2) In high school, I focused my time on writing romantic notes to girls I liked, so that was a HUGE waste of 4 years as none of the girls ever panned out as my life partner. I had no game.
3) College was hilarious. I used to write complete bull$hit to make my teachers laugh, since I never read the material I was writing about.
a) There was the time I wrote an essay about Billy Elliot actually being the tale of a dad’s heartbreak, struggle, and acceptance of his young son’s homosexuality. My Brit Lit professor promptly gave me a C- and wrote, “What are you talking about? You obviously didn’t read the book. You could have at least watched the movie! This paper deserves an F, but your writing mechanics and creative style raised your grade to passing.”
b) How about the time I compared American Slavery to the shackles of nicotine and the tobacco industry? My opening lead,” Joe Cool wouldn’t think smoking was so cool if he knew cigarettes are a modern day version of slavery.” What?? What does that even mean??? My teacher gave me an A- for my imagination.
c) My favorite memory of college writing? My Advanced Macro Economics teacher pulled me aside after class one day and told me point blank, “Phil, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think Economics is the right major for you. You should consider a career as a writer. I laugh out loud whenever I read your papers as you have a special way with words on a topic you clearly don’t know anything about.” My proudest moment, mostly because my former professor is a BALLER at the Federal Reserve now.

My point? Even though I never saw the vision, others apparently did. I thought my writing was horrible and I still do, but I persist as much as I can. I hope that one day it comes naturally to me, but, in the meantime, little tips like the ones you suggested help me get there.

Philip

By: blfarris

blfarris — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:39:20 +0000

@AlexaAnason It’s the only way I get anything finished! Hope it helps.

By: AlexaAnason

AlexaAnason — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:07:38 +0000

@blfarris I like #5. Gotta revert back to the “sloppy copy” days.

By: SarahArg

SarahArg — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:45:13 +0000

@AlexaAnason @blfarris gives me just the boost of confidence I need when it comes to writing copy!

By: blfarris

blfarris — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:18:09 +0000

@alexaanason Glad you liked it! How do you keep the content flowing?

By: AlexaAnason

AlexaAnason — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:58:33 +0000

@saraharg I need this.