Stretching your craft

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

• Stephen King, On Writing

Keep writing.

It will help you find your voice.

There’s no more effective way for finding it than through repetition.

There’s now an ever-growing raft of AI tools and prompts that can write copy for you.

I’ve played with them to bounce things, research, and create content outlines.

AI isn’t a threat because I know nobody writes in the style I do.

There’s more recommended reading at the end of the book, and here’s some techniques and drills you can take to become even better.

Commit to one social media channel, and ship every day for 30-100 days.

Sound familiar? My cadence on LinkedIn is 1-a-week no matter what. What happens over time is your ability to “find things to talk about” increases and becomes easier over time. You can do the same with Twitter, Instagram, an email newsletter, whatever you want. This shouldn’t always be about your business come from a perspective of sharing things that interest you.

Find something you wrote 1-5 years ago, and rewrite it to be better.

Age and experience inform what you do and how you say it. I guarantee you’ll be able to say things better with time. The insights and awareness this exercise grants helps you see progress more clearly, and sometimes that’s hard.

Send pieces for feedback to a trusted circle.

When I send something for feedback, I want the person to rip it to shreds as harshly as they can. I love to challenge myself and the fiery crucible of editor feedback is where I thrive. That’s not everyone’s style though. Pick the people that deliver the feedback you need to hear, but also appreciate the way its delivered.

I still remember the best piece of feedback I got from an online friend for my last book on mental health the first sentence read:

“Your opening is weak.”

It was. I needed to hear it, and I’m a better writer for it.

If you’re serious about being a better writer and the idea of ripping other people’s pieces to shreds is exciting for you too, please email me at hello+firecircle@lukemarshall.net .

I want to start a small private group of people to meet and feedback ruthlessly and regularly on each other’s work.