25 Valuable Lessons from Seriously Successful Writers

Stop it.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

You might think your problems are special, unique, or impossible for anyone else to understand. But you know what?

As writers, we’re all struggling with the same basic problems.

You’re not the only one who doesn’t know what kind of writer to become.

You’re not the only one who spends hours tinkering with sentences – and still hates them.

And you’re not the only one who’ll do anything – clean the bathroom, service the car, even run a marathon – to avoid sitting your butt in that chair and doing the work.

Almost every writer faces problems like procrastination, perfectionism, and self-doubt at one time or another. Even the successful ones.

But the feeling of being totally alone on your writer’s journey is insidious.

It gnaws at your confidence and weakens your resolve.

It causes talented writers to give up when all they need to do is keep going.

And that needs to stop right now …

Why Being a Writer Is Like Driving in the Dark Without a Map

Imagine the scene.

You’re driving along a deserted road.

You haven’t seen another car, another person, or even a road sign in hours.

The car’s old engine has been making a strange rattling sound since you left home, and each time you hit another pothole, you think it might drop right out.

Regardless, you push your fears aside, sit up straight in your seat, and keep driving.

Because while your destination is not on any map, others have told you it’s worth the journey.

But it’ll be dark soon, and the fuel gauge is straying dangerously close to empty …

The recently departed American historical author E.L. Doctorow once said:

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

It’s a powerful metaphor, but if you’re anything like me, you hate feeling lost.

You can’t stand the sense that you might be on the wrong track, leaving a trail ofmisspent time and effort.

Like most writers, I longed for road markings, or helpful directions from someone who’d made the same journey before me.

That’s why I asked 25 top authors, bloggers, and entrepreneurs one simple question:

What was your greatest writing or creative challenge, and how did you overcome it?

This is what they said.

On… Getting the Words Down

1. Ryan Holiday – American author, writer, and marketer

Every writer’s challenge is to figure out exactly what it is that they have to say, specifically what only they can say.

For me, that was a question that had to be answered more with living than with writing.

Going out and doing unusual things was how I ultimately answered it.

That’s what put me on my writing path today.

2. Joel Friedlander – Blogger, writer, publisher, designer, and writing coach

The biggest challenge I’ve ever faced as a writer was writer’s block.

Although I wrote tons of “corporate” or business-oriented pieces, I felt I had no access to my own creative potential, I was just a journeyman, a wordsmith, someone who wrote to other people’s agendas.

The way I solved it was by signing up for a free-writing group.

In this setting, the instructor identified me as a “crushed creative” and showed me many free-writing techniques that would give me access to the unending stream of creativity that’s running all the time in my imagination.

Since that time I’ve never had a difficulty writing, and I built my blog on this ability to write quickly and effectively, in accordance with my own creative impulse.

3. Shawn Coyne – Editor, publisher, literary agent, and writer

The biggest writing challenge for me is actually putting my bottom in the chair and beginning.

How I overcome it is to remember that every writer I’ve ever known has faced the same problem.

The book that really made me understand this general Resistance to doing the work necessary to create a piece of prose is one I acquired and edited years ago… Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.

That book, to this day, lets me know I’m not alone while at the same time, it kicks me hard enough to get me in that chair and begin typing.

4. Joanna Penn – New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Thriller Author, speaker, and entrepreneur.

The biggest writing challenge continues to be actually sitting down to write.

Resistance, as Steven Pressfield calls it, will always find a siren song to call you away.

The only way to overcome it is through routine and habit. Sit your butt in the chair and reach whatever goal you have set – that may be a time period or a word count.

I put headphones on and listen to rain and thunderstorms on repeat – this repetition of sound helps me write in different physical places and drowns out the distractions.

5. Len Markidan – Blogger, marketer, and Fortune 500 productivity consultant

The biggest challenge I’ve always faced has been actually getting words on the page.

I’m a born procrastinator (I even dedicate an entire site to how I’ve overcome this) and can almost always find something more appealing to do than whatever I’ve defined as “work.”

Over the years, I’ve realised that rather than addressing this problem through brute force, I could make my life much easier by building habits and systems around my own shortcomings.

One thing I do now, as soon as I sit down at my desk, is write a single sentence.

A simple, achievable goal that’s so easy, I’m not inclined to put it off for later.

That’s often the hardest part, and once I have one sentence on the page, the rest often flows freely.

6. Nick Loper– Blogger, entrepreneur, and coach

For me, the biggest writing challenge is staring at the blank screen and feeling the pressure to create something awesome from nothing.

It sucks!

So what I’ve started doing to combat that is keeping a couple of “idea” files on hand where I store any potential blog post or future book idea.

I just use Google Docs on my computer and the built-in Notes app on my phone.

When I’m in need of inspiration, I’ll just browse through these files and pick the topic that sounds exciting.

On the writing side itself, I’ve found some success recently in outlining my work first, which I never used to do.

I find it helps organize my thoughts rather than just brain-dumping on the page, and actually makes the writing faster because it’s like filling-in-the-blanks instead of starting completely from scratch.

On … Being Productive

7. Sue Anne Dunlevie – Coach and mentor for bloggers

As my blog became more popular over the last 12 months, my biggest challenge was to keep to my writing schedule.

Sure, it was easy to write for my blog when I didn’t have 100 emails a day and didn’t have 1-1 clients to coach.

Once I added on clients and had to take care of so many emails, I started neglecting my writing. Which is so ironic – I got into blogging because I love to write.

In the past 3+ years, that was the best part of my business.

I relish getting a fresh yellow pad and my favourite pink pen and sitting down to write.

That was my flow time – my relaxation time.

Then writing my blog post just became another to-do on my list. I wasn’t getting joy from it. It was a chore. I knew something had to change – and change quickly.

So I found a great blogging strategist, a blog writing coach, who got me back on track.Daniela Uslan has helped me find joy in writing once again.

She gently asks me the right questions about what I enjoy when writing and has even helped hold my feet to the fire in order to get me on a writing schedule that worked for me.

I’m so glad I found her.

Sometimes we all need a little help in order to face our challenges.

8. Adam Connell – Blogger, online entrepreneur, and marketer

Staying productive while writing has been a big challenge for me.

While I’m still not as productive as I could be, certain changes I’ve made to how I start my day have had a huge impact.

I start each day with some meditation, organise my tasks then start writing a blog post that I’ve researched the afternoon before.

Then in the afternoon I do some research for my next post which I write the following morning.

That’s followed by any email, social or comment management for my blog.

I’ve found that I’m more creative in the mornings and I’m better at editing/researching later on in the day.

Leaving tasks like email till later on help me maintain focus on the project at hand.

9. Danny Iny – Founder of Firepole Marketing, and best-selling author

The biggest writing challenge for me (and for a lot of writers, who probably don’t realize it!), is trying to do two things at once – because writing really has two steps to it: figuring out what ideas you want to share, in what order, and (2) choosing the words to express them.

Doing both at once makes the writing process *much* harder, and the solution is to write a detailed outline first, so that you can separate the two steps out. That’s done wonders for me, and for a lot of my students, too!

10. Jon Morrow – founder of Boost Blog Traffic, and former editor of Copyblogger and KISSMetrics

My biggest challenge was relearning how to write after losing the use of my hands.

For me, writing was always highly tactile. I was able to get into a rhythm that I never really appreciated until my condition (muscular dystrophy) got so severe that I couldn’t really type anymore.

Thankfully, speech recognition software was taking off, so I was able to switch to Dragon Naturally Speaking and continue writing.

But it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Writing by voice was an entirely different experience for me, and it took me a few months to get used to the rhythm and get my writing voice back.

Needless to say, I’m quite comfortable writing by voice now.

In the long run, I think it might’ve even made me a better writer than I was before.

It’s certainly faster.

11. David Allen – Author of Getting Things Done, and founder of the David Allen Company

The biggest challenge I have about writing is creating a standard context, which I consistently access, to write, no matter what.

I still need to coach myself to create the time, space, and environment, and trust that the right writing will show up.

On … Self-Belief and Overcoming Perfectionism

12. Kevan Lee – Content Crafter, Buffer

I like things to be perfect when I publish them.

Personally, I sense this stems from my placing a certain amount of self-worth or ego in the content that I publish, which is something I’m continually keen to improve on. My challenge can be to simply hit Publish, to ship things, when I’d prefer to hold them tight until they are flawless.

“Perfect is the enemy of good” is something I think of often, and while I definitely feel there’s a place for perfection (and the pursuit of perfection), what’s been useful for me is embracing this idea of shipping early, putting your work out there and receiving feedback, and having the courage to create.

Doing it often has helped me overcome my fears, working with a deadline helps too. And the more I do things this way, the more I realize that the small imperfections that I’ve noticed often go unnoticed by others. All this really helps reinforce the great benefits of sharing your work, early and often.

13. Pat Flynn – Blogger, entrepreneur, podcaster, and writer

The writing of the first draft of my new book was a struggle for me because I wanted it to be perfect.

That first draft is really important I’ve learned through reading books like Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and just hearing and getting advice from several other authors out there that you just have to write.

Some people actually take their delete key off their keyboard to force themselves not to be able to actually delete and get into edit mode.

You have to be in just creative mode, which is definitely the opposite of edit mode.

Then I decided, okay, I’ve been big on podcasting. I use my voice a lot.

I’m just doing a brain dump in this first draft, why don’t I just talk it out and have it recorded and then have somebody transcribe that and have that become the first draft.

That’s what I did. I was able to, in about two and a half weeks, finish my first draft of my book which is really cool.

14. Steve Scott – Blogger, nonfiction writer, Kindle publishing, and habit change expert

One of the biggest writing challenges I have faced in the past, and still face today, is perfectionism.

First there is a desire to always do better. The feeling that while what you write may be good, there must be some way to make it better.

Second there is the self-doubt that creeps in over time. More than once I have read something I wrote months before and just think it is awful.

Perfectionism is something that most authors face and must learn to combat.

There are a few methods I use to combat perfectionism.

1. Good is good enough. Nothing you write will likely be perfect. Once you feel that what you write is good enough, ship it!
2. Write often. Writing is a habit that should be done every day. You do not need to write 8 hours daily, writing that much may actually be counterproductive, but an hour or two each day is important. When you write this much, your work will seem better, because it will be better.
3. Don’t be too “wordy”. I think the best writing is direct and to the point. You do not need a lot of flowery accoutrements in your writing. While editing, simplify your writing. With simple writing it is easier to decide if the point you have made is clear.
4. Write first, revise later. Write a terrible draft, give it some time and go back and edit as a separate process. Genius is not in the writing, but in good solid editing. When you do good edits, you can let go of the need to make it “even better” because it should be really good.
5. Send it to a professional editor. I outline. I write. I edit. THEN I send my work off to be edited again by a professional I respect. With two solid edits you can feel secure anything you write is “good enough”.
6. Don’t take yourself too seriously. I don’t think I am writing Shakespeare or that I am the next Ernest Hemingway. I hope my books make a good impact on people’s lives, but I do not try to think that they need to be “revolutionary” or “life changing”. All I hope for is to make them enjoyable and something that people will perhaps learn something from. Keep your ego in check when writing. The writing is not about you, it is about what you can do for others.

15. Bryan Hutchinson – Author, blogger and founder of Positive Writer

The biggest writing challenge I ever faced was myself.

The belief that I wasn’t good enough and the extreme skepticism that I could write work that others would want to read.

In short, I doubted myself. It was debilitating and for years I didn’t write because of it.

Overcoming doubt wasn’t easy.

It took years.

I wrote in a private journal and I started blogs that I shared with only a few people in my circle of trust.

Over the years as I continued to write, and slowly, but surely, shared my work with more and more people, my confidence began to increase.

Of course, there’s much more to the story than that, but ultimately, the key to overcoming doubt for me was actually writing for myself and eventually sharing my work with those who I knew cared about me and what I was writing about.

As my confidence increased I shared my work with more and more people.

16. Henneke – Copywriter, Author, Marketer, and Writing Coach

The biggest writing challenge I’ve faced is starting my blog. I didn’t see myself as a writer. I didn’t think I could blog. I had no confidence.

But I desperately wanted to leave my corporate job, so I needed a way out.

How did I overcome my self-doubt?

I took Jon Morrow’s guest blogging course, and the main thing I learned was that writing isn’t magic. You can learn how to apply writing techniques to make your content engaging, persuasive, and inspirational. I read a pile of copywriting books.

I started to study blog posts and analyzed what kept me reading on and when my mind started wandering off. With hard work and determination, most people can learn how to write well.

Now, I coach others to become better writers, and I’m not even a native English speaker. If you’d told me that two or three years ago, I would have said you’re crazy.

On … The Craft of Writing

17. Johnny B. Truant– Indie author, blogger, and podcaster

Back when we started the Self Publishing Podcast, I was supposed to join Sean and Dave on the show as the “everyman” writer because I’d only written one book and couldn’t manage to complete a second – despite years of trying.

The problem at the time was that my characters never really did anything. They just kind of stood around and talked.

Even when I added action, the action never went anywhere. Working with Sean and Dave helped me see that although I thought I was a “pure pantser” (making things up as I went along), I actually worked much better as something between a “pantser” and a “plotter.”

Today, Sean and I work using “story beats,” where we roughly map out the main points of what will happen and I figure out the details between them as I go.

That hybrid approach has changed me from a writer who couldn’t finish a second book to one who now publishes 1.5 million words (about 1 1/2 times the full Harry Potter series) per year.

18. Gregory Ciotti  – Lead Content Strategist and Writer for Help Scout

The greatest challenge I’ve faced is the temptation to impress. Writers are traffickers of wit and wisdom, and we want so badly to leave lasting impressions. But in trying to prove ourselves we can end up being selfish. I’ve always been fond of this quote from Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker: “Bad writers don’t point to something in the world but are self-conscious about not seeming naïve about the pitfalls of their own enterprise.”

To overcome this anxiety, write for an audience of one. A single person. Not a “persona,” by the way, a real person. I’ve found having someone in mind creates a desire to serve. You’ll care less about impressing a faceless audience and care more about solving the problems of someone in need.

19. Mary Jaksch – Author and Editor of Write To Done

My biggest writing challenge was starting to write for an online audience. When I started blogging, I was already a published author and my book, Learn to Love, was published in 7 different languages.

Just before starting my first blog, I had come back from a trip to Brazil. My book had just been translated into Portuguese and I felt proud to see a huge pile of my book displayed in bookstore at Rio de Janeiro airport.

As you can imagine, I felt pretty confident about my writing when I started to blog. I thought, ‘ Well, this blogging thing is technically challenging, but at least I know how to write!”

How wrong can you be…

When I finally published my first posts, I was in for a shock. First of all, nobody read my posts. In fact, for three months I only had two subscribers, my son Sebastian and my best friend Birgit. I was so desperate that I subscribed my cat, Sweetie – just to get up to three subscribers!

And when readers finally found me, they didn’t like my way of writing.  It was demoralizing…

Really, the style of writing I had developed when writing my book didn’t work at all online. I used long, complex paragraphs and had a preachy undertone that put off potential subscribers.

When I finally admitted that I had to change the way I wrote, I started studying all the research I could find about the way people read online. And then I adapted my style accordingly.

It took me a whole year to recalibrate my style of writing. These days, my mission is to help people become influencers and outstanding online writers. As an example, here is a post about how to evoke emotions in your writing.

20. Tim Brownson – Life coach, and blogger

My biggest challenge was rushing to publish. I never write a post before I need it and sometimes I’d be so excited I’d publish without editing properly.

I think after the 20th complaint that a blind monkey on acid would make fewer typos I realized I needed to take editing a tad more seriously or lose readers.

One of the best bits of advice I was given was to read each post out loud after editing as it will often highlight mistakes that the brain has ignored when reading. I still make mistakes, but probably about 5% of what I used to do.

21. Carol Tice – Freelance writer, author, and blogger at Make A Living Writing

One big one came early in my career, when I got my first shot at writing a long feature.

It was an expose on a right-wing group that had recently come to Los Angeles, and a woman who infiltrated their organization. I had a ton of amazing information, and my first draft for this 3000-word assignment was about twice as long!

I had no idea how I would cut it down. I was drowning. So the only thing to do was — get help.

I started with a writer friend who wrote for TV and had written a nonfiction book. I’ll never forget the advice she gave me about using active, present-tense verbs instead of passive ones — once I turned “had been going to the store” into “went to the store” throughout, that alone cut some serious word count!

I think it was 5,000 words when I brought it to my editor and basically said, “Help!” He read it, and gave me a road-map of how to shrink it down, what could be cut entirely, what could be said more succinctly and how. I’ll always be grateful. The final story was optioned for a movie — twice — and I ended up making over $20,000 from it.

Even better, I learned to ask questions of editors, and ask for help if you need it, an approach that’s served me well with all sorts of writing clients. It’s also the approach I used working with Jon to write my first guest post for Copyblogger — on his advice, we actually tossed out the first draft completely and I wrote an entirely new idea for the first post with his guidance. It ended up in Best of Copyblogger for that year.

On … The Business of Writing

22. James Chartrand – Blogger, copywriter, and founder of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words

One might actually suggest that writing itself is the biggest challenge – and the only way to overcome it is by writing.

But that’s getting philosophical, and I digress.

I’ve probably touched on every writing challenge that exists, at some time or another.

Writer’s block, apathy, disillusionment, comparison bias… but I don’t hang onto those for long.

They’re all luxuries that can’t coexist in a business environment.

If you want to succeed, if you want to make money, you need to get over yourself and get on with the writing work.

My most recent “luxury” was apathy towards my blog – I hadn’t written for it in a long time because I was bored with the topic, disengaged with my audience and feeling like I’d said it all.

So I decided to go back through older posts and rework them completely, applying what I know today to make them so much better.

The exercise helped me get back to my roots, revisit the enjoyment I used to feel about blogging and sparked my interest in writing about new and related topics.

It worked so well that I recommend this to everyone, actually, and you can read more about it here.

23. Demian Farnworth – Chief copywriter for Copyblogger Media

Finding my way out of ghostwriting.

When I got my start as a freelancer I discovered that ghostwriting work was abundant.

I took it in by the loads. But I also discovered I hated doing it. Though I made decent money from it, I couldn’t stand the fact that someone else was getting credit for it.

I learned that side of the business wasn’t for me, so as the work dried up, I didn’t take any new ghostwriting work on.

Instead, I started marketing myself as a professional writer for hire — someone who could help elevate the visibility of a company while still keeping his byline. I’m fortunate to be able to do that at Copyblogger.

24. Tom Evans – Writer, author’s mentor, and teacher of mindfulness

My biggest writing challenge has always been promotion of a book once it’s been written.

Writers can be quite self-effacing, shy and retiring kind of creatures and I fall into that category.

To date, my approach to marketing a book has been to write another one and another one, in the vain hope the latest book will somehow magically up sell the ones before. With my latest two books, I have taken a new approach.

I love writing, and creative endeavours in general, and this is why I’ve got stuck into writing another book as opposed to selling and promoting the one I had just finished.

So what I’ve done with my latest two books is to channel my creativity at their marketing.

This then doesn’t make it either as scary or boring.

So what does my new world look like?

Well, I have my own podcast show, called The Zone Show, based on the last book but one, called The Zone. This has been the best networking tool ever.

I get to reach the tribes of my guests and many guests have their own shows and interview me in return.

My latest book, New Magic for a New Era, is the progenitor of a huge spin off industry. I am half way through creation of a self-study product to augment each chapter.

Each product I release creates more buzz for the book as well as more revenue. The whole result has been a spiral of creativity and sales.

This in turn has created a nice flow of passive income which by summer will give me enough income so I can get back to writing again without worrying about where the money is coming from.

25. Hugh C. Howey – Best-selling author of the “Molly Fyde” and “Wool” sagas

My biggest writing challenge was learning to write with an expectant audience.

It was so much easier to write my first five novels, back when the only people waiting with bated breath were my partner and my mom.

When I suddenly had tens of thousands and then millions of readers waiting on the next release, I became a lot more self-critical and a lot less self-confident.

The quality of my writing went down as I began trying too hard.

There were a few weeks where I deleted everything I wrote.

This caused me to panic, and I had to remind myself that I was just writing the stories I wanted to write, that I didn’t have to please anyone but myself, that no one would read any of this other than my mom.

And my mom would always be proud.

Most of the challenges of writing have come with success, which is to say that they are great problems to have.

How to balance writing time with other demands. How to have a balanced family life with travel.

How to manage finances when income fluctuates. How to keep expectations realistic, enjoy the moment, but know that it is never meant to last.

It can be a rollercoaster, watching an entertainment career take off. But I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Just a Little Further, You’re Almost There …

As a writer, realizing you’ve only got a vague idea of where you’re going or wondering if you’re going to reach your destination any time soon is never pleasant.

This roundup post has uncovered the challenges experienced writers faced on their individual creative journeys and revealed the solutions they found.

All of the interviewees have dealt with failures and successes of all types over the years, and they’re still going. They’ve overcome problems we can all empathize with.

If you’re struggling with your craft, and a solution isn’t in sight, don’t take this as a sign that you should put down your pen, turn around, and go home.

Instead, the next time you encounter a problem, use the 25 solutions in this post as directions for your creative journey.

You just have to be brave enough to keep going.

To view the original article Click Here

7 Tips for Writers Drowning in a Sea of Unwritten Content

The blank screen. The huge list of content to create. The intense desire to hide under the duvet.

You’ve got so much writing to do.

But your life is packed full. You don’t have enough time.

So you get more behind every day.

What’s worse, every other blogger you know seems to have no problem churning out post after post after post.

Are you the only one who struggles with their writing workload?

Don’t believe it for a second.

If your biggest problem is not having enough time to write, you’re perfectly normal. Almost every blogger out there feels the same way.

Why Every Blogger Feels Short of Time, Most of the Time

Bloggers struggle with a lack of time even more than most writers.

• We have tons of content to produce: not just posts for our own blogs, but guest posts for other people’s blogs, freebie incentives, ebooks, ecourses, social media updates …
• We have a heck of a lot of distractions: social media, endless emails, comments to moderate and answer, people to network with, and the inevitable and unwelcome techy headaches that go with running a blog …
• We have other work to do: either a day job – full-time or part-time – or an income stream (like coaching, or creating information products, or doing client work) that takes up most of our time.

So how do we get it all done?

Well, most bloggers simply don’t.

They lose momentum with their own blog, posting so infrequently that readers drift away. They rarely or never guest post. They don’t even make enough money to cover their hosting bill.

Eventually, they quit blogging altogether.

Are you slipping down that path too?

Trust me, I get it. Overwhelm can crush your writing spirit. You can only fight to keep up for so long. And even as you struggle on day by day, the temptation to give up grows and grows.

And yet … some bloggers do manage to make a huge splash.

They make the time to write – a lot. They constantly learn and improve.

They grow an audience. They get noticed. They make money.  It’s hard work, sure, but it’s incredibly rewarding to meet your goals and live your dreams.

So don’t let your blog become yet another abandoned, dusty corner of the Internet.

Don’t let your dreams fade and die.

Here’s how to regain control of your writing schedule and turn things around:

Tip #1: Step Away from the Keyboard

When I’m faced with far too much writing and far too little time, sometimes I look at my to-do list, take a deep breath, and …

… panic.

No, I’m not recommending this.  Panic-based writing really isn’t a good idea.

But maybe you’ve seen this in your own work. You glance at your writing to-do list, immediately get a knot in your stomach, and then leap at the computer and type as fast as you can on whatever topic appeals at that moment.

You start at a breakneck pace, and you keep going without pausing to reflect.

An hour later, you realize that you hate the topic you chose, and you don’t have enough material for a post anyway. Maybe you should just practice plastering a smile on your face and asking, “Would you like fries with that?”

A week later, you realize you forgot some crucial part of your content calendar (which exists only in your head) and wonder if anyone noticed.

Confession time: after returning from maternity leave and diving back into things, a month passed before I noticed I hadn’t sent out a single issue of my supposedly weekly email newsletter … oops.

So don’t panic. Instead, take another deep breath, and step away from the computer.

Grab a pen and paper, and write down any of the following:

• Regular writing commitments. Daily, weekly or monthly. Blog posts. Email newsletters. New modules for your week-by-week ecourse. Ideally, use this as a basis for a content calendar, where you include a title (or at least a topic) for each piece of regular content over the next month.
• One-off writing commitments. Guest posts. Email interviews. Individual client projects, if you’re a freelance writer. You may want to merge this with your content calendar or have two separate ones: whatever works for you.

I like to plan on paper because it helps me focus. Here’s what I’ve got on my plan for the next couple of weeks:

If you can’t get everything done, figure out where ditching or delaying content will do the least harm. Your blog will probably be fine without a post this week – but that guest post you’ve promised to an editor really needs to get in by the deadline, or you’re unlikely to be invited back in the future.

Tip #2: Stop Committing to So Much Writing

If you’re constantly struggling to fit your writing into the time you have available … you’re trying to do too much.

Well, duh. You knew that already. Except it seems to keep on happening.

If taking on too much is a recurring problem for you, you need to work on saying “no” – not just to other people, but to yourself.

Chances are, you’ve already got too much on your plate. So while you’re building your “no” muscles, try the following:

• Ask for extra time with guest posts or client projects (especially if the scope has increased beyond what was initially discussed – this gives you a good excuse). You definitely shouldn’t make a habit of doing this, but it’s better to be up-front and renegotiate a deadline rather than miss it entirely.
• Cut down on how much you write for your own blog or newsletter. You could either do this by posting and emailing less frequently, or by writing shorter pieces. If you’ve never asked your readers how often they want to hear from you, find out: by blogging daily when they want two posts per week, you may well be losing readers as well as clogging up your writing time.
• Reuse old material. This could be as simple as linking to posts from your archive, or it could mean dusting off an old post, updating it, and republishing it. If you’ve been blogging for a while, many of your readers probably have never read some of your early posts.

Saying “no” can be really tough, especially if you’re worried about missing out on a potentially great opportunity, or if you’re anxious not to offend anyone.

But it’s how you say “no” that matters. Do it right and you’ll protect yourself from writing overload without closing any doors.

How to Say “No” While Leaving Room for a “Yes” Later (on Your Terms)

A quick Google search will give you plenty of advice on saying “no” – but here’s one simple trick that works for me:

Whenever someone asks you to write a guest post (or reply to interview questions, or take part in a podcast…) just respond like this:

Thanks so much for thinking of me! I’m really busy right now, but I might have some time in a couple of months. Could you drop me a line in [month] and I’ll see if I’ve got space in my schedule?

This way, the onus is on them to remember to ask you again (and often they won’t). If you decide, belatedly, that you actually would love to take them up on that opportunity, simply email again:

I’ve had a bit of time open up in my schedule, and wondered if you’d still like me to [write a guest post for you / be an interviewee on your blog / etc]? If so, just shoot me the details and I’ll be glad to help!

You can use this technique on yourself too. Any time you’re about to take on a new writing commitment, stop, tell yourself you’re going to wait a few days before committing, and put a note in your calendar to review at an appropriate point.

Also think about how valuable each finished piece of content is. Sure, it’s important to blog regularly, but if skipping a couple of posts this month means you can finish your opt-in incentive, that’s probably an even better use of your time.

Tip #3: Use Your “Weird” Time to Sneak in Some Writing

Your life might look nothing like mine. (Right now, a good amount of my time revolves around two young children, mountains of laundry, and washing-up created in their wake.)

It’s a safe bet, though, that your life – like mine – involves some “weird time.”

Weird time (hat-tip to Naomi Dunford’s fab marketing newsletter for introducing me to the term) includes all those little pockets of time where you’re stuck waiting for something.

You’re sitting in the car, waiting for pick-up time at your kid’s school.

You’re sitting in the dentist’s waiting room, waiting for your appointment.

You’re sitting on the sofa, waiting for an ad break to end.

It’s easy to use weird time to flip through a magazine or stare into space or look at Facebook on your phone.

But nothing’s stopping you from using it to write.

Sure, your pockets of weird time might be really small. But maybe, on an average day, you have a total of ten minutes or so.

You could use that time to jot down a bunch of ideas for blog posts or outline posts based on previous ideas. Keep a little notebook and a pen in your pocket or bag and you’ll never have to stare at the clock in your dentist’s waiting room again.

By the end of a week, you’ll have clocked up a good hour of brainstorming and planning – and that could be all you need to get back on top of all your writing.

Multitask During Mundane Time

A not-too-distant cousin of weird time is mundane time.

Mundane time is the time you spend doing the dishes or driving to your day job or picking up the kids’ toys or running on the treadmill.

It needs doing. It takes your physical presence but not necessarily much of your mental presence.

Mundane time doesn’t gel well with writing – your hands are probably occupied – but it’s an ideal opportunity to learn more about writing, blogging, or business.

If you’ve bought any audio seminars or webinars that you’ve failed to listen to, load them onto your phone or tablet so that you can fire them up during your next chunk of mundane time.

Otherwise, just subscribe to some good podcasts that help you with your goals. I’m currently enjoying This is Your Life (Michael Hyatt),  The Creative Giant Show (Charlie Gilkey), The Creative Penn podcast (Joanna Penn), and the new ProBlogger podcast(Darren Rowse).

Alternatively, if you’re keen to use this time to create, try recording audio notes or outlines for blog posts using your smartphone or a digital recorder.

Tip #4: Ditch and Streamline Your Non-Writing Tasks

You’ve almost certainly got some blog-related tasks eating up what could be good time – things like replying to emails, being active on social media, uploading posts, and so on.

The usual advice here is to hire an assistant. And if you can afford to do so, please go ahead! But if you’re blogging for passion not profit, or you want to make money but are barely scraping together enough income to cover the hosting bill, hiring an assistant might be a bit out of reach.

Instead …

Set Expectations about Response Times

Set expectations – yours and other people’s.

With emails, you might want to include something on your contact page along the lines of “I normally reply to emails within 48 hours” to let readers know what to expect from you. That way, you can respond to emails in one batch, rather than dropping everything to answer each query as it comes in.

With comments, holding back from replying instantly can give your readers space to interact with one another, and you may find that you build a stronger community on your blog with a slightly “hands off” approach. People will learn not to expect you to reply right away.

And trust me, you do not need to be checking Facebook and Twitter every few minutes. Followers do not expect an immediate reply, and the nature of social media is such that you don’t have to reply to everything.

Just remember, social media can be a distraction – and it pulls you out of the flow of writing.

Get More Efficient

Have specific times of day for certain tasks. You might, for instance, read and reply to emails at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm every day. You might only go onto social media sites during coffee breaks (set an alarm to go off after 10 minutes, so you don’t lose track of time).

And, on a social media note, don’t spread yourself too thin. Posting on five different social media sites is pointless – pick the one or two where your core audience is most likely to be active, and just use those.

Develop Processes for Repeated Tasks

You probably have all sorts of tasks that you do on a daily, weekly, or at least monthly basis. Even if these only take you a few minutes each time, that time adds up.

A clear process not only saves you time, but it also prevents you from forgetting crucial steps, and it means you can more easily hand over the task to an assistant in the future.

For instance, you could use the following:

• Canned (template) responses for emails. If you find that readers email you the same questions repeatedly, come up with a simple response that you can customize easily. I use the Gmail extension Canned Responses for this, and I find it invaluable.
• Checklists for tasks such as sending out your email newsletter. It’ll save you time and help you be consistent. You’ll also avoid embarrassing mistakes (like broken links that you forgot to check). Keep this wherever makes most sense for you: I use the notebook section of The Journal from DavidRM Software; you might prefer Scrivener, Google Docs, or even a Word document.

Here’s the checklist I use for sending out weekly emails to my Writers’ Huddle members:

Weekly Emails

Checklist:

• Copy last week’s email.
• Change subject line.
• Change date.
• Follow pattern below for content.
• Change latest seminar in footer if 1st Monday.
• Test.
• Schedule for Monday, 11:15 am Eastern.

Huddle emails pattern:

• 1st Monday – new seminar announcement
• 2nd Monday – seminar reminder; if you enjoyed this seminar, you might also enjoy…
• 3rd Monday – this time last year…
• 4th Monday – this time two & three years ago…
• (5th Monday – mini-course to check out)

Tip #5: Focus on the Quality of the Result, Not the Quantity of the Writing

In the blogosphere, you can get caught up in numbers easily. Perhaps you find yourself focusing on how many posts you’ve written, or how many words you’ve written … and that could be taking your attention away from what matters.

Would you rather write ten so-so guest posts that bring you twenty new readers each, or write one fantastic guest post that brings you two hundred new readers (and the attention of some big name bloggers)?

Either way, the numbers are the same: you get two hundred new readers. But writing ten posts – even ten hasty posts – probably will take you longer than writing one. Plus, pouring your heart into that one great post will be much more rewarding.

When you’re setting your goals, look for alternatives that will take less time but net you similar (or perhaps even greater) rewards.

That might mean the following:

• Spending three hours on a single weekly blog post, not five hours on five daily posts.
• Sending out a monthly newsletter with great fresh content, not a weekly one with a couple of sentences and a few links.
• Producing one great ecourse as an opt-in incentive, rather than a library of five mini ebooks.

Don’t get me wrong; quantity still matters.

Five guest posts going up in a single week will make more impact than five posts going up across five months. But simply being prolific won’t be enough to make you successful – and doing so could easily make you burn out fast.

Tip #6: Stop Waiting – Use Your Best Ideas Now!

Maybe you’ve got some great ideas that you’re sitting on for now … until your blog is bigger. Until you have the right guest posting opportunity. Until you feel ready to write them.

But by ignoring the ideas you already have, you’re forcing yourself to spend time coming up with even more ideas – time that could be spent writing the ones you already have.

So stop saving your best ideas for some perfect future time. You can – and will! – have more great ideas in the future. By using the great ideas you already have, you’ll stretch the mental muscles for coming up with new ones.

Plus, those big opportunities might not come at all until you’ve written the best posts you’re currently capable of.

It’s only by writing your best posts that you grow as a writer – so that the next time you have a great idea, you can make even more of it.

When you’ve exhausted your best ideas list, it’s time to generate some more. Try the following:

• Stop waiting for the muse to strike. Intentionally brainstorm new ideas. “Weird time” is good for this (see above). You may struggle to allow yourself time to play around with ideas and research when you’ve got loads of words to write … but strong ideas make for easy-to-write posts.
• Survey your readers to find out what they want to read. This may well surprise you. One of my most popular posts, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, was suggested by a reader comment. I used the title word-for-word and acknowledged them in the post.
• Revisit the ideas you threw on the scrapheap. Even your so-so ideas might, with a little bit of work, become something truly special.

Step #7: Become a Super-Productive Writer by Batching Similar Tasks

You probably already know it’s a good idea to batch routine tasks together – replying to a bunch of emails at once, rather than answering each as it comes in, for instance.

While writing is a bit more creative than many other tasks, you can still use the batching system.

The different stages of the writing process – coming up with ideas, creating plans, drafting, and then editing – can be tricky to do one after the other. Some involve more creative energy (ideas, drafting) and other are more analytical (plans, editing).

So, instead of starting with an idea, going straight from that into a plan then a draft, and so on, try this week-long plan. (Feel free to tweak the timings to suit you.)

• Monday (am): Come up with 10 ideas for your blog and 10 ideas for guest posts.
• Monday (pm): Write outlines for five posts for your blog and five guest posts.
• Tuesday and Wednesday: Draft several posts over two days. Just pick an outline you wrote yesterday, copy it into your document (or the WordPress editor), and start writing. Having something down on the page is a huge psychological boost.
• Thursday: Edit your posts, looking for ways to add greater value to the reader – e.g., by including clear action steps, or links to further information.
• Friday: Proofread and publish your posts – or if they’re guest posts, submit them to the blog editors.

Batching tasks like this may feel unnatural at first (for instance, when you finish the first draft of a post, you may feel the urge to edit it right away), but frequently switching gears between different types of tasks can be hugely inefficient.

And think of it like this, how will you improve your productivity unless you try something that feels different? Doing the same things will lead to the same results.

What Will YOU Do Differently This Week?

No blogger ever feels they have enough time to write. (If you think it’s different for the big names, check out this post by father-of-three Darren Rowse.)

If you want to be more productive, be more proactive.

Get focused on your goals, look for crafty ways to achieve more with less work, and streamline your writing process as much as possible.

You don’t need to try every one of the tips above right away – but if you can get even one or two of them implemented in your writing life, you’ll see a huge difference.

So this week, choose one idea from the post to put into action. Write it down, commit to it, and review how your writing’s going in a week’s time.

Don’t let overwhelm drag you down. Get back on top of your writing.

And soon other bloggers will look at your writing output and wonder:

How on earth do they do it?

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The Blogger’s Guide to Telling Stories That Win Hearts and Minds

Have you ever wondered if people even care about your writing?

You pour out your heart and soul, but sometimes that feels like shouting your words down a bottomless abyss.

You know you have a world of knowledge to pass on – but you have no idea how to wrap it into an exciting package your readers will love.

Could it be that … your writing just isn’t engaging enough?

After all, if even famous writers like Hemingway or Steinbeck took many, many years to excel in their craft, how are you supposed to instantly produce a moving masterpiece out of thin air?

You just feel overwhelmed.

And when the time comes to crank out another post, that huge blank space with the relentlessly blinking cursor … frankly, it’s terrifying. Because you fear the response to your efforts will be radio silence … once again.

Luckily, you have a fool-proof technique at your disposal that is guaranteed to make your readers long for every word you write.

And it’s been around forever.

The Incredible Power of Stories to Win Hearts and Minds

As humans, words are perhaps our most powerful tools. Words have crushed souls and built empires. So let me tell you a little story about the true power of words.

It’s the story of Scheherazade, a young girl in ancient Persia, who was facing execution, scheduled for the next morning.

Curiously, she had brought herself into her situation on purpose. She had agreed to marry the king.

The king’s first wife cheated on him, and he felt so angry and bitter that he decided to make sure it never happened again: by bedding a new virgin wife every night and having her decapitated the next morning.

But Scheherazade wasn’t just stunningly beautiful; she was also extraordinarily smart. She had a plan to snap the king out of his bloodthirsty frenzy. Every night, she would tell him one of the most bewitching, mesmerizing stories he had ever heard and interrupt it right at its peak, promising to continue the next night.

And every night, the king spared her life for just one more day.

But for how long could she continue this dangerous game?

You’ll have to wait to find out. But first, let’s take a look at the powerful trick Scheherazade employed.

Why a 30,000-Year-Old Trick Still Works Today

As long as humans have existed, we have been hardwired to satisfy one urge. (No, it’s not what you think.) I’m talking about storytelling.

Some 30,000 years ago, when our ancestors carved the thrilling tale of their last mammoth hunt into rock walls, their scraggly-haired friends must have consumed these stories eagerly.

That’s because the need for stories is rooted deeply inside our brains.

It’s the reason you love watching movies or TV. The reason you exchange your latest personal adventures over a cup of coffee. The reason we tell bedtime stories to our kids and the reason you can’t help but check your Facebook page for updates from friends.

We’re addicted to stories because we get the thrill of a new experience without risking pain or hardship ourselves. And they’re a form of communication. We live and relive events through stories.

And our brains process stories differently. Stories engage a deeper part of our brains than any logical explanation ever could — it’s the emotional part, the “Ugh-I-once-felt-that-too” part. And we connect at a much deeper level than information delivered in the abstract.

Author David Mamet famously stated, “The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. No one would or will. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama.”

When you think about it, that’s exactly the reason we read the entertainment, sports, even politics section of the news.

Humans crave drama – so feed it to them like candy!

But how does this apply to you as a blogger?

How to Avoid Drowning in a Sea of Forgettable Bloggers

As stories connect so deeply with our emotions, content that uses storytelling is also more memorable than bare facts alone.

In fact, stories are 22 times more memorable than bare facts.

Pack any bit of information you want to pass on to your reader into a story, and it will stay with him. Stories mean emotion, and emotion means deeply engraving the lesson into your reader’s brain.

Here is a demonstration. Which advice would you have listened to more closely as a kid:

“Don’t feed the grizzly; it’s dangerous.”

or

“Little Charlie from across the street tried to feed the grizzly last week and got his arm torn into a bloody mash.”

Take your pick.

Because here is the harsh blogging truth: People forget the lessons they learn online, even the ones they absolutely love. Life gets in the way. But next time your reader is standing in her kitchen, wondering about what to bake, she might remember that funny story about the dog that stole the blueberry pie… and use exactly that recipe from your cooking blog.

Finally, if you do nothing else but inform your reader with your content, you are missing out on one of the main reasons he came to you in the first place: Entertainment.

Whether they know it or not, your readers are also surfing the Internet for distraction. And if you can include stories in your blog, you’ll make reading fun. And they’ll stick around.

But you might wonder if storytelling even applies to your blog. Storytelling is for novels and movies and TV shows, right? But blogging? How does that work?

Let’s find out …

Storytelling: The Swiss Army Knife for Self-Reliant Bloggers

You may not believe it yet, but you can use storytelling for virtually any blogging topic.

Writing a post for your car maintenance blog about how to change a fan belt? Tell a story about how many years ago, your uncle’s fan belt tore while he was on his way to a date. He tried changing it and arrived covered in engine oil.

Writing about how to calculate the centroid of a trapezium on your math blog? Tell them about your excitement for mathematical formulas and how your parents found out about it by observing you drawing geometrical figures in the sandbox all day long.

No topic is too abstract for a story, once you find a way to relate it to people.

It’s great for posts that already have a kind of narrative flow: ultimate guides, “How to” posts, bonding posts, case studies, or opinion pieces.

But you can also use storytelling for posts that just contain bare lists, like a list of resource links. Just put your story in the opening or the closing of the post.

Here is the basic rule: You can tell a story in any post that includes at least a little snippet of continuous text.

And your secret weapon of storytelling isn’t just limited to posts. You can use stories tosell products or to connect with your list as well.

The following are some examples of how to do it:

• Roundup posts. Set the context with a story. If your post is about getting more followers on Facebook, tell the story of how you struggled to grow your following until you applied the advice of certain experts. You could also insert a story into the participants’ bios.
• Interviews. Frame your questions with stories. For example: “Amanda, I know in your first two months of blogging your blog saw a whopping total of 23 visitors. Today, you have ramped it up to 40,000 visitors per month. Which tools most helped you to make your blog a success?”
• Opinion pieces. Describe an experience that led you to form your opinion, and describe it in the form of a story. Look at the topic and find an association that holds a story. Make your opinion or attitude a story in itself by describing how it makes you behave.
• “Wake-up call” posts. Paint the future story of the best case and worst case scenarios: What will happen if the reader doesn’t change their behavior? What will happen if they do? Show the domino effect of good or bad events. Once you have a chronological sequence, you have a story — things are happening one after the other.
• “Cause” posts. Let’s say you decide to lead the fight against a new regulation your readers hate. Tell the story of that witty email you wrote to the bureau, starting with the hopeless quest to find the email of the right person. It’s David versus Goliath, and readers love to root for the underdog.
• About Pages. Using personal stories on your “About” page helps you appear like a real human being – not a faceless digital ghost. Also, choose stories that make you stand out, even if it’s in an awkward way. Aaron Iba, in his “About” page, simply scanned a psychological evaluation from his childhood days. It diagnoses him as a highly intelligent kid … with ADD. And it definitely makes him look very human.
• Product Reviews. Tell the story of how a time management product “saved your life” or a fertilizer killed your favorite plant. But be truthful – this is not the place for invented stories.
• Sales Pages. If you have a product or service to sell, write testimonials as success stories. Let a happy customer describe how your financial coaching paid for itself in a few weeks and left them with money in their pockets at the end of every month.
• Email newsletters. Personal stories help subscribers identify with you, but writing about your grandma’s gum surgery will look odd without the relevant context, so link it to your blog topic. A photography blogger might tell the story of toppling over backwards trying to shoot a photo of the tip of the Eiffel Tower. And by the way, to achieve a pleasant contrast when shooting against a bright sky, this is what you have to do…

As you can see, bloggers can use stories just about anywhere.

But why are they so effective?

5 Ways Stories Can Supercharge Your Writing

Here are just a few of the ways stories can lend power to your writing.

1. Stories Add Clarity and Credibility

If you want to demonstrate a point, a story is ideal because it shows how your lesson played out in the real world. A story is like a testimonial for your tip.

In ancient times, when Uagh told Uggah (both conventional stone age names, I assume) how his mammoth hunting friend had broken through the ice layer never to be seen again, it wasn’t just to give Uggah the slight kick that he had outlived his friend. It also served as a testimonial, a warning of the precise spot of danger on the ice.

We trust the experience of others, that’s why testimonials work so well. And we pass our experiences on in the form of stories.

Anthony Metivier shows us how the mind can suppress memory and gives an example with a little story about his near-plane-crash-experience.

2. Stories Bond You to Your Readers

A Masai Warrior and a New York stockbroker live in totally different realities, but they both know the joys of a task well done or the fear of losing someone. The one thing they have in common are the same emotions.

If you tell your own story and share your emotions, you’ll bond the reader to you.

Sarah Peterson lays it all out about how she struggled in her relationship while becoming an entrepreneur. Sarah’s readers share the goal of leaving the 9-to-5 grind, so this is a courageous post that taps deeply into their fears and desires. It makes the reader feel understood.

In your bonding story, share your authentic feelings. Letting your most private feelings go public for the whole world to see can be scary. But these feelings are exactly what will make your story work so well.

3. Stories Provide Entertainment and Variety

People love to be entertained. So share something fun, outrageous, or surprising.

Chuck Wendig, in this example, shows off his radical and entertaining writing style. In an imaginary conversation about a figure his reader created, he writes:

When I talk to you about your character, and you start to tell me, “Well, she has to find the DONGLE OF MAGIC to fight the WIZARD OF BADNESS and then she tames HORBERT THE MANY-HEADED DRAGON,” I immediately start to cross my eyes. I emit drool. I have a small seizure and then fall into a torpid grief-coma. Grief over what you’ve done to the human condition.

The post wouldn’t have lost any information without this paragraph, but it’s fun and draws the reader in.

4. Stories Help You Win Your Reader’s Attention

The purpose of your opening is to catch the reader’s attention and draw them into your post. Stories do this naturally.

This post begins “Food changed my life,” and the phrase is strange enough to get readers curious. How could something as commonplace as food have changed the author’s life? What does he mean? Is it about losing weight? Or the hidden additives in our modern diet? Or the torturous taste of fried tarantula?

Reading on, the author talks of pushing his trolley among “soulless food” and of how he “hates food.” We all need food, so how can he possibly hate it? (And still, we might have secretly felt the same way some time after consuming too much McDonald’s food.)

Each new sentence seems to raise as many questions as it answers, and before the reader knows it, they’re drawn deeply into your post and train of thought.

So throw your reader a hook, let them bite, and reel them in on the fishing line of their own curiosity and appetite for drama.

5. Stories Inspire People to Take Action

One of the best ways to close your posts is with a call to arms – inviting your reader to act now.

So use a story to paint a vivid and inspiring future for your reader.

This Copyblogger post is about touching people with your writing. In its last paragraph, it tells the story of the future you, the heartfelt writer, affecting the lives of thousands of people with your writing:

Give them a reason to laugh. Give them a reason to cheer. Give them a reason to keep fighting, even when they feel like all hope is lost.

Do that, and you won’t have to search for readers. They’ll search for you. You’ll boot up your computer one morning to find thousands upon thousands of them waiting for you, ready to listen, ready to learn, ready to launch into action.

And that’s when you’ll realize: you’re not just a writer anymore. Word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, you’re changing the world.

Maybe you’re like Don [Draper, from ‘Mad Men’], lying on a couch, sipping a glass of bourbon, or maybe you’re not. Either way, you gotta admit…

It’s pretty freaking cool.

Jon Morrow skillfully fires up his reader’s emotions, and boy, do you want to go out and write after reading it.

How to Find the Perfect Story for Any Situation

Having been convinced of the universal power of storytelling – even for bloggers – you might be wondering where your stories come from.

How do you find that mesmerizing story idea that will bring life to your post?

In truth, all your idea needs is the secret ingredient we’ve already mentioned: strong emotions!

Turn on the TV, open a magazine – you will always see the same forms of drama. Nothing special about it, but people are eating it up like hot fudge.

How you present is much more important than what you present. So don’t panic because you think you need to rewrite Gone with the Wind.

Whether your story covers a single phrase, a whole section, or your entire post, first you should identify the point you want to make.

Then look for a story that expresses your point as neatly as possible.

Simple, right?

Well, just in case it doesn’t seem simple just yet, let’s look at a specific example.

Say you run a “home and garden” blog and want to write a post about buying furniture, in particular how to match colors and fabrics.

What type of stories could you use to enhance your post?

The following are a few different story types you could draw upon for your furniture post.

1. Stories Where You are the Main Character

The first option is to exploit your personal experiences. You already know that it makes for a strong connection with your reader.

In our example, if you ever worked in a store selling furniture, you should feel like you won the lottery.

Granted, that’s not very likely. But maybe you could draw a parallel with an experience you did have? What about that summer job in a clothing store you took in your teens? Clothes require careful combinations too. You could tell a story of your worst-dressed customer as an analogy for a room full of poorly coordinated furniture.

Remember, everybody, including you, has a myriad of stories to tell; most people just don’t dare to tell them publicly. Your life is an accumulation of stories. Draw from your wealth of experiences.

Societal norms have put filters into our heads. So go ahead and be the one who dares to shake people out of their fatigue by telling them something raw and authentic.

The more inner resistance you feel to telling your story, the better it is: You are involved emotionally. Transfer your emotions onto the page and the reader. He will love you for it.

2. Stories You Have Heard or Read

What did your ex-roommate once tell you about his Dad’s obsession with antique furniture? What about your cousin’s eccentric taste in pillow covers? And what did you learn from that documentary the other day about glassware?

We are constantly bombarded with an avalanche of stories from family, friends, acquaintances, and the media. Make mental notes. Use the boring small talk at the next garden party to extract interesting stories from strangers – you will also have a better time than asking how their kids are doing for the third time.

Draw upon these stories in your writing. There is a reason why you remember them; some piece of it connected with you. Find the part that got you interested in the first place, and parade it. It will also be the most interesting part for your reader.

3. Stories You Find on The Internet

One tool offers an inexhaustible supply of stories.

It’s your old friend Google. And while an unfocused Google search can be like diving down a rabbit hole, finding the right story is usually just a matter of using the right keywords.

History is an endless source of great stories. (The term even contains the word “story.”) Look how Mark Manson fills an entire 4,000-word post with countless historical mini-stories. Even the tabloid papers would have a hard time coming up with that much sex and personal drama.

For my furniture-related post, I Googled “Victorian furniture styles,” and found this Wikipedia link, which mentions how plaster was scored to look like stone and graining was used on woods to imitate higher quality. You could easily tell a story about how it was fashionable in Victorian times to fake surfaces to seem higher class.

I chose “Victorian” just as a random era to make my search more concrete — generic queries tended to produce generic results. If “Victorian” hadn’t worked, I’d have tried other eras such as “Renaissance.”

4. Stories From Your Reader’s Life

Try to put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Have you been where he is now? If not, give it your best guess. Which concerns could be on his mind right now?

Whoever your reader is, if he is reading a post about how to match furniture, he quite likely is in the process of furnishing his new house or apartment. So why not begin the post like this:

Is all of the planning and combining starting to annoy you?

Curtains here, rugs there. The couch finally fits with the cupboard, but now it doesn’t fit with the side table.

Furnishing an apartment can be a headache, especially when you are not sure how to combine all the different pieces.

And notice how most of the story is implied. The narrative isn’t explicit – this happened, then this happened – but it’s there behind the scenes. It’s implied by sentences like “The couch finally fits with the cupboard, but now it doesn’t fit with the side table.” We can imagine hours of trial and error trying to combine different items of furniture from a catalog or website.

You could also tell your reader’s story indirectly by choosing a personal story they’ll relate to. Consider who your audience is – which stories from your life will they relate to best?

For a parenting blog, that might be a story about a teething baby. Readers of a tattoo blog would be more interested in the story of the first time you were “inked.”

5. Stories You Just Made Up (It’s Okay)

The point of a great story is to draw your reader in, entertain them, and leave them with a message. And a story doesn’t have to be true to achieve these goals.

So if you don’t have a story, invent one.

Of course, there are limits. Never lie about your biography (education, career, big merits), never lie about another existing person, and don’t fake events to provoke opinions. Don’t explicitly claim your invented story is true either.

For the furniture blog post, you could make up a story of someone newly rich, with almost unlimited budget, whose expensive furniture was combined so badly that house guests laughed at his lack of taste. Your message? That a beautifully furnished room is not limited by budget.

Build a Devoted Following through the Magic of Storytelling

Armed to the teeth with storytelling tools, you can now engage your readers’ emotions like never before.

Remember, you’ve told hilarious stories during family holiday dinners or when you were alone with your best friend. Telling stories on your blog is easy too.

And Scheherazade?

With enormous courage and wit, she managed the unthinkable: After firing up the king’s passion night after night with her thrilling stories about wonders, love, and danger, he spared her life and made her his queen.

Scheherazade saved her own life, and thousands of others (the king’s future brides), with the mesmerizing power of storytelling.

Here is the point: We humans are raw and vulnerable. We want to see ourselves reflected in others and we want to experience truth (even if it’s not always fact) – which is why we love to immerse ourselves in the pain and the joy of a sweeping story.

Give people the stories they are so desperately longing for and they will strongly engage with your writing – as they will feel your message to the core.

You have magnificent, unbelievable stories, begging to be told.

The question is: do you have the courage to tap into your deepest emotions and share them with the world?

Because if you do, your readers will be your loyal audience forever.

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