Writing continues to be a sore spot for me. I love the idea of being a writer. I have plenty of ideas for writing, but I will use every single excuse in the book to avoid actually writing.
The reasons are simple and banal. I don’t want to look like a fool. It’s much easier to play an intelligent, witty, and outspoken person in your head than to face the crushing reality that your ability is no better than an AI bot. And yet, over the years, I’ve written things I’m really proud of. Ideas that made it to paper (or LCD or Plasma or whatever type of screen you’re currently reading this on).
I even set a goal this year to write 52 posts. And now that we are on week 8 of 2023, I’m very proud to announce that I’ve finished and posted not one blog, so things are going pretty great over here.
It’s not that there aren’t ideas floating around; there are some, but I continually get myself caught up in “what should this newsletter be” and I’m never able to answer that question clearly to myself. Which, as I think about it, is foolish. The thing is called “Thoughtless Opinions”. It can be about anything.
But last night, I decided it was time to start taking this a little more seriously. I want to make writing a part of my life, so I’m enlisting your help. This is me pleading that you’ll hold me accountable. That you’ll message me and say, “hey man, it’s been a while since a post”, even if you don’t want to read it.
And in asking you for something, I’ll make my commitment to you. To really, for once, actually give this a go. To set aside time each week to write about the things I’m working on. I shared these topics and they are all in the hopper:
Even looking at this list, I laugh because as a marketer, I know it’s better to pick a niche. And although I know I don’t want to pick a niche because my interests change frequently and with intensity, when I go to finish writing or pressing send, I think about, will people care that this isn’t something I’ve ever discussed? Will it be totally obvious I don’t know what I’m talking about and why would anyone want to read anything I don’t know enough about to speak intelligently on?
My realization is that it doesn’t matter. If people want to read it, which I hope they do, that will be wonderful, and if they don’t, then that’s okay too. And if this proclamation becomes a footnote in a larger story of failure, then at least I can say I gave it a shot.
So, we begin again. The promise to entertain and the skepticism of being entertained. I hope to come back here in a year and say, “my goodness, can you believe how far we come?” although it’s very possible in a year we’ll be back here. Reading a similarly worded post, with a fresh new title and outlook. Join me?