New Approach | #28

Hello dear friends,

I put up the piece about my daughter that I sent out last week. Thank you so much to everyone who responded with praise and encouragement and feedback . Here’s the finished version.

That piece is the result of working with Sasha Chapin over the past few months to improve my writing. I have a few more that I started but haven’t finished yet, and I may publish them later. If you’re interested in improving your writing (or any skill, really), getting a coach is one of the best things you can do, and working with Sasha reaffirmed my conviction on that (def hire him if you’re serious).

The best thing I got out of the experience (besides a finished essay that I’m proud of) is that I’ve expanded my understanding of what writing can be. Part of my struggle with writing in the past was a narrow idea of what I’m trying to achieve and what a good job looks like. Partially this comes from the way I do my own reading — mostly nonfiction that presents neatly-packaged insights with strong supporting arguments. So that’s the experience I tried to create each week in my writing. But that’s a really high bar to clear on a weekly basis when I’m writing in my spare time.

Instead, I can do something smaller. I can write about just a small chunk of an idea without pulling in everything that idea is tied to. Or I can stop trying to teach some minutia and instead convey a feeling or point the spotlight of your attention at some shared human experience. Including emotion can make the whole thing more memorable and fun for me and for you.

So with this new perspective, I’m going to get back to writing weekly. It’s the only way to continue to improve. I won’t promise any money yet (though I may if I fall off the wagon again), but I am committed to getting a Unicycle out every Friday by noon.

The best is yet to come 🚀

Grin