It's been a long time since I last told a story. A lot has happened since then, which means more stories to be shared with you. Well, when the time is right, you will hear about them.
For now, let's talk about storytelling itself. I started blogging back in 2020. I remember it was past midnight in November, and I finally decided to pay for website hosting and start building a blog based on Thomas Frank's guide. It was the beginning of my journey, though back then, I would say I spent more time perfecting the website and all the fancy coconuts than writing itself.
But I learned a lot. When the hosting contract ended a year later, I moved my blog to Revue to begin writing in the form of email newsletters (or blog letters). It was when my craft improved, albeit with some hiatuses here and there due to my writing habits & systems, or the lack thereof. Even as we are here at Beehiiv today, I still find myself missing one or two Sundays and, at times, a month like the past month.
That brings me to question,
What went wrong?
Before we dive into the overthinking-y part, let's make sure we're on the same page.
If you enjoy someone's work, you won't mind even if it doesn't come frequently.
As a reader, one would prefer good stories that come once in a while, than bad, mediocre ones that are out every day or week. Don’t you agree?
A reader x friend of mine once said something similar, when I told her that I struggled to publish weekly as promised. But, as much as I would love to agree with that, I still feel that things aren’t this simple.
Isn't writing only when you're inspired a bad thing? What if the inspiration never comes? Or the lack thereof becomes your excuse not to write?
That reminds me of this 👇
I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o'clock every morning.
—William Faulkner
So, I concluded that, while it's a blissful experience to write when you're inspired, such moments are unpredictable — you have no idea when inspiration will come. That’s why it's better to show up for writing even when you don’t feel like it. And let writing itself breeds inspiration. Just like how actions could bring about motivations, not just the other way around.
🙅 But actions don't always breed inspiration
Since reading Kevon's method of tweeting, I've learned to capture ideas when they come, so that when it's time to write, I don't have to start from nothing. In a way, this is like collecting inspirations you get throughout the day, and processing them when it's time to write.
But, I've been doing this for some time. At the time of writing, I have 20+ ideas in my idea bank. Why do I still struggle with the good, old procrastination or writer's block?
Peeling the next layer of our overthinking onion, I uncovered the next obstacle in my path towards consistent writing — perfectionism.
Yeah, yeah. That boring, save-face answer almost anyone would say when he/she is asked about his/her weakness in an interview. But if we deconstruct my struggles with perfectionism, we would see that I've often prioritized writing poetically than clearly, like trying to decorate the cake before the cake itself is made. As Uncle Roger said,
All style but no substance.
—Uncle Roger
I admit that.
I tend to crave writing as good as, if not better than last time, but the problem is, I am starting from scratch in a new post while naively hoping to take a giant leap to produce long-form, wonderful content. Often, I forget that even long-form, wonderful content starts with a tiny idea before we slowly build from there.
Looking back, I made a few valuable discoveries.
🌱 What I learned
1. Every article must have a story.
After writing for some time, I found that I don’t always enjoy those “how-to guides or lifehacks” kinds of writing. I prefer telling stories on a personal level that people could connect with — the ups and downs, the pretty and ugly ones — and what I learned from them.
Perhaps, when this blog was named Not Alone, I thought the world will be a little easier and happier place to live in, if we truly understand that our struggles may not be as different as we think. Hence, we are not alone.
So that’s my niche, and as David Perell puts it, my personal monopoly.
Your Personal Monopoly should reflect your innate interests, not what you think the world wants. There are two reasons why: (1) the Internet creates power law outcomes so if you’re not fascinated by what you’re writing about, you won’t be world-class at it, and (2) due to the immense scale of the Internet, the audience for almost every topic numbers in the thousands. If you’re chasing a trend, you’ve already lost.
—David Perell, Build a Personal Monopoly
2. Believe in what I'm writing.
It's like trying to sell a product. To write well, you must genuinely believe in what you're pitching.
3. It’s okay to tell a mini-story.
This is a little tricky. I don’t wish to write too little that it feels like you’ve read nothing. But, as a result, I often end up pressuring myself to write long-form, wonderful content as before. Again, it’s like seeing a beautiful cake (my past writings) and being so engrossed in recreating the same decoration, but icing without a cake is just icing.
So, telling myself that it’s fine to write a mini-story doesn’t mean I will write a really short piece, but that I allow myself to start simple without the self-imposed high expectations. Like writing a diary, you shouldn’t feel stressed doing it.
The Joy of Waking Up is a great example. I wrote it on a whim, but I was happy with what came out. Oh, yeah. What you're reading now is also another example. I allowed myself to start “mini”, so the words come out easily, and the long-form, wonderful content takes care of itself.
Have a cookie 🍪
—Thomas
🥇 Weekly Gold
Each week, I share one thing I found interesting with you. It could be a song, a book, a quote, or a YouTube video that blew my mind.
Here’s the gold this week 👇
Credit:
Cover photo by Steven Houston on Unsplash