Writing About What You Love
If you major in English, at least once in your life you will hear someone haughtily ask, "what do you plan to do with THAT degree?!"
The funny thing is, English degrees are highly useful now, or at least, the ability to write and communicate clearly is valued in whole new way. The Internet is mostly written content; from those cheap "Top 5" lists we all love, to travel blogs, to SEO filler content, there is loads and loads of writing that needs to get done. Unfortunately, as a writer, you will quickly find that not all of this writing is fun or even remotely interesting.
When I finished my undergrad, I was lucky to land a little side gig writing for a local entertainment blog which allowed me to pretty much write about whatever I wanted. I wrote food reviews, movie reviews, survival guides for major events, and all sorts of quirky things in between. I thought, "I'll just work my way up in this industry and soon I'll be paid full time to write about the things I love!".
Ahh, the idealism of youth.
Quickly I found that in order to pay my bills I also had to take less exciting clients. I've written newsletters for industrial power suppliers. I've written website copy for IT services. I've written dozens and dozens of software how-to guides. I won't lie; none of it was riveting.
It can be hard not to resent the success of those writers who have wildly popular blogs, or even those who have a moderately successful portfolio to flash in front of potential clients. Even when I do find out about an exciting writing gig, too often I'm fishing around for content like, "my last project was on custom made backgammon checkers... what the hell do I send these people?"
Yes, I resent the person who makes a living writing about beer from around the world, or who gets a coveted feature writer gig for an amazing site on backpacking. But I also understand why they are successful where I am not; they have earned the right to write about that topic as a result of laser focus.
Meanwhile, I write about everything and nothing. I'm not sure why, but I can never seem to develop a focus that I stay satisfied with for more than 2.6 seconds. Anybody else feel that?
The funny thing is, English degrees are highly useful now, or at least, the ability to write and communicate clearly is valued in whole new way. The Internet is mostly written content; from those cheap "Top 5" lists we all love, to travel blogs, to SEO filler content, there is loads and loads of writing that needs to get done. Unfortunately, as a writer, you will quickly find that not all of this writing is fun or even remotely interesting.
When I finished my undergrad, I was lucky to land a little side gig writing for a local entertainment blog which allowed me to pretty much write about whatever I wanted. I wrote food reviews, movie reviews, survival guides for major events, and all sorts of quirky things in between. I thought, "I'll just work my way up in this industry and soon I'll be paid full time to write about the things I love!".
Ahh, the idealism of youth.
Quickly I found that in order to pay my bills I also had to take less exciting clients. I've written newsletters for industrial power suppliers. I've written website copy for IT services. I've written dozens and dozens of software how-to guides. I won't lie; none of it was riveting.
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| Writing about certain topics makes me feel like a zombie... |
It can be hard not to resent the success of those writers who have wildly popular blogs, or even those who have a moderately successful portfolio to flash in front of potential clients. Even when I do find out about an exciting writing gig, too often I'm fishing around for content like, "my last project was on custom made backgammon checkers... what the hell do I send these people?"
Yes, I resent the person who makes a living writing about beer from around the world, or who gets a coveted feature writer gig for an amazing site on backpacking. But I also understand why they are successful where I am not; they have earned the right to write about that topic as a result of laser focus.
Meanwhile, I write about everything and nothing. I'm not sure why, but I can never seem to develop a focus that I stay satisfied with for more than 2.6 seconds. Anybody else feel that?
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