Craft Your Content - [TWR] Where'd You Go, Elisa Doucette?

Welcome to The Writing Rundown, a weekly newsletter that offers advice, short essays, and reading suggestions to help you improve your writing craft. It’s nice to see you here! If someone forwarded you this email because they love your writing, you can subscribe here.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

“Tears are words that need to be written.” ― Paulo Coelho

Elisa’s Thought for the Week

I've opened this newsletter drat at least a couple dozen times in the past fortnight, trying to figure out how to update it.

Because I had an essay all about how I collect and curate the content we share weekly for you to begin your own ideation process.

But part of our process is delegating the summaries of the links I choose to a member of the team.

Until earlier this month that was the brilliant Jemimah Jones, our proofreader whom you may remember caught me up on our Style Guide errors with title capitalization.

Until an early morning when I was GTD-ing my inbox and got an email from her personal email address.

It was an email from her brother, letting me know that Jemimah had passed away from a long-term illness (sickle cell anemia.)

And while I have tried to hold everything together for keeping the agency going, pushing out articles on time, and trying to be the morale booster and empathetic listener for everyone on the team … getting this edition of the newsletter out has been the one thing I couldn't bring myself to do.

We aren't a family at Craft Your Content, but we are a close team, despite our thousands of miles remote work distance.

I knew that as soon as I typed this message, admitting that my process was staying the same but a new person would be working on it, then that was it.

The chapter on Jemimah's time with CYC would be finished.

So I'm sorry for missing out the past two weekends of TWRs.

It was just a bit of a struggle being honest with you, while saying good-bye for a final time.

What You Missed on Craft Your Content …

Our articles have the same mission we do — to help you to make your own words even better!

• With all the wunderkinds of writing that are popping up around publishing, is there even a point to giving it a try if you have to restart after the archaic age of 35? Veteran television writer Eleanor Plackett did just this at the age of 40 — and offers her advice for how to make it all work.
• Writing seems like a difficult undertaking to most of us, but changing your mindset can help you improve this craft. In this article, writer Simoun Victor Redoblado compares writing to a seemingly unrelated activity — sports, and shares some valuable lessons on how having an athlete's mindset can shape your writing career.

CYC Elsewhere…

Other places we’ve popped up around the interwebs.

• Speaking of criticisms and cruelties, I’ll be presenting a free workshop for the folks at ContentUK on Wednesday, June 1st at 11AM EST that focuses on how to get the most from edits and feedback, even when it hurts. (You don’t have to be a member to join the free workshop, replays are for members only.)

In Other Reading This Week …

Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?

• For decades psychologists have been exploring and expounding on the training necessary to becoming more creative? But recent data shows that rules and processes might not be as effective as allowing imagination and storytelling to fuel your flow.
• Of course, as CYC Senior Content Editor Chris Angelis points out on his own site, imagination and creativity can work together, but they are not the same thing.​
• One of my favorite books in the past few years, Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, references a number of different sources and inspirations for his thinking. And now, he's collected all of them into a Further Reading collection.​
• I've written many times before about the gatekeeping and divide that happen in writing and publishing, with the writing elite trying to keep their world separate from "other writers." Walter Rhein does a good job explaining this further, and the transfer between the two, in this piece for The Writing Cooperative.
• Ever wondered how to make your writing more clear? In this killer guide from content writer Masooma Memon, you'll get six in-depth mini lessons on how to do just that.

Weekly Writing Tip …

A quick chance to learn from the masters.

“The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.” ― Nikolai Gogol

For the Upcoming Week …

Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right!

At least I asked first, right?

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Till next time!

What’s Coming Next Week? I'll be back at it, and you'll be getting the How To of putting together The Writing Rundown … promise!