Craft Your Content - Ira Glass was wrong.

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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

“Don't resist the growing pains, push through them. ” ― Germany Kent

Elisa’s Thought for the Week

I have long loved the interview Ira Glass, host of the This American Life podcast, did with Current TV about the creative process.

He shares “Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me; is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it. And we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap. That for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. Ok, it’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good.“

As I said, I love this interview and idea, that there is a gap we all experience in our creative process. Where we are starting out, and looking at the writing around us, and we see how good it is — and that our writing might not be quite as good as we’d like it to be.

We’ve talked before about measuring someone else’s Chapter 20 against our Chapter 3.

Most creatives have good taste. We know what compels readers, but we aren’t necessarily creating at that level that we want to be.

Where I disagree with Glass’ brilliance is in the first sentence.

The Gap isn’t something that only affects beginners.

The Gap is more apparent to us when we are beginners. We see the massive chasm that divides what we’ve just written from what we wish we had just written.

And we desperately want to leap across that chasm.

But a chasm is wide, and it is often deep. It is not something that can easily be leapt across in a single bound, no matter what the article or product promises.

We improve along our writing journey, but we cannot simply wake up one morning at the master level we wish we could be.

As Glass notes, the only way to get there is to “keep pushing through it.”

Which is why I would add to Glass’ now infamous advice with one additional note:

“But it’s like there’s a gap. In fact, there are many gaps.”

There’s one huge gap from where we start as beginners and the brilliant writing prowess we hope to achieve.

But there are also many smaller gaps and steps and leaps we make along the way.

I do not know a single writer who went from beginner to expert in one single gap.

We climb. We reach plateaus. We tumble into valleys. We soar across the pits. We crash into stone walls. (They don’t call it writer’s block for nothing!)

Wherever you are on your writing journey, you can close that gap. You can join the ranks of the writing masters you’ve admired and longed to be in the company of.

There are just a few billion gaps you will have to cross along the way.

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!

• (From the Archives May 2017) :: One of the most popular articles of all times, Writing Styles of Famous Authors by Director of Production Erika Rasso, gives you a bit of a crash course into the writing styles that set famous authors apart. By understanding their styles, you can create your own.

CYC Elsewhere…

Other places we’ve popped up around the interwebs.

• ​I’m a judge for the 2023 Page Turner Young Writer Award. If you know any young writers (aged 18-25, anywhere in the world) who might be interested in submitting (deadline May 31st), I might be the one reading their piece!
• Thanks TWR reader Joy Sinclair, for shouting us out on LinkedIn, when someone asked for newsletter recommendations. 💖

In Other Reading This Week …

Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?

• If you are looking at people at the top of their game, the obvious jump is to look at athletes. Writer Henriette Lazaridis shares 6 habits we can learn from athletes as writers.​
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• My phone recently had a slight little issue that customer service warned me could "cause the battery to explode at any moment." So I’ve been without a smartphone and constant social media for a week or so, waiting for the replacement. It’s been nice, but is deleting all social media really all it is cracked up to be? (h/t Jessica Malnik)
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• I don’t love the phrase “I can’t even”, but this German gentleman who recently passed away and left behind 70K books in his home (On the ceiling! There are books on the ceiling!!)
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• A few newsletters ago I explained about the importance of expertise, authority, trust — and now experience — in SEO for 2023. This is a great piece from Zoe Ashbridge over on Moz about how you can earn that topical authority your writing will need to rank.
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• Establishing a routine for your writing process can help your brain shift into work-mode…and as Allison Payer shares, that includes how your work-from-home clothes can affect your productivity.​

Weekly Writing Tip …

A quick chance to learn from the masters.

“Repetition, repetition, repetition; equals Results.” ― Jeanette Coron

Untranslatable …

Exquisite words from other languages.

La douleur exquise [la doo-LYEUR ex-KEEZ] (n.) – From the French language, la douleur exquise literally translates as “the exquisite pain.” It’s the feeling of wanting to be with someone (or, less frequently used, something) you know/feel you can never have…but still wanting them. Sorta synonyms: unrequited, yearning, longing, languishing

This Week’s Writing Prompt …

We often do our thinking when we write.

Who are some of your favorite writers? What do you like about their writing? Beyond how it made you feel or think, dig into the mechanics/style/voice. What draws you to their writing, as well as their compelling stories?

For the Upcoming Week …

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

If I write it on the paper, that means it is gonna happen, right? RIGHT?!

Till next time!

PS - Keep an eye out…our premiere Become a Master Writer ‘23 Winter Cohort opens next week…join the waitlist.