Write of Passage Weekly

Hello writers,

Welcome back to Write of Passage Weekly, where you learn to share your ideas online and unlock serendipitous opportunities.

Last week, you learned how to use descriptions, comparisons, and rhythm to let your reader taste what you mean. Today, you’ll learn what it means to wield pen and paper like a bow and arrow. 

Publish Your Idea in a Day

Tens of students joined last Friday’s Writing Sprint and went from an idea to a published piece in a single day. (Here's a selection of the articles published in Writing Sprints.) If you’re looking for a deadline, feedback, and accountability, join us on Wednesday, December 13, to publish your idea in a day.

You're a Hunter with a Pen

Physiology tells us about who we are as animals and what we prioritize by nature. For us humans, our nature tells us to prioritize aim and precision — like a huntress.

We have eyes on the fronts of our heads and bifocal vision, which allows us to perceive depth and distance with greater precision; whereas a deer’s physiology is optimized for detecting danger. A deer has eyes on the side of its head and benefits from a wide field of vision. The huntress chases, the deer runs. The huntress shoots, the deer catches the arrow. By nature, we are predators, not prey.

It’s why we’re so enamored by sports, and it’s why we use bullseye icons in PowerPoint to represent business objectives. Our predatory nature even shows up in our idioms: “Take a stab at it” or “You hit the nail on the head.” So, how does it show up in writing?

Despite how sophisticated our actions may be, everything we do is influenced by our physiology. Just as the human-animal and the huntress succeed through aim and precision, so does the writer. A good writer, therefore, writes like a huntress hunts. Good writers lean into our physiology.

Identify a goal for your piece of writing — and be precise. What is the problem, exactly? What do you want, exactly? Why, exactly, do you want that? How will you get there, exactly? Don’t inflate adjectives or default to cliches or superlatives; say exactly what you mean. Work through the challenge of achieving specificity. Otherwise, you’ll plague your writing with the chronic dull ache of negligence and confusion.

The more clear your aim and the more precise your language, the more likely it is that you’ll hit the mark.

How I Write Podcast

How he sold 4 million books | Morgan Housel | How I Write podcast

When people ask me what good online writing looks like, I point them to Morgan Housel. Why? He takes dry financial concepts and breathes life into them with captivating stories. 

And he’s been doing it for a decade and a half. Before Morgan wrote “The Psychology of Money” — one of the world’s most popular finance books that’s now sold over 4 million copies — he spent years as a prolific writer. He wrote 2-4 articles a day when he worked at Motley Fool (3,500 in total). Then, he wrote a bunch more articles for Collaborative Fund and The Wall Street Journal. 

Morgan didn’t “explode onto the scene” as a newbie. He put in years of early mornings and behind-the-scenes work. The result? His voice is clear, concise, and narrative. His ideas excavate the relationship between money and human psychology. His creative process is uniquely lazy — a bold contradiction to the productivity advice of today. 

Morgan is a master of two things: storytelling and brevity. And the aliveness of his writing has made him one of the most successful writers on the Internet. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how Morgan captivates millions of readers with his writing. We cover topics like selfish writing; ruthless self-editing; writing with brevity; and making dry ideas come alive on the page.

Listen Now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple

From Our Alumni

"Strangers with Benefits"

Yehudis Milchtein writes portraits of the human experience. In this piece, she weaves together vignettes from her life with lessons about the benefits of connecting with strangers: “My mother inspired my way of being. She taught me to be open to the world. She showed me how to allow people into my heart.”

Thank you for reading Write of Passage Weekly. This week, when you sit down at the blank page, try to embody the spirit of the huntress and define a clear aim.

Happy writing,

The Write of Passage Team