Write of Passage Weekly

Hey writers,

Welcome back to Write of Passage Weekly. Last week, you learned how writing can be a path to self-knowledge. Today, you’ll learn why capturing your ideas is the key to great writing.

Unlock Opportunities by Writing Online

Our next cohort of the Write of Passage Bootcamp runs from April 8 – May 15, and today is the last day to claim your early enrollment bonus offer.

If you enroll before 11:59 pm CT today you’ll receive these two bonuses:

1. An exclusive, pre-recorded workshop from The Cultural Tutor on how to grow your audience. The Cultural Tutor went from working at McDonald’s to building an audience of over 1.5 million followers on Twitter (X) — in just 15 months. And he’s going to show you how he did it.
2. A one-on-one coaching session with one of our trained editors.

In our five-week Bootcamp, you’ll write something exceptional and reach people who actually care about it. If you enroll now, you can start learning how to grow your audience today.

An Idea Isn’t Yours Until You Write it Down

“Speak your latent conviction…. Else tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our opinion from another.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like a raindrop going in reverse, an idea can be in your hand one moment then fly into the sky the next; if you don’t grab it while you can, it will soar into the stratosphere. So, capture your ideas. Speak your latent convictions, because an idea isn’t yours until you write it down.

Great writing begins with an idea-capture habit. When you write something down — in the margins of a paperback, between the lines on a notebook, or in front of a blinking cursor — you rescue your fleeting epiphany from the unforgiving entropy of memory. Kendrick Lamar describes art as a “perpetual” process and touts note-taking as “the closest thing we have to time-travel.” That’s because great writing is not the result of a one-time output, but the accumulation of hundreds or thousands of ideas that emerge from your everyday life. The writing process doesn’t obey conventional productivity hacks. You can’t set a Pomodoro timer — 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off — and expect to get your writing done. You need to be attentive all the time, every day, because great ideas are always floating past you. If you want to have any hope of transmuting your ideas into great art, you need to write them down.

There’s a Greek word that describes this attitude: prosoche. It’s the practice of observing your sensations, thoughts, and emotions and focusing your awareness on the present moment. The first step is developing this awareness, and the second step is capturing the ideas that you start to notice. Write it down. Whether it’s annotating as you read, taking notes on your phone on a midday walk, or recording a conversation with a friend, be prepared to capture your ideas. 

Like the memory of a dream in the early morning, an idea might visit you once, then never again. So, write it down while you can.

How I Write Podcast

How To Publish Your Best Ideas Online | Packy McCormick

Packy McCormick is proof that writing online can attract real-world opportunities you never dreamed of. He went from 20 Substack subscribers to a $40 million venture fund — and he’s still growing. In this episode, Packy and David dive into the three main “how”s of his growth. 

First, Packy has a distinct, unforgettable style. His business-meets-memes newsletter, Not Boring, has amassed 220,000+ subscribers because his “funny finance guy” flair gives him an edge. Not to mention, it all started when he took the first-ever cohort of Write of Passage.

Next, Packy shares his domain expertise. He sees writing and investing as the perfect one-two punch. His goal? Share what he knows, and make behind-the-scenes information accessible for his audience.

And finally, Packy provides value to his readers. Relentlessly. Not by telling them what to think, but by trying to change the way they think. In a world filled with beta content — writing that follows trends and disappears within 24 hours — Packy creates alpha content — quality essays that have long-term relevance. 

Style, expertise, value — if you want to find what makes you distinct in our modern, digital world, this episode is for you. 

Listen Now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple

Thank you for reading Write of Passage Weekly. This week, capture your ideas before they escape into the stratosphere.

Happy writing,

The Write of Passage Team

P.S. Scholarship applications are now open for the next Bootcamp. If you have great ideas and a burning desire to share them, we want you in the Bootcamp. And we don’t want the price to prevent talented people from participating. Scholarships are limited and the competition is rigorous. If you’re interested, apply today.