Monday Musings - Last Chance to Join Write of Passage

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Enrollment for the final Write of Passage cohort closes on Monday, and there’s something I want you to know: this experience is unlike anything else on the Internet. It may not be Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, but people absolutely love it, and this is the last chance to experience it.

After our previous cohort, I asked a student for his reflections. He said: "It's a gale-force tailwind for your writing."

And it works. Packy McCormick went from publishing his first piece in Write of Passage to building an audience of 232,317 email subscribers, and a Harvard graduate named Alejandro Navia said: “I made the largest investment in myself other than my tuition at Harvard. Little did I know that my time in Write of Passage would be more impactful, more influential, and literally life-saving than my time on the Yard.”

The results speak for themselves. Writing online has been transformative for me too.

When I started writing online, my biggest frustration was the loneliness of it. My friends didn’t get what I was doing and I had nobody to jam on ideas with, which gave me crippling writer’s block. I knew that I had important things to say, but lacked the support of my peers. Ever felt something similar?

Joining Write of Passage is the one-stop cure to the pain of Intellectual Loneliness. All of a sudden, and perhaps for the first time in your life, you’ll be surrounded by hundreds of people who are rip-roaring passionate about writing. Loneliness was the headwind I faced, and I learned that people are the tailwind — people to write with, people to jam on ideas with, people to ask for feedback from... people, people, people.

Write of Passage pivots around that idea. How does it work in practice?

In Write of Passage, writing is social. You’ll riff on what you’re writing about in breakout rooms with people from Sydney to Singapore to San Francisco; you’ll meet mentors who’ve walked the path you’re about to walk on; you’ll have access to daily Gyms that’ll help you develop your ideas, find your flow, get feedback, and talk about the writing process; and you’ll work with an editor who’ll give you line-by-line feedback on everything you write. Oh, and I, David Harrison Perell, solemnly vow to bring Energizer Bunny levels of vigor to all seven Live Sessions.

I’ll tell you this, though: Write of Passage is an intense experience. It’s not a sit-back-and-listen kind of thing. You’re going to be pushed and challenged, and every part of the experience is designed to help you hit “Publish” on three pieces you’re proud of. If you want something easy, go somewhere else. We don’t want you, and you don’t want us. But if it sounds fun to work your tail off for five weeks with hundreds of other committed writers, then come join us.

The Write of Passage model works. Three more examples:

• Jonathan Hillis and Zakk Fleishmann met in Write of Passage, which led them to co-founding a global network of properties for remote workers called Cabin.city.
• ​Sam Knowlton had spent years studying the niche of niches: regenerative agriculture. He owned a small business, and the Bootcamp got him to 26,000 Twitter followers and a cadre of clients.
• When Hannah Frankman joined Write of Passage, she knew she wanted to build a career in education but didn't know where to begin. We didn't just get her started with writing. She also met her principal investor in the cohort who funded her Rebel Educator project. As I write this, she has 140,000 followers on X.

The best marketing strategy is — and forever will be: write a damn good piece.

All of these alumni succeeded because they had something to say and a unique way of saying it, and that’s what we helped them develop in Write of Passage.

There’s a glut of mediocre writing out there, and I have no interest in contributing to it. My feeds are polluted with dull, AI-generated content and templated Twitter threads. I’m writing this from Newark Airport where the bookstore I just walked through was littered with ghostwritten memoirs and cash-grabbing business books.

The Bootcamp is intense because intensity is the catalyst for quality work. Something magical happens when you’re part of a group too. Just as you train harder at SoulCycle than you do on your stationary bike at home, so it is with writing at Write of Passage. You find yourself working harder, achieving more, and — most importantly — having fun because you’re not doing it alone.

We’re a tailwind for your writing, we’re pretty darn good at it, and this is my last cohort ever. Monday is the enrollment deadline, and there won’t be another chance to sign up if you miss it.

See you on the inside,

– David Perell