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Actual for You - The Makings of a Personal Essay, Really
The day I learned this writing tip was the day my writing got a whole lot easier, faster, and more fun. It's no secret really, but this one tip could change the way you write articles for the Web, for your ezines, your blog, for all sorts of marketing content: It’s called the “Make a list” technique That's right. Not too complicated, is it? As Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, puts it: "If you can write a 7-item grocery list, you can write an article." Ever since I learned that, getting started with writing (some say this is the most difficult part) has become a snap. If I'd known it was this simple, I might have skipped graduate school. Here's how it goe
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
Most webmasters and online business owners know that a blog can bring you additional revenue from advertising, and more traffic from search engines. Then there’s the additional benefit of having a great way to spark productive dialogue between you and your prospects. But did you know that your blog itself may be worth thousand of dollars to you in its present form? The day I learned that my blog held such hidden treasure was one of those happy accidents that can make life such a fun adventure. All I wanted to do was find out why some of my newsletter subscribers had not crossed over to my blog audience. In an informal poll, I found that many of the fans of my newsletter were
I recently learned the secret, and it can be summarized in one word: Really?
My friends know that I can talk. I mean, I can talk! Get me on the phone and Im likely to tell you all about my day, from my breakfast to my editors latest comments to my insomnia. I dont inflict my tendency toward verbosity on everyone, but at least a few trusted souls get to bear the brunt of my solitary lifestyle and my need to dish.
Their reactions tell me whether or not I have the material for a marketable personal essay.
My all-time best-selling essay is a simple story about a boy who won a stuffed animal for his little sister in a crane machine. When I saw it happen, I was so touched I almost cried. When I retold it to my mom, the tears welled up again. I got to the climactic momentAnd then he bent down and gave the stuffed animal to his little sister and kissed her on the foreheadand my mom asked, Really? Thats so sweet!
Bing. Really? translates to Thats a great story.
When I tell mom about the new toy I bought for my cat, she never asks, Really? She doesnt press me for details. She probably cant wait for me to shut up so she can hang up the phone and do something productive that doesnt involve listening to my escapades with my cat. But when Ive hit on something that might actually warrant an article, her reaction wont be a simple Mmm-hmm, or Thats great. Itll be a question, or a plea to share more.
The reactions to listen for, in addition to Really? are:
- Then what happened?
- What did you do?
- How did you (/he/she) react?
- Tell me more!
- Thats amazing!
- Thats so cool!
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jamie Blyth (Im helping to write his book, Fear Is No Longer My Reality) about how far Ive come in beating my anxiety disorder. One of the things I mentioned was that I used to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder related to food. He wanted to know more. I explained that I went through a two-year phase where I ate nothing but canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
You’ve decided to write a book, and now you are staring a blank computer screen, not really knowing where to begin. You have great ideas and you sort of know what you want to say—but a whole book seems so….well…big.The easiest way to manage a bigger writing project is to break it down into smaller pieces. Laura Browne, author of Why Can’t You Communicate Like Me? How Smart Women Get Results at Work, remembers categorizing her book ideas first into sections, and then she broke each section into chapters. If she focused on a particular chapter or on the ideas in the chapter, she found writing much more manageable. “Just take the writing one step at a time, little by little,” she said, “but not necessarilrd verbosity on everyone, but at least a few trusted souls get to bear the brunt of my solitary lifestyle and my need to dish.
Their reactions tell me whether or not I have the material for a marketable personal essay.
My all-time best-selling essay is a simple story about a boy who won a stuffed animal for his little sister in a crane machine. When I saw it happen, I was so touched I almost cried. When I retold it to my mom, the tears welled up again. I got to the climactic momentAnd then he bent down and gave the stuffed animal to his little sister and kissed her on the foreheadand my mom asked, Really? Thats so sweet!
Bing. Really? translates to Thats a great story.
When I tell mom about the new toy I bought for my cat, she never asks, Really? She doesnt press me for details. She probably cant wait for me to shut up so she can hang up the phone and do something productive that doesnt involve listening to my escapades with my cat. But when Ive hit on something that might actually warrant an article, her reaction wont be a simple Mmm-hmm, or Thats great. Itll be a question, or a plea to share more.
The reactions to listen for, in addition to Really? are:
- Then what happened?
- What did you do?
- How did you (/he/she) react?
- Tell me more!
- Thats amazing!
- Thats so cool!
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jamie Blyth (Im helping to write his book, Fear Is No Longer My Reality) about how far Ive come in beating my anxiety disorder. One of the things I mentioned was that I used to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder related to food. He wanted to know more. I explained that I went through a two-year phase where I ate nothing but canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
SUPPLEMENTAL INTERNET INCOMEMany publishers and webmasters undertake the process of picking and adding affiliate programs to add a few extra bucks to their bottom lines.When you have managed to pick a winner, the selected affiliate program can develop enough additional income to make it worth while to continue to offer the program to your visitors.Let's face it. Not everyone who visits your website will be interested in your primary products or services. The truth is that you cannot be everything to everyone. So, it does make sense to offer some additional products or services on outbound links to other sites that offer affiliate's an opportunity to earn a commission.TIPS er on the foreheadand my mom asked, Really? Thats so sweet!
Bing. Really? translates to Thats a great story.
When I tell mom about the new toy I bought for my cat, she never asks, Really? She doesnt press me for details. She probably cant wait for me to shut up so she can hang up the phone and do something productive that doesnt involve listening to my escapades with my cat. But when Ive hit on something that might actually warrant an article, her reaction wont be a simple Mmm-hmm, or Thats great. Itll be a question, or a plea to share more.
The reactions to listen for, in addition to Really? are:
- Then what happened?
- What did you do?
- How did you (/he/she) react?
- Tell me more!
- Thats amazing!
- Thats so cool!
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jamie Blyth (Im helping to write his book, Fear Is No Longer My Reality) about how far Ive come in beating my anxiety disorder. One of the things I mentioned was that I used to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder related to food. He wanted to know more. I explained that I went through a two-year phase where I ate nothing but canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
As many Americans complain that our Corporations are moving all their manufacturing to other nations and taking all those jobs with them, one has to wonder why is all this happening in the first place?Well imagine if you will that you are a corporation and you are constantly being bombarded with class-action BS lawsuits. Imagine the unending over regulation from all the various agencies from the SEC on down?Imagine the costs you have to pay to comply with all this. Next imagine that if you moved your company offshore you could eliminate 75% of that nussiance, pay lower taxes and increase profits?Would you choose to offshore? Well that is exactly what the shareholders want; increased profi listen for, in addition to Really? are:
- Then what happened?
- What did you do?
- How did you (/he/she) react?
- Tell me more!
- Thats amazing!
- Thats so cool!
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jamie Blyth (Im helping to write his book, Fear Is No Longer My Reality) about how far Ive come in beating my anxiety disorder. One of the things I mentioned was that I used to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder related to food. He wanted to know more. I explained that I went through a two-year phase where I ate nothing but canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
Myspace marketing is the new thing if you haven't noticed lately. It is so simple to go and request lots of friends and just start sending mass messages, bulletins, and comments. It is really a great way to start viral marketing.It is really not that hard at all - and it works. The only problem is adding the friends and sending messages, comments, and bulletins takes a damn long time if you do it by hand.I am a programmer myself and I was planning on making my own tool for it because I had used 2 other Myspace friend adder programs and they were garbage.However, being in a mastermind group I found out about a launch of a new product called Badder Adder by Michelle MacPhearson.So, II ate nothing but canned foods and other food with really long shelf lives.
Really? he asked.
Oh. I hadnt thought about that phase of mine in quite some time, and had forgotten that it might be intriguing to people whove never experienced OCD. OCD as an overall topic has been done many times, but this detailthe canned foods and my almost deadly diethasnt. It doesnt belong in a how-to article. It works because of the telling, because of the personal nature of the story. And as I sat down to write it, a beautifully marketable essay formed almost effortlessly.
Think about what details of your story set it apart from similar stories. Countless essays have been written about alcoholism, eating disorders, miscarriage, drug abuse, abusive marriages, finding God, giving birth... that doesnt mean you cant tell your story. You just have to find a unique angle, a new way of telling it, a nugget that people will remember.
The same effortless type of story formed when I told people how Anthony and I bought our house. We fell so in love with it that we kept coming to visit and take pictureswe would sit on the other side of the lake, facing the owners backyard, and just hug and dream of what it would be like to live there.
When it came time to make an offer, we were immediately outbid by thousands of dollars and couldnt match the price. We went to say goodbye to the owners, and they told the Realtor to take it off the marketwe were the people they wanted to live in the home theyd loved for 40 years. They had seen us from their back window all the times we came to admire the house from afar, and they knew we would appreciate the gardens, the greenhouse, the lake. So they took a loss of thousands of dollars because they wanted us to live our dream.
Quick, what was your reaction to that story? I hope it was Thats amazing!, because thats the reaction I got from nearly everyone who heard the story. Within a couple of weeks of moving in, I sold the essay to A Cup of Comfort and sent the anthology to the previous owners of the house.
If someones eyes light up when you tell a story, chances are excellent that theres a market for it. If one person finds it interesting, inspiring, hilarious, or moving, others likely will, too.
Consider your friends and family your test audience. Test out your experiences on them. If they dont press you for more details, either the story isnt there, or you need a more compelling way to tell it.
You can also test by e-mail; send a few friends a note about a recent experience of yours and see how many of them react to it. Note, too, how quickly they react. If they respond right after reading it, their interest levels are probably high. If they respond a week later and mention, By the way, that was a nice story, it likely didnt pass the test.
Personal experiences dont need to be earth-shatter
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