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079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

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Previous Episode:078 Six Storytelling Lessons from a Famous Urban Legend More Episodes Next Episode:080 Four Ways to Get Attention by Rocking the Boat

All Episodes:

October 21, 2015

102 The Beautiful Message Joseph Campbell Was Really Trying to Tell Us

October 8, 2015

101 The Greatest Storytelling Guide This Side of Saturn

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100 The Episode That Explains the Future of Rough Draft

August 31, 2015

099 A Better Way to Find Big Ideas (That Make You Stand Out)

August 27, 2015

098 How to Grab Great Ideas (Without Using Your Hands)

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097 The Problem with the ‘Hell-For-Leather’ Writing Movement

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096 Why These Famous Time-Management Techniques Are Ruining Your Productivity

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095 Freaking Out Over the Thought of Writing a First Draft? Try Scaffolding

August 20, 2015

094 How to Avoid Obscurity by Misusing Language

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093 A Creative Email Trick for Becoming a Plain Spoken Writer

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092 Let This Stupid Machine Read Your Copy Out Loud

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091 This Free App Will Help You Write Bold and Clear Copy

August 13, 2015

090 Four Writing Lessons I Learned from This Depressing Music Project

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089 The Clear-Copy Rule of Writing for the Web

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088 Three Ways Writers Must Adjust in a World Dominated by Social Media

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087 How This Social Media Thing Kicked Web Writing Right in the Feels

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086 An Elegant Story on Outsmarting Career Obsolescence

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085 Raise the Stakes! 13 Writing Ideas That Really Work

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084 The Two Things That Make a Dull Product Irresistible

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083 Proof That Stories Can Increase the Value of Even ‘Worthless’ Items

July 30, 2015

082 Could Podcasting Make You a Better Writer?

July 29, 2015

081 When Do You Abandon the Editing Process?

July 28, 2015

080 Four Ways to Get Attention by Rocking the Boat

July 27, 2015

079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

July 23, 2015

078 Six Storytelling Lessons from a Famous Urban Legend

July 22, 2015

077 Vexed by Your Bankrupt Vocabulary? Listen to This

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076 Why Writers Need to Develop a Sense of Humor

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075 Listener Challenge: Could You Read 100 Books in a Year?

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074 How to Get Massive Attention with a ‘High-Concept Pitch’

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073 A Lesson in Swagger from a Wooden-Legged Civil War Soldier

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072 Six Ways to Becoming a Completely Original Writer

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071 The Oldest Writing Trick in The Book

July 9, 2015

070 Eight Things Every Writer Should Know about Landing Pages

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069 The Fascinating Truth about Boring Topics

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068 How to Craft an About Page That People Actually Read and Share

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067 The Psychology Behind Winning Email Subject Lines

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066 All Great Writing Boils Down to These Four Emotional Appeals

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065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

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064 A Mild Warning for All Headline Writers

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063 How Every Creative Must Think about Marketing and Advertising

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062 Do Millennials (Really) Hate Long Copy?

June 24, 2015

061 These 4 Sales Principles Can Improve Anyone’s Writing

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060 How to Use the 5 Stages of Audience Awareness to Dominate Online

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059 Why The Most Hated Headline Structures Work So Well

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058 This is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have “Explaining the Mechanism” …

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057 The Doomsday Cult School of Specificity

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056 How to Sweep Away Skepticism with a Dramatic Demonstration

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055 Meet the Tragic Poster Boy for the Emotional Brain

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054 A Straightforward Research Method for Finding a Potent Hook

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052 Three New Ways to Write a Headline (and When to Use Each)

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051 Want Copy That Actually Works? Start with Mass Desire

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050 The Curious Secret to Building Trust and Credibility

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049 My Second Most Favorite Copywriting Formula in the World!

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048 How to Get Lazy People to Care about Your Ideas

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047 My Favorite Copywriting Formula … Ever!

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046 How to (Rapidly) Build an Audience with Content Syndication

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045 Solve Your Online Proofreading Problems With This Simple Trick

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044 The Profanity Princess on Finding Your Voice

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043 The Oddest Story About Overcoming Obscurity You’ll Ever Hear

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042 10 Odd Books That Will Improve Your Writing

May 20, 2015

041 How to Read a Book in 2 Hours

May 19, 2015

040 The Shocking Way to Master Any Book

May 18, 2015

039 Nine Copywriting Books for Web Writers

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038 The 8 Rules of Ruthless Editing from David Mamet

May 13, 2015

037 Revealed: The Perfect Blog Post Length

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036 The Aggressive Work Ethic of Highly Creative People

May 11, 2015

035 The 10 Rules of Rough Drafts

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034 5 Ways to Create the Perfect Ending that Your Content Deserves

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033 6 Simple Rules For Writing Effective Dialogue

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032 Use Internal Cliffhangers So People Never Stop Reading

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031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

April 30, 2015

030 The Great Paragraph Hoax

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029 5 Ways to Write a Seductive Sentence

April 28, 2015

028 How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Verbs

April 27, 2015

027 How the Perfect Article Is Framed by White Space

April 23, 2015

026 The Best Articles Always Have This (and a Great Headline)

April 22, 2015

025 The Anatomy of a Hyperlink That Woos Readers

April 21, 2015

024 The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Bullet Points That Work

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023 How to Create Exquisite Subheadlines

April 16, 2015

022 Four Safe Ways to Find Your Writing Voice (and One Dangerous One)

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021 The Two Kinds of Knowledge Every Writer Needs

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020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

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019 How to Answer the Most Important Question About Becoming an Exceptional Writer

April 9, 2015

018 Four Things That Can Make Writers Famous

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017 A Small Gift for Your Dark Days as an Obscure Writer

April 7, 2015

016 Steal This Episode

April 6, 2015

015 David Sedaris’ Guide to Writing Brilliant First Sentences

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014 Six Proven Ways to Open an Article With a Bang

April 1, 2015

013 How I’ll Make You Read Every Single Line of This Article

March 31, 2015

012 The Ugly Truth About How People Read Online

March 30, 2015

011 The 3 Pillars of Great Web Writing

March 26, 2015

010 How to Use RSS to Write Better Headlines

March 25, 2015

009 How to Write Headlines that Get Results

March 24, 2015

008 Where Headlines Have Gone Horribly Wrong

March 23, 2015

007 A 12-Minute Crash Course on Link Building (Ugh)

March 19, 2015

006 An Idiot-Proof Guide to Writing Blog Posts That Google Loves

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005 Keywords: Your Love Affair With the Language Your Audience Uses

March 17, 2015

004 How Search Engines Work, Part Two

March 16, 2015

003 How Search Engines Work, Part One

March 3, 2015

002 The Unbreakable Law of the Web

March 2, 2015

001 Two Challenges All Digital Content Must Conquer

July 27, 2015

079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

There are about 100 ways to become a better writer. For example, you could …

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Read 100 books. Listen to Ira Glass’ This American Life. Cultivate a sick sense of humor. Think like a psychologist. Rack up rejections. Write like mad.

But did you know catching hell can help you sharpen your copy chops, too? Yep. Starting a little controversy can do that.

Rocking the boat forces you to defend your ideas, examine what you can stomach, stretch your world and test the waters.

Let’s explore these ideas.

In this 6-minute episode you’ll discover:

  • The unique role critics play in a writer’s life (hint: you are fortunate if you have critics)
  • What people who don’t like conflict need to know about controversy
  • The one thing you can’t do as an online writer (ever)

Listen to Rough Draft below ...

079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching HellDemian Farnworth
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The Transcript

A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com.

Demian Farnworth: Howdy, and welcome back to another episode of Rough Draft, your daily dose of essential web writing advice. I am Demian Farnworth, your host, your muse, your digital recluse, and the Chief Content Writer for Copyblogger Media.

And thank you for sharing the next few minutes of your life with me.

There are about 100 ways to become a better writer. For example, you could:

  • Read 100 books
  • Listen to Ira Glass’ This American Life
  • Cultivate a sick sense of humor
  • Think like a psychologist
  • Rack up rejections
  • Write like mad

But did you know catching hell can help you sharpen your copy chops, too? Yep. Starting a little controversy can do that.

Rocking the boat forces you to defend your ideas, examine what you can stomach, stretch your world and test the waters.

Let’s explore these ideas.

The Unique Role Critics Play in a Writer’s Life (Hint: You are Fortunate If You Have Critics)

Solitude is sacred domain for writers. It’s where they contemplate and churn out their ideas. And unless you’re J. D. Salinger, those ideas will eventually see light.

When they do–enter the critics.

Don’t cringe or snub your nose at critics. They serve a function: challenging what you write.

But here’s the deal: if critics aren’t paying attention to you then you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Listen: You want critics to pay attention to you. To feel threatened by what you write. It’s a sign of their recognition of your authority…

An authority they’d love to take down.

That’s where you, my friend, roll up your sleeves, lick your knuckles and put up your fists. Even if you think you’ll lose. Because the tussle that ensues will teach you more about who you are and why you think the way you do.

I’m not advocating an air-tight fundamentalist mindset…

I’m advocating for you to grow as a writer, which means examining why you think the way you do and evaluating whether what you think is correct or not.

In the public square is where ideas are refined. Improved. And sharpened.

You’ll lose some fights, win others, all with the goal of gaining wisdom. Wisdom to know when to shut your mouth and when to speak up. When to confront critics and when to ignore them.

But you’ll never reach that place unless you catch a little hell. How much hell you can take depends on how much you can stomach.

What People Who Don’t Like Conflict Need to Know About Controversy

I confess: I don’t like confrontation. I don’t like bringing attention to myself. And I have a certain level of hell I can stomach.

That’s the thing: it differs from person to person. Some people love to catch a mountain of it. Others a mole hill. You won’t know if you never try. So that means you have to…

If you force yourself to catch hell you are expanding your borders. You are crossing from the known to the unknown.

I can’t think of a better way that creates opportunity for good things to happen to you. Catch a little hell and people who didn’t know you yesterday can’t stop talking about you today.

When you stir the pot you discover what people respond to. Think of it as an experiment. You are looking for something new. Something that strikes a nerve.

Hiding behind garden-variety advice on a blog – whether you’re dishing out gardening tips or financial tactics – for example, is a guaranteed way to keep your feet planted on the ground … and smack in the middle of the crowd. In obscurity. What you need to do is defy gravity. You need to rise above the noise.

But you’ll never know how to do that unless you test the waters. And catching a little hell is great way to do that. In the next episode you’ll discover five approaches.

Until then, take care.

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