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020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

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Previous Episode:019 How to Answer the Most Important Question About Becoming an Exceptional Writer More Episodes Next Episode:021 The Two Kinds of Knowledge Every Writer Needs

All Episodes:

October 21, 2015

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

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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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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

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082 Could Podcasting Make You a Better Writer?

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081 When Do You Abandon the Editing Process?

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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

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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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053 What You Don’t Know about Your Product Can Kill Your Copy

June 9, 2015

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

May 26, 2015

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

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040 The Shocking Way to Master Any Book

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039 Nine Copywriting Books for Web Writers

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038 The 8 Rules of Ruthless Editing from David Mamet

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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

May 7, 2015

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

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030 The Great Paragraph Hoax

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029 5 Ways to Write a Seductive Sentence

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028 How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Verbs

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027 How the Perfect Article Is Framed by White Space

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

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025 The Anatomy of a Hyperlink That Woos Readers

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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

April 14, 2015

020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

April 13, 2015

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

April 2, 2015

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)

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

March 18, 2015

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

April 14, 2015

020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

Wrestling with a 2,000 word essay is not unlike birthing a calf. A life is at stake here. Your job is to make sure it survives.

In my experience, great writers have always been socially odd. They’ve resisted invitations to birthday parties from close relatives, pretended not to hear when people are talking to them, and even ignored phone calls …

So they can do this one thing.

Outsiders consider this behavior bizarre and anti-social. So be it. But it’s really just a pretty normal day in the writer’s life who wants to kick some tail and take names.

It’s all about getting better. One day at a time.

In this roughly 10-minute episode you’ll discover:

  • The aggressive work ethic of exceptional writers
  • Two daily writing challenges that will make you a better writer
  • When practice isn’t helping you
  • What you should know before you join a critique group

Listen to Rough Draft below ...

020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become ExceptionalDemian Farnworth
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The Show Notes

  • Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
  • Mark McGuiness
  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi
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The Transcript

The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, a 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: Hi, this is Demian Farnworth, Chief Content Writer for Copyblogger Media. And welcome to Rough Draft, your daily dose of essential web writing advice.

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

And if you haven’t yet, jump over to iTunes and leave me a rating or a review or both. And for those of you who have. Thank you.

I just want you to know that when I read your comments, I am encouraged. I just want to work harder. As a gift to you.

So thank you. Now. On to the show.

This is Episode 20. It’s part of a mini series called The Exceptional Writers Club where I’m asking four very important questions about becoming an exceptional writer.

Yesterday, I asked, what is your strategy? Why are you a writer?

Today I’m asking, do you have the right technique?

Now we’re into the mechanics of the thing, actually punching the keyboard.

The Aggressive Work Ethic of Exceptional Writers

Technique will probably absorb most of your time as a writer since mastering technique is what has made the greats the greatest.

If you watched that documentary I mentioned yesterday, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” you’ll see what I mean. And if you haven’t watched it, what are you waiting for?

Watch it. Then tell me what you think about it in the comments.

Mastering the art of writing is hard work. It’s daily work.

If you’re a dandy or a princess, then this lifestyle is not for you. Wrestling with a 2,000 word essay is not unlike birthing a calf. A life is at stake here. Your job is to make sure it survives.

Your job is to sit in the cold and mud through the night and pull until it comes out.

So, first things first — do you have the capacity to park your bottom in front of the keyboard — and not move until it is written?

Exceptional writers have that aggressive work ethic. An ethic that says …

When I arrive at the door of creativity and knock and no one answers — I’m going to kick the door in. I’m going to make myself at home.

And I’m not going to leave when someone shows up to evict me … I’m going to fight them tooth and nail.

See there is nothing magical about writing. The work has to be done.

Can you do it? Will you do it?

As Mark McGuinness said, “Many a creative breakthrough starts as a creative break-in.”

That’s a long way of saying developing good writing technique means you have to practice.

Two Daily Writing Challenges that Will Make You a Better Writer

Even when you are not writing, exceptional writers find ways to practice. You write emails, tweets or Facebook posts. Dash off poems. You journal in the morning and in the evening, and whether you are running over hilly trails or lying beneath the clouds, you are writing and rewriting in your head.

The more you write, the better you become.

Furthermore, your practice involves a clear purpose: you are trying to improve a certain element of your writing. You are trying to write the best first sentences. You are trying to write the best calls to actions. Headlines. This is deliberate purposeful practice, the kind Geoffrey Colvin wrote about in his book “Talent Is Overrated.”

I still spend hours over headlines. Because I want to write the best headline. And not rest upon my past work.

And, this practice is repetitive. The goal is to make writing great headlines, first sentences an instinct. This is why I’d recommend writing daily. There really is no better route to becoming a good writer than writing often.

For a number of months publish seven days a week. Challenge yourself to write a sonnet a day. For an entire year. Most of them will be nominal. Most of them will be forgotten. But you’ll be sharpening the saw. Each and every day.

This is education through writing sprints.

This practice is purposeful. It’s repetitive. Which means you have to pay attention to what you are doing and adjust.

You must be your best and worst critics of your own work. You pull out old letters and blog posts, and you evaluate it. What would you do differently? What makes you cringe? Make note, and stop doing that. Make note, and start doing something.

When Practice Isn’t Helping You

Review, critique, your own work. Be harsh. Be brutal.

For example, I’ve gone back through and listened to every episode of this podcast again. And I cringed each time I said the word “Right.” Probably, and this is no exaggeration, I said that word over the course of these nineteen episodes, nearly two hundred times.

Ugh. Now I have a bright gold sticky note on my laptop with the word “right” crossed out.

What You Should Know Before You Join a Critique Group

But even if you are a good critic of your own work, ask for feedback.

Exceptional writers scheme their way into relationships with honest professionals who can give them the kind of input needed to improve.

Or you can join a critique group. Even if you don’t agree with everything they say, look for patterns in what your group says. They may be on to something.

And go back and listen to the early episodes of this podcast. The ones on writing headlines and openings and first sentences in particular.

And of course, exceptional writers look for new angles. You experiment. You study a list of the best first and last sentences. You wonder if an article would be better if they injected humor, shared a racy illustration or opened with a quote.

Anything to break new ground. You experiment with your technique, keep what works, ditch what doesn’t.

There are endless ways to practice and master technique. You are limited only by your imagination.

I of course will be talking throughout this podcast about technique. In fact, once this mini series is over, in two episodes, I will get back to working our way through the essential elements of a good piece of online writing — things like subheadlines, and internal cliffhangers, and bullet points, and warm blooded verbs, and white space.

All good stuff. In the meantime, pick an area of writing in which you are weak, and vow to practice today to improve that weakness.

Until the next time, take care.

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