Writing advice from an idiot

Dave Gorum
Nov 1 · 1 min read

When writing it’s important to keep the prose moving. Make a point and in the same breath move onto the next. People won’t wait around for you to make your case.

That said, try to get away with a little something now and then. A delightful diversion.

Take your reader down an alley, show them a particular dumpster. Describe its lid. Maybe a story about the company who invented the dumpster. How, in the 1930’s, the American manufacturers, Dempster Brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee coined the term. Their marvel of modern garbage innovation the Dempster Dumpster.

Tell them how the origin of things fascinates you. How grand it is to know a small group of people with an idea can change culture. How something as commonplace as a dumpster came from somewhere. Someone had the idea and mobilized a whole company to execute it.

Share with them the fact the Dempster Brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee also invented a garbage truck to handle their dumpsters. That the truck had arms that scooped up their dumpsters. And, say to them, “Get this, they named it the Dempster Dinosaur!”. Marvel with the reader at these amazing weirdos who loved the handling of garbage and came up with silly names for their inventions.

Then summarize with something like, “Business can and should be fun. Fun binds your team together. Fun can catapult an idea into the world. Fun comes up with a useful invention and names it, ‘dumpster’.”

In short, tell the reader what you’re thinking, hit publish, and dive out a window.

Dave Gorum

Written by

Interested in creativity and motivation. Spent the last 13 years bootstrapping on Carbonmade. Building a new company. Software designer.

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