The Three-Act Structure of a Successful Blog Post

I tick these boxes before I hit publish

Oscar Wilde is evoked as the typical naturally talented but idle writer. He in fact worked extremely hard to hone his craft and publicise his work. (Public Domain. Image source: Wikipedia)

I’m still amazed. I ought to pinch myself. It’s extraordinary that I can write about niche topics like philosophy and art and manage to make money. I never set out to do that — I simply wanted to get the message out into the world that these supposedly useless subjects can be helpful in work and life.

The response I have got is humbling. People leave dozens of comments and messages of support and appreciation. I’ve made a lot of money and it has certainly made my life easier. I’m no star blogger, and I’m by no means rich because of my writing. But my life is richer. I get paid for something I would do for free.

New opportunities have opened up for me that I would never have dreamed possible. My work has been recommended by philosophy professors on Twitter. My writing has been translated into Hebrew, German, Polish, Arabic and French. I get thanked by strangers all the time, it’s a wonderful feeling.

It’s worth mentioning that writing has never come naturally to me. My grades at school were terrible. I just about scraped a “C” in my finals at age 16 and never took up English study beyond that.

Through hard work I got better. I still don’t consider myself to be particularly talented, but love —…