Don’t write unless you have something to say
“You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald
The great conundrum of the “newsletter” is to offer some added value to an audience engulfed by online dissonance — and not waste their time. The inherent worth of reading has indeed always been that intersection between value and relevance. But what happens when I have nothing to say?
Much like the television and radio, the internet has taken the art of reading and reproduced it in its own image: media-efficient and substance-remiss.
Thus we are often inclined to treat all the other pieces of our digital routine in a similar manner. The great social media gods have long ruled that a feed without current content becomes a feed no one sees. Lack of content leads to staleness, and staleness, well, leads to loss in reach (especially Facebook).
“Much like the television and radio, the internet has taken the art of reading and reproduced it in its own image: media-efficient and substance-remiss.”
So when I started writing my weekly newsletter over a year ago, I was incredibly neurotic: I would brainstorm constantly for writing prompts, worried I might miss or aggravate a reader by missing a deadline. I posted and emailed the post like a diligent scribe at around 7:00pm every Saturday, hitting all the social media, reaching out to friends, etc. My little machine was well oiled but I did not realize until much later…
I was writing to write. I had nothing to say.
One week when I was insanely busy (traveling to in-laws with infant child), I despaired and — in my rationalization — declared to my wife, “I just have nothing worth saying this week.” I ignored my weekly newsletter and blew into Monday dreading the drop-off in readership I knew I would experience the very next week.
To my surprise, only a few of my friends pinged me: “what happened? did I miss it?,” but I saw almost no drop-off in interest. In fact, it was as if no one even noticed that I had been absent two weeks from their inbox. Nobody cared that I had nothing to say — or perhaps better, they were grateful I shut the hell up that week.
“The times I really had something I wanted to get off my chest — those were largely my most successful pieces.”
OK, so back-pedal a bit. I don’t always write to write. In fact, the inspiration for my newsletter was twofold:
- I wanted to become a better writer.
- I wanted to write about things no one else talks about.
To no one’s surprise, the times I really had something I wanted to get off my chest — those were largely my most successful pieces. One specific example was when Pope Francis came to visit the United States last year. I had been storing up rebuttals to fallacious media arguments and internal Catholic criticisms that boiled my blood for over a year. I finally had enough and sent that piece soaring.
It was my second most successful writing to date.
We should be adding value, not competing for least stupid
The scarcest commodity these days is attention span. Marketers fight each other for that one sliver of your focus— my goal is to not add to that cacophony. Our world is quickly being devoured by visual media (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger) and there is no reason for me to compete.
With their feeds filled to the brim, users are consuming less. According to a study, 59% of links posted on social media never get clicked and 70% of Facebook users only read the headlines of posted articles, creating the assumption that many people share without ever reading a post.
So here I am to tell you, in some strange irony, that I am out of ideas for this week’s Politic. Though I hope I have offered some sane advice and a proper defense against marketing for marketing’s sake:
DO NOT WRITE UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.
I will continue to write when I feel I have something to add and fortunately — unlike other social media — Medium isn’t the type to penalize inactivity.
If you like what you read be sure to ♥ it below. Stay in touch by subscribing to my newsletter or following me on Twitter.
