10 Things I Hate (Not About You!) (Part 1)

This is a quick issue.

I had family stuff to do yesterday and had to make a four hour trip. So this is a day late.

In the last week or so I’ve been diving into Ray Bradbury for a project I’ve got on the go. More on Bradbury soon…but one thing Bradbury advises (to tap into the authentic self) is to make a list of 10 things you love and 10 things you hate.

And write about those.

Next week I’ll post the remaining Things I Hate…but you could also add in things you hope for and things you fear. I swapped out one of those to this article because it’s the most prominant ‘negative’ I have in my list.

And bear in mind, this is confined to the kind of topics I write about. And not politics. Or religion. Or shit like that. Though while I was walking with my B4LF this morning I was thinking about this, and I’d love to write about my political perspective as a ‘heretical democrat.’ (And that’s democrat in the sense of believing in one person one vote…not anything to do with the US Democrat party).

Anyways….let’s dive in with 4 Things I Hate and 1 Thing I Fear and a short paragraph or two about each - starting with my biggest ‘writing’ fear:

I can’t remember where I came across the concept of creating a legacy library. It will come back to me. (I tend not to take notes…but rely on my subconscious to join ideas from different sources together….that sometimes means I forget where I saw an idea!)

But this is something that crops up repeatedly - either directly or obliquely - in my morning freewriting: meeting the bus with my name on before I’ve written everything I want to write.

And my Legacy Library will consist of these items:

• A number of fiction books.

• A number of non-fiction books.

• Information - whether published into book form, or individual magazine forms, or stored in some kind of digital repository - which has the working title of ‘Business Lessons For Freddie and Max.’ I’ve accrued a ton of business knowledge over the last 15 years and I want my kids to have access to that whenever they need it.

So I need to extract the mataphorical digit from the metaphorical orifice and make progress on getting ideas out of my head and onto paper.

The ‘teaching’ that writing 500 words a day or 1000 words a day for a period of time will make you a better writer drives me nuts. That writing is somehow unlike how the brain learns in every other discipline or skill in the world.

I won’t fully debunk this here. But let’s take a scenario:

• You can drive.

• You love seeing ‘Hollywood style’ high pursuit/evasion driving and you’d love to do it.

• You want to learn how to do it.

Do you: (a) spend two hours a day, every day, driving around to make you a ‘better driver?” or (b) find an instructor who can teach the specific skills you need to add to your toolbox of driving skills? And then practice those?

Improving at writing and improving at driving uses the same neuroscience. If you just repeat what you can already do….you don’t get better, you ‘automate’ doing what you can already do more.

Depending on who you follow, or what social media you check out, I’m sure you’ve seen a ton of offers/enticements like this:

• Make 7 Figures With Substack Newsletters!

• Make 6 Figures With Amazon KDP…With A & Figure Exit!

• Build A 7 Figure Publishing (Or Whatever) Empire!

And so on.

Two things that will help you to tune these out:

• These guys (and it’s mostly guys) are shovel sellers. (I.e. selling shovels to gold miners.) Go back to the source of the phrase ‘shovel sellers.’ If you had struck gold would you: (a) keep working your claim, or (b) stop, and start selling shovels as a way for people to strike gold?

• Know your ‘Enough Number.’

What’s your ‘Enough Number?’ It’s how much you need to earn in order to live the life you want to lead. My number is based around this goal:

• Earning enough to be comfortable…but having two to three hours a day (preferably the first two to three hours a day) to write fiction. (See also #1)

That’s it.

Don’t get sidetracked by shovel sellers trying to sell you a dream. And see #4 below.

AI is getting better and is definitely a tool that writers should have in their toolbox.

Only: NOT FOR ACTUAL WRITING!

If you don’t want to write, and want to get AI to write for you, then don’t spend time trying to become a writer. If you need writing for your business, hire a decent ghostwriter and spend your time doing something you enjoy. We all have a finite amount of hours left to us….the 80-20 of living a successful life isn’t spending them doing something you don’t enjoy in the hope it will bring money in…it’s outsourcing the shit you hate and focusing on things you enjoy.

Got sidetracked. Back to AI.

AI isn’t the Holy Grail for writer in the sense that it will do the heavy lifting of their actual writing and their thinking. It’s a great research assistant. And it can make a great brainstorming partner - if that’s what you need.

As an actual writer….not so much.

Remember: writing (at its best) is a communication of energy and passion and thoughts from one person (the writer) to another (the reader). AI can only create a simulacrum of that.

Because it’s a relatively new technology….you’ll be exposed to the ‘Make 7 Figures Writing With AI’ shovel sellers. (See #3 above). That’s a distraction that you should ignore. Here’s a truth that you can use as a lens to view EVERY SINGLE OFFER you ever see:

If someone had discovered a method to making 7 Figures With AI…why wouldn’t they quietly go about actually doing that instead of trying to make money productizing that?

So explore AI by all means.

Don’t outsource your writing or your thinking to AI.

I’ve written about Free Plus Shipping offers before in PTWS. And there’s nothing wrong with using a book as either a loss leader or a low cost way to acquire a customer.

No problems with that.

Where the problem occurs is the moment after you’ve purchased a book in one of those free plus shipping ‘funnels.’ (And maybe ‘funnels’ should be on the list too….)

Because most free plus shipping style offers are sold via adverts. And to amortize the cost of the adverts the average order value has to be increased. With Bump Offers. And Upsell 1. And Upsell 2. And so on.

The problem is: where’s the fucking allowance for consumption in the process? If the reader hasn’t yet consumed the content, how does he or she know that your content is worth spending more for an upsell?

It’s a shitty way to sell. And for readers/consumers, it’s a shitty way to buy. For sure there should be a selling sequence in place….sometimes people will buy and not read your book for two or three years! And - as an author - you have to treat your reader with respect and NOT bombard them with offers the moment they’ve bought something. But trust the sequence to do its work with a percentage of your buyers.

One other thing. I saw a Free Plus Shipping offer yesterday. Forget the book. It was Free plus $14.99 for international postage. Something like that. For a book that’s $12.99 USD on Amazon (or equivalent in GBP for me). So treating potential readers like they are stupid is never a good way to start a relationship. And so you know….most of these free plus shipping offers break even with what they charge for the shipping. And their profit comes from bump offers and upsells.

So I don’t have a problem with free plus shipping. Or using a book as a low cost introductory offer as part of a selling sequence. But the immediate bombardment of bump offers, upsells and sidesells.

Do this exercise for youself - list 10 loves, hates, fears and desires. And you’ll give yourself a mountain of inspiration to write about that not only comes from your authentic self, but will attract people who think like you and repel people who don’t!

And the content you create for each of your loves, hates, fears and desires can start as say a tweet. Three bullets. Or five bullets. Then can be expanded to a longer form article like a newsletter. From there it can be repurposed. Or expanded further. Depending on your needs. This is a great method to create authentic content!