What You Can Do Today to Become a Better Writer Tomorrow

Imagine if the state of Alaska were put up for sale. Any guess on what the asking price would be? I had no idea so I decided to do a little research.

If Alaska were on the market today, most likely the asking price would be somewhere between two and a half trillion and five trillion dollars. Numbers so large they are hard to fathom! An asking price of five trillion is higher than the third-largest annual gross domestic product (GDP) of any country in the world! The USA purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. Did they pay anything close to that amount?

No!

Despite what appears to be a bargain by today’s value, the original purchase price of $7.2 million was seen by many as much too high. At the time, they thought Alaska’s resources had been pillaged and it was only good as a polar bear garden. Hindsight is 20/20 and we can now see how wrong they were. The purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 has turned out to be an incredibly wise investment.

Equally putting time and effort into improving our writing skills is one of the wisest investments we can make. In this article we’ll discuss:

1. Why it’s good to buck the trends
2. Why very few writers become exceptional
3. The future value of writing

Let’s get started by looking at why it’s good to buck the trends.

Certainly, you’ve heard this saying about buying and selling before

It goes something like this “Sell when people are buying. Buy when people are selling.” The motto was probably meant for buying and selling stocks, real estate, or baseball cards. But I think it works really well with life skills. While the majority of people are zigging, this is a great time to be zagging. When everyone wants to learn video editing and scripting, it’s a great time to learn how to write. When social media is all the rage and everyone wants to be an influencer, why not become an expert with words. By bucking the trend, we transition.

We shift from being a follower to being a leader

When nearly everyone is doing and talking about one thing, we’re no longer in the early adopter or early majority phases. The phase we’re in is probably the late majority or laggard phase. What’s trending today is most likely on the adoption down curve. If we jump on the bandwagon now, we’re too late.

Am I saying that if we’re trying today to make a name for ourselves on YouTube and Instagram that we’ve missed the bus? Not exactly. Here’s what I am saying — since everyone is doing and talking about social media, this is a great time to be doing something different.

We’re able to stand out from the crowd by learning to write

We can provide an alternative for those who are becoming tired of the status quo. No doubt some social media users are getting YouTube fatigue. I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here — given by the fact that you’re reading what I’ve written. That said, if you’ve wanted to establish a YouTube channel for yourself, but haven’t gotten around to it, maybe this article will ease your frustrations. If I’ve sold you on why it’s a great time to become a better writer, then let’s move on to the second point — why very few writers become exceptional.

I know — this article is full of cliches

So here’s another one — it’s a good one and I’m sure you know it. I feel that it’s so applicable to the point I want to bring across. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Everyone is terrible when they start something new. It’s no different with writing. Our writing will likely be pretty stinking bad in the beginning. Mine still is — it’s terrible in fact. But it’s the continuous work we put in, and not just the work but working to improve, that will bring about quality.

Writing isn’t easy. It’s a struggle to write something that others will want to read. It’s gonna take time to get to the point where our writing abilities are recognized as skilled and finely tuned.

And so, we have to persevere

We’ll be let down if we expect to be a great or even a good writer within a couple of weeks or months. Remember — the skills of a great writer are multi-faceted. We must learn what goes into writing that makes it a pleasure to read. We best learn structure and story-telling, anticipation and simplicity. Many spokes support the writing wheel. Gradually, we can improve on each one, and in time, we become that writer which we aspire to be.

Let’s not kid ourselves — it’s a struggle to get there. However, when you do arrive, and you will, no one can take that skill from you. You own it. It’s yours forever. That brings us to our third and final point — the future value of writing.

Brace yourself — I can predict the future

I can tell you what the future looks like without a crystal or magic 8 ball. Here’s my prediction — people will always be reading. Video, audio, and images will not replace the written word. Not by any stretch of the imagination. There is something intimate, something personable, warm and cozy, about reading. No one curls up with a glass of wine by a fire to watch a YouTube video. Well, ok, maybe some people do. But there will always be a demand for good writing. That will never go away. To meet that future demand, today is a great day to become better at writing.

Maybe you’re a little like me

I grew up hating writing. Sure, I enjoyed reading when I was a young lad — loved my Hardy Boys, Three Investigators, and Choose Your Own Adventure books. But writing was always a drag. English class was the worst.

As an adult, I still held on to the belief that I was terrible at writing. So I didn’t write. It was that way for me until my eyes were opened. In 2012 I dove head-first into online marketing. It was then that I realized the value of becoming a good writer. Plus, I could see the difficulty in becoming a good writer which made it even more appealing (yes — I may be a bit of a masochist). But, I still didn’t believe becoming a writer worth reading was possible for me.

It took a very good teacher to change my belief. He took me from being convinced that I could never be a good writer to believing I could learn to become a good writer. Without that teacher, I wouldn’t be where I am today, and wouldn’t be on the trajectory I am. On the flip side, if you want to become a good writer, here’s the worst thing you can do…

Compare yourself to others and fail to see your uniqueness

We’re all on a different path in life. We all have different skills and abilities, different experiences and interests. Each of us is unique. None of us are identical. Comparing your writing to anyone else’s writing is like comparing fingerprints. You can’t change your fingerprint to be like the fingerprint of someone else’s.

It’s the same with writing — your writing is unique to you. Of course, we can all improve, as I wrote about in point number two. The best thing to do is accept your abilities for what they are, for their uniqueness, and move forward from there.

In summary, writing skills are kinda like trees

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today. For fun, let’s apply that logic to writing — the best time to start working on your writing skills was twenty years ago. The next best time is today. So get on the path to becoming a better writer by practicing daily, finding a good teacher, and by believing you can. Investing in your ability to write well will reap dividends, both now and in the future. It’s a very wise investment, which we discussed by looking at:

1. Why it’s good to buck the trends
2. Why very few writers become exceptional
3. The future value of writing

There’s chatter online that the United States should sell Alaska. The huge profit could go to paying off some of the national debt. What a mistake that would be. The state of Alaska brings benefits to the country as a whole in many more ways than just monetary. When the deal was struck in 1867, they could never have imagined how valuable of an investment they were making.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article.  I hope it helps and inspires you to become a better writer.  Please feel free to share it on your social media.  For your next article to read, I’d recommend “How to write an email to thousands yet sound like we’re writing to one.”  In it, we discuss what it takes to write a good email, one that sounds like it’s coming from a friend.  Cheers!