Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

If you’re like me, there are times when you probably let your fear of failure hinder your writing. But, perhaps you aren’t at all like me, and fear of failure never crosses your mind. My wife constantly suggests the quirks, neurosis, and other fun things that make up “me,” are not the same emotions and mental elements that make up HER and others. (My father was an alcoholic and my mother died when I was only eight, so she says I probably don’t see like just the way others do.)

No matter the fears or concerns you let hinder you, if you are to write what you want to write and do it to your full potential, you simply have to ignore such things and write anyway. Writers must be courageous. By “courageous,” I am not invoking some mysterious state of sublime calm that enables you to rise peacefully above the cares of your life and write always and everywhere.

No, my definition of courage would be this: Doing what you must do, regardless of whether you are afraid.

One of the most fun and rewarding jobs I’ve ever had was as news editor of a weekly Christian denominational magazine. I enjoyed just about everything the job required of me, and I really had a blast meeting some interesting people and getting to do a little bit of business travel every year on their dime. It was great.

But the first day I had to “solo” at that position, after just two weeks training, I would have given anything to just fall into the ground and disappear rather than go into the office that day. I knew what to do and how to do it. I had the skills to do the job and I had the interest to do it. I was motivated.

I still remember walking to work that day, hoping the next breath would somehow be my last and I simply wouldn’t have to go into the office. I was as eager to be somewhere else, anywhere else, as a 17-year-old is eager to get rid of acne on the eve of his senior prom. I remember literally forcing one foot to step in front of the other.

I realize now that my fears were unfounded, and that it was a high point of my life getting to do that work and work with some really great people. (Best boss I ever had, before or since.) But at the time, it took real courage for me just to make it to work, let alone do a presentation that day at the staff meeting.

Do you let your fear of failure hinder your writing and/or the writing career you want for yourself? Don’t let fear keep you idle or “blocked.” Writers must be courageous. So ignore the fear and do some writing today that’ll make us all proud.

If I could only share one or two “tips” for Internet writing, the most important would be this: Visitors who come to your website don’t really READ what you put on the website. I capitalized “READ,” because you need to keep an important distinction in mind between “READING” and “SKIMMING” or “SCANNING.” Website visitors rarely really read what you write — they skim through it or scan through it, picking up important words that catch their eye.

If you blog and have a faithful group of blog readers, they may focus more carefully on reading instead of skimming. If you have a marketing website, you can be sure they mostly skim or scan through the copy for the most important information they are seeking about what you are offering.

This most important tip leads to a second: Since people limit their interest in what you’ve written, you need to put the single most important point you wish to make at the beginning of the blog post or web page. You may even try to put it in the first title or “headline” on the page. If you’re coming to the Internet with a journalism background, you are very familiar with the “inverted pyramid” structure of a news story. That means the most important information comes first, with lesser information or supporting details coming into the story as you progress from the beginning toward the end. (It’s called “inverted pyramid” because the base or most important information is at the top, while the lesser or “smaller” stuff is on the bottom. Get it?)

Get to the point you want to make. Make that point first and make it the most “eye catching” point on the page/post. Say what else you want to say. Summarize or restate that main point. Quit writing.

Let me make a special, quiet little plea on behalf of freelance writers, editors, and other self-employed “word people” everywhere. This is directed at President Obama (I doubt he reads this blog, but you never know who’s reading it, do you?) and his administration’s efforts to reform health care in America. Here goes:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT’S SANE AND SENSIBLE, CONSIDER SINGLE-PAYER PLAN HEALTH CARE OPTIONS!!!!

Thanks. I feel better now.

I brought that up because for more than two years now, I have been without health care. My wife and I made the decision that I would quit the “day job” and devote myself to various blogging and affiliate marketing projects that seemed to be “taking off” at the time. Things, of course, have not gone as well as we’d hoped, and there’s simply no way I can afford health insurance. (Sure, I try to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and I take a variety of daily nutritional health supplements ranging from multi-vitamins to flaxseed oil.)

Just last week, I went to a free stroke risk screening at a local hospital, and discovered that I need to see a doctor about high blood pressure. When I explained I have no family doctor and no health insurance, the nurses at the screening hooked me up with a local “sliding fee scale” clinic. I’ve got an appointment for Friday morning, and that will be my first visit to a doctor or clinic since I quit that “day job.”

I won’t sermonize or preach or rant (though if you come here regularly you know I do all three from time to time) except to add this: We already spend the billions (perhaps trillions?) of dollars in America necessary to make a “universal health care” system work — we just don’t get the health care we’re all paying to get. So, let’s hope things do indeed get better for everyone in this country regarding health care. And, personally, I hope all those vitamins and supplements I’ve been downing every morning have been some benefit. Guess I’ll find out more on Friday.