Just Write Something (It’s Not About You) (Wait, Yes It Is, Kind Of)
This blog post is about me but it is not about me. It is about me appealing to you—the proverbial you, Dear Reader. This blog post is about writing. And it is about bugs.
Just write something.
There are bugs on my window. My window overlooks Grand Traverse’s West Bay and it is covered with flying, gnat-like insects (perhaps they are aquatic midges). This is not marketing. But it is writing.
Just write something.
That is not great advice. “Something” will not pass muster. I know this because my editor knows this. She says, “Chris, this is tired. This is boring. This has been said before.” But the blog needs content and so—I must write something.
Who are you? What do you want to read about? I want to write about bugs, or music, or poetry. You may not (necessarily) want to read about those things.
It’s not about you.
That is better advice. When I wrote it, however, I meant it to mean that it is not about me. And to be more accurate, even when I mean this to be about you—it is only about you to the extent that you are my intended audience and not someone else.
If you wanted me to write something for you for someone else then I would have to write it to appeal to that someone—whoever he or she may be. In that case—it would be about them and it would not be about you (or me, for that matter).
Agency content marketers are digital ventriloquists.
The voices we use are not always our own. (Ah, a truth appears, 260-ish words in).
There are still bugs on my window, but until I have an assignment about identifying (and perhaps eradicating) said bugs (from a lawn and garden company or an extermination service, for instance), I cannot write about those bugs (though I’m convinced they are indeed aquatic midges).
For now, I can write about writing.
What can I write for you? How can I make it new/interesting/better?
