Photo courtesy of TheAlieness GiselaGiardin

One word expresses the pathway to greatness: voice. Those on this path find their voice and inspire others to find theirs. The rest never do.
- Stephen R. Covey

What are you working on right now: A bestseller? An ode to your cat? Your best article ever? A poem that’ll rock the world?

Maybe you’ve just finished something you’re really proud of?

Here’s your chance to showcase your writing and celebrate with each other.

Whet our appetite with the opening paragraph of your future bestseller, give us a link to your best article, or tell us what you are writing at the moment.

Who knows, your piece might even attract the notice of a major publishing house!

Here are some guidelines:

A. Writers:

• State what aspect you’re working on. For example, you might want to say, “Here’s a link to my article Whatever. I’m currently working on eliminating superfluous words.”

B. Commenters:

• When commenting, first list everything you really like about a piece.
• Only then offer careful suggestions.
• Treat each other with respect, friendliness, caring, and honesty.
• Remember that we are all still learning.

Now it’s over to you. Take a deep breath. Then jump into the comment section and bring out your treasures!

Photo courtesy of Vibragiel

Chief Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind, a rising star in the blogging world.
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In the endless sea of textbooks, essays and lectures, there are obviously more than enough pages about how to better your writing. Be concrete. Focus on the core message. Evoke emotion. Entertain, surprise, tell a story, omit needless words. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Despite all this useful advice, many aspiring writers fail to heed the most important rule of all: trust your material.

There seems to be a trend where uninteresting ideas try to covertly pass as interesting. A lot of this writing ends up have a cheesy, gimmicky feel. It’s like raving about the amazing quality of high end office supplies. While they have the best intentions, it just sounds cheap.

I’ll be honest, trusting your material is easier said than done. How do you know when your material is amazing, merely mediocre, or, worse, absolute drivel?

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Today WTD presents a conversation between Darren Rowse and WTD  Chief Editor Mary Jaksch. His blog Problogger is the number one info site for bloggers. Darren Rowse, together with Chris Garrett, recently published a successful book, called ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Mary: Hi Darren!  I would like to ask you some questions about your career as a writer and hear what tips you have for us. When I look at your amazing success, it’s hard to imagine that you were once a beginner.

How was the start of your career as a writer?

Darren: Truth be known it was quite accidental. While I always enjoyed communication through the written word in school it was the spoken word that was my passion when I began to dabble in blogging. I was working as a minister at the time and one of my favorite parts of the job was preaching and speaking - I loved researching a message and then crafting it together into something to then be delivered.

I began to dabble with blogging as a hobby and found that I enjoyed similar things about the process of crafting a blog post as I loved in crafting a sermon.

As my time in the job I was doing came to an end it was quite natural for me to put more and more time into writing.
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Mary: Some people may be surprized to read that you were once a minister! What a journey that has been for you. Of course every journey has its key moments when you turn a corner and the landscape suddenly changes.

What were the turning points in your writing career?

Darren: In many ways the last 5-6 years of blogging have been quite a gentle and steady development for me in my work. I’d have to say that the ‘turning point’ moments have been fewer and further between than some might think and that the real progress has come in the small moments each day when an idea for a post hits and I sit down to write.

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Photo courtesy of sean-b

There are but a few vocations in which a skilled practitioner can create instantaneous health benefits including relaxation, lowering blood pressure, curing male pattern baldness and increasing immune system response.

Remarkably, as a writer, you’re already in this line of work. Almost all of these health benefits can all be obtained by making your reader giggle, laugh, guffaw or otherwise shoot beverages out an unexpected orifice.

Before I share a few of the methods you can use to add humor to your writing, I’d like to digress for a moment by predicting and addressing your objections.

• “I’ve just never been a very funny person.”
  Have you ever laughed at something? A sense of humor is a bi-directional feature. If you can laugh, you can make someone else laugh.

• “I write about stuff that is serious.”
  Surprising your readers with a chuckle in the midst of a serious discussion is a terrific way to build a loyal following. Notice I said chuckle - after all, this is serious stuff.
• “When I try to be funny, nobody gets it.”
  You’re trying too hard. Stop that.

• “I’m a writer.  I don’t tell jokes.”
  The rules of good writing also apply to humor. Show, don’t tell.
• “But, I write poetry | fiction | a blog | non-fiction | essays | on bathroom walls | screenplays.”
  Perfect!

Humor isn’t one-size-fits-all, but there are several techniques you can use to drag a smile out of almost anyone.

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Photo courtesy of fotologic

This is a post by the new Chief Editor of WTD, Mary Jaksch

I spent some time in the last few days studying Steve Pavlina’s articles. As I’m sure you all know, he’s a phenomenally successful blogger. His book Personal Development for Smart People has just cracked the Amazon top 100 list. And it’s still three months from release! It’s a bestseller in the make for sure.

Steve Pavlina’s work is interesting from many different points of view. His writing is both punchy and elegant; his articles are thoughtful and well researched. Most of all, he’s a shining example of someone who writes with passion.

My interest was piqued by an indefinable quality that shines through all his articles. It’s a key aspect of writing: the subliminal message hidden within words.

The hidden message is one of the main reasons why some writers are successful, and others are not.

Let’s take Steve Pavlina. The message reflected in each article is something like this: Hey, let’s really crank up our life!

What’s the secret message in your writing?

That’s an important question. Because if you know what your message is, you can change it.

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