• I teach others and rewrite the transcriptions into blog posts.
• I capture real stories I tell over dinner. Vulnerable, authentic experiences.
• I find strong opinions (on Twitter) that I disagree with. My counter-argument becomes a post.
THREAD: How to choose what to write about.
When you're blocked by the lie of "writer's block."
• I teach others and rewrite the transcriptions into blog posts.
• I capture real stories I tell over dinner. Vulnerable, authentic experiences.
• I find strong opinions (on Twitter) that I disagree with. My counter-argument becomes a post.
Which idea, of all those swimming inside your brain, are you compelled to pursue the way Ahab was driven to hunt Moby Dick?
—Steven Pressfield
Your motivation ensures you actually see it through.
That’s all that's needed to write with conviction: pair an OBJECTIVE with a MOTIVATION.
When writers lack one of these, they tend to not finish their articles.
Once I've chosen a topic, my next step is finding what to say.
One of my favorite writing tricks is to only write my introduction then hand it to friends and ask:
"What are the best ideas I could cover in the rest of the post?"
People give you surprisingly novel ideas that are better than your original ideas.
I ask several people to rate my intro from 1 to 10 on how interested they are in reading more.
Don't let them choose 7—that's a cop-out.
They have to decide between 6 (meh) or 8-10 (good).
I don't aim for higher than 8 because ideas are rarely super interesting to everyone.
(I only do this process when I'm struggling.)
• It's a compelling hook into my topic. Readers sense they'll get novelty.
• It conveys the importance of my idea so that readers care to hear the rest.
• It's concise.
They start by drafting a fake PR announcement—as if the product were about to launch.
They share the announcement only with employees.
If the employees aren't interested in buying the product, they pause and start over.
I believe that people ultimately read for novelty and story.
The risk that readers face when reading your work is that they don't learn anything USEFUL or FEEL anything profound.
Novel ideas are typically:
• Counter-intuitive
• Counter-narrative
• Shock and awe
• Elegant articulations
• Make someone "feel seen"
• Stories
• Analogies
• Examples
In other words:
Writing Quality = Novelty x Resonance
If you want more writing content, follow and see past threads here:
@julian
More from Julian Shapiro
More from Writing
The world's most valuable skill:
Writing effectively.
But colleges charge you 120k and still do a terrible job teaching it.
Instead, here are 9 writing frameworks that cost you nothing and will save you hundreds of hours:
1. Start with building your writing habit by leveraging @jamesclear's Four Laws of Behavior
2. With your writing habit down, study these 10 tips from the world's most legendary marketer: David Ogilvy.
3. Then, immerse yourself in the takeaways from the bible on business
4. Like to learn on the go?
Dive into the creative process of the world's best writers in these 10 episodes of the @timferriss show.
Writing effectively.
But colleges charge you 120k and still do a terrible job teaching it.
Instead, here are 9 writing frameworks that cost you nothing and will save you hundreds of hours:
1. Start with building your writing habit by leveraging @jamesclear's Four Laws of Behavior
Atomic Habits from @jamesclear changed my life.
— Dickie Bush \U0001f6a2 (@dickiebush) March 10, 2021
In Atomic Habits, James lays out the Four Laws of Behavior Change.
1. Make it obvious
2. Make it attractive
3. Make it easy
4. Make it satisfying
Here's how to leverage them to build a daily writing habit (\U0001f9f5\u270d\U0001f3fc):
2. With your writing habit down, study these 10 tips from the world's most legendary marketer: David Ogilvy.
One of the most legendary marketers of all time: David Ogilvy
— Dickie Bush \U0001f6a2 (@dickiebush) June 2, 2021
In 1982, David wrote an internal memo to the employees of his advertising agency titled "How to write."
And in just 10 bullets he put together a masterclass in effective writing.
Here's a breakdown of each one: pic.twitter.com/MxRYuQRLyA
3. Then, immerse yourself in the takeaways from the bible on business
Business writing is a superpower.
— Dickie Bush \U0001f6a2 (@dickiebush) June 8, 2021
But schools and employers do a horrible job teaching people to write.
In 1981, two advertising executives wrote a timeless guide for how to write in the business world.
And here are 12 of their tips you should staple to your desktop: pic.twitter.com/w0hh0qBOG4
4. Like to learn on the go?
Dive into the creative process of the world's best writers in these 10 episodes of the @timferriss show.
I've listened to every episode of the @tferriss show.
— Dickie Bush \U0001f6a2 (@dickiebush) March 3, 2021
And some of my favorites are when Tim interviews prolific writers, diving into their creative process to improve his own.
If you are looking to build a writing habit, these 10 episodes are a must-listen:
\u270d\U0001f3fc\U0001f3a7\U0001f447\U0001f3fc
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Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇
It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details): https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha
I've read it so you needn't!
Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.
The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.
Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.
It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details): https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha
I've read it so you needn't!
Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.
The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.
Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.
