The Really Fun Thing About Writing

Sep 18, 2021

Thanks to another one of Facebook’s annoying features, I realized I moved back to Taiwan two years ago this weekend. Scary how time flies in a shitty pandemic.

Thanks to Facebook’s intrusion, it also caused me to have a time of reflection. I’d say it lasted about 5 seconds in total.

In that little spurt, I realized a few things:

#1. I’ve been trying to ‘write as a career’ for 2 years now.

I’ve had some success. I’ve certainly had a lot of views, I think those have passed 1.5 million by now.

I’ve made a few bucks, but most months I still have to rely on my ever-shrinking savings to get by. I only hope I can finally get ‘on track’ and confidently know I’ll be able to continue this new career.

Could I spend less in this cheap-to-live country I live in? Absolutely. But life is too short to worry about pennies and dimes and seashells (the origins of currency in Asia) all the time.

Trust me, I used to be a government auditor in another life. It’s not fun.

I’ve also had a couple of insanely huge viral articles, even though they were quite shittily written, now that I look back.

I’ve also had a couple dozen ‘mini-viral’ articles as I like to call them.

These ones are far more enjoyable for one simple reason—they’re always the result of new writing experiments.

#2. Writing is an excuse to learn. Every single day.

A big reason I’ve concluded I don’t have much financial success with writing—at least so far, and in my opinion—is because I refuse to ‘niche down’.

I know myself. I get distracted and go down rabbit holes the minute a bunny ear pops up. I’m just lucky I don’t find myself chasing blue cars down the street.

But this shiny rabbit syndrome can involve wasting a lot of time researching random topics other people don’t generally care about. I care about them. Others don’t seem to.

But it’s okay because I love the art of learning and have perpetual shiny object syndrome when it comes to factoids and tidbits.

So, I write about what I learn.

I’ve at least managed to temper this habit over the last 6 months, with some spurts of success followed by returns to the random ether.

I don’t mind though. Because if I were to niche down to just 1 or 2 subjects—as would be financially advisable for creating content—I would simply get bored.

I’d run the gambit, start seeing some success, finish whatever my head deems to be enough research…and move on without being able to go back.

It’s a plague of boredom that’s followed me throughout my life. Some doctors might call it ADHD if I were to go get tested. The online tests say I’m probably up there, but what can we really trust on the internet? Trust me, I write on it.

#3 Writing is one giant experiment full of thousands of mini-experiments.

This is the other reason I sincerely hope I can make enough money to keep at this game. Because to me, it is a game.

When I’m in the middle of a peak writing period—it’s all I want to do. I jot down ideas all day long. My phone has 980 notes. My drafts on Medium has so many it literally doesn’t let me scroll past 300 or so. Last time I checked that number should be around 1,500.

I go to the gym and listen to podcasts to learn about the subjects I’m interested in.

I jot down notes as I go.

I walk for an hour or two every day.

I jot down notes.

I lay to rest at night only to find myself reaching for the phone.

Of course, to write another note.

The funny part is—I almost never look at them. And that’s a big con when it comes to shiny rabbit syndrome. But I am getting better at it, slowly.

I’ve narrowed down my niche to 4 or 5 topics instead of 20. I map out 30 possible articles to write every week even if I only get around to 3-5 of them.

I’m now finally in the habit of outlining, writing, and then waiting at least a day to do another edit. It’s a constant battle for improvement. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s also fun as hell to experiment. With different writing styles. With different ideas. With tone and voice and word choices. Everything. It’s captivating.

I don’t always hit the mark, either. It’s probably the rare time I do. And when I miss it, at least I’m able to usually recognize aspects of why I failed.

But not always.

That’s why I look on this type of career as incredibly intriguing. I get to learn all night long, write all day long, and expand my mind and skills as I go.

I feel like I’m in university again—only learning skills actually interesting and useful.

I just want to say thanks

So, I just felt I’d throw in a little update to mark these 2 years. And to thank you, the 450-ish readers who’ve been nice enough to grace your inbox with my weekly newsletter.

I can only hope you find at least some of my work interesting, helpful, or humorous—and I’ll continue to strive to do that every week.

Thanks!

From J.J.’s Vault

I went on a writing tear this week. It was week #2 of me sticking to outlining, then writing, then editing on separate days. I like it, but still doing some tweaks.

(As always, these are paywall-free links because you subscribe to my sh*tty newsletter.)

With a Twist:

I wrote another fun piece in the new style I’ve been practicing. A serious topic, sort of, with a big lead-up to an unexpected surprise. Fun to write, but a lot of people don’t quite get it. Which just means I need to improve.

Society and Technology Essays:

My thoughts on the cute kitty robots that are coming to replace American jobs
My thoughts on my anti-vaxxer friends, who love to preach about how they hate being preached to

Medium on Medium:

This one had a decent 1,500 views, which is great to see lately. I talk about the secret reason why 3 huge publications closed down.
I also talk about ‘priming,’ an interesting concept to be aware of when writing, especially online.

Failed Humor:

Speaking of experiments and ones that fail, here’s a listicle talking about how I and my foreign friends are able to spot American tourists abroad.

(This last one pissed off a few people, as I guess it was interpreted as I feel 100% of Americans have 100% of these traits. I meant to imply many of them display 1, 2, 3 etc of these ideas—or none at all. Some of them are fun, some hilarious, some terrible. Oops, not all experiments work out in the end.)

Thanks for reading! Long one this week, I hope you enjoyed the sermon.

Until next time,

J.J. Pryor

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