Challenges and Realities
Mark Brown
June 23,2022
Writing with publishing as the intent brings a different level of challenge to the craft. There are quite a few things that makes writing a lengthy task. These are all things to take into account when writing for public consumption. First, writing for public consumption means that the grammar and spelling rules that no one cares about when making personal journals, logs, and online posts actually matter. Second, the English language is both a spoken and written language. There are quite a few differences between them. Third, assuming people know specific proper names or entities is a mistake that should be avoided. There are exceptions to this, of course, and I will get to that. Fourth, perception is reality. If the writer wants to be taken seriously, they have to write like it. This can mean a couple different things take place. Fifth, the skill of writing is no different than any other skill. It will improve over time if and only if one does it enough and with an eye for improvement. Writing for public consumption forces this to be done quicker. I will be taking these 5 things and maybe some others along the way.
Personal journals and logs primary audience is the writer and their future self. This makes a lot of the time consuming parts of writing purely a matter of choice for the writer. Yes, commas can make or break a sentence, but what if said sentence is in a journal that may not see the light of day for 10 years? Does anyone care? Probably not. When the intended audience becomes “someone else,” whether that means an e-mail to a boss or a blog that shoots content out to the corners of the internet, the spelling and grammar rules begin to become more important. One of the Youtube channels I watch fairly regularly is a called City Planner Plays. He is a city planner by trade and releases videos through Youtube and streams primarily the game “Cities Skylines,” which is a city building game. I’ve learned quite a bit about city planning rules and regulations through the game play. One of the pet phrases he uses to express frustration with the game not doing exactly what he wants in trying to fix what it messed up is “making perfect the enemy of good.” This phrase is what writing for public consumption is about and why it can take so damned long to get done. Colons, semi-colons, commas, periods, if-then, not only-but also and all of the other grammar rules than anyone who has made to the fifth grade learns are all things that must be done correctly. Everybody has slip ups on initial drafts and even final drafts. I go back and re-read some of my own content here and shake my head at the stuff that got past me a second or third time. The devil really is in the details.
I’ve heard the English language called the hardest one on the planet to learn. That is primarily because of all the grammar rules that everyone, including me, decides aren’t all that important on online posts. It’s also a language that is both spoken and written, which can’t be said for all dominant languages. The difference between communicating through voice and written word isn’t just in the vocal inflection or non-verbal cues. Those two things allow a person to speak the English language to the intended effect more efficiently than someone writing the same content. That’s just the reality for someone who wants to write with publishing in mind. The important thing to remember for the writer is that what they write will eventually turn back into the vocal English when the reader gets to it, whether they read aloud or silently. That means the goal for the writer is to get the reader to read the content, whatever it is, in the writer’s voice. That is the biggest challenge for some. The writer needs to develop a style that the reader can identify as their “voice” when it gets read. It could be the thing that draws a reader back for a second article or essay. It also helps the transfer of information the content is trying to provide from the article or essay to the reader. The writer needs to understand that development of that concept in the article or essay is ultimately out of their hands after they publish it.
It’s better that someone learns that they can’t write like they talk sooner rather than later. It will make the learning process easier, more repeatable and less time consuming. There are specific phrases that are commonplace that work vocally because grammar doesn’t matter all that much in the vocal English. For example, the sentence at the beginning of this paragraph would probably be said “The sooner that someone learns they can’t write like they talk, the better off they will be” in a verbal conversation. That simply doesn’t work on paper because of sentence structure and grammar. I catch myself when writing sentences like that one from time to time. It happens enough to be annoying. I’m not writing this paragraph to say writing is best when it sounds like a textbook. There should be flow, even when adhering to all of the principles of written English. Bill Simmons’ writing style has had a major effect on my own thought process to writing. There was a looseness to his style that made it read like a conversation the reader has with themselves. You can hear that looseness in his podcasts when he talks to guests. He uses comparisons to be more efficient in getting across what he is trying to communicate. That allows for the flow of the conversation to keep moving and flowing towards a natural end. He doesn’t write a lot anymore because he has focused his efforts on long form on demand audio, aka podcasts. His podcast is listed as the #1 sports podcast by downloads. I’ve been on board since around 2008. Have a listen, read the Book of Basketball or an old ESPN column and understand what I’m talking about.
Comparisons are good ways to help the written word be more efficient over the space of 1,000-1,500 words because making allows the writer to short hand what might have taken an entire paragraph to explain. Simmons used them to great effect in his columns and in books. The one that made me laugh the most was when he shared an e-mailer’s comparison of Shaquille O’Neals career to Peter North in The Book of Basketball. It’s so perfect because it’s both accurate and entertaining. Important note to anyone reading this on a company or school computer, do not search “Peter North” on it. Very not safe for work. It is a mistake to assume that the reader knows who everyone or what everything involved in the comparison is. Sometimes it’s in the writer’s best interest to help the reader better understand in the moment they are reading it. Other times it’s best to let “good” win over “perfect” and let the reader look it up themselves. That decision should be made based on the flow of the article or essay. These decisions help develop the writer’s voice. Simmons’ use of comparisons of athletes and sports situations to pop culture figures and events helped define his style and voice. Developing that voice or style is a key to future success. I think Simmons would agree with me.
When a writer has established a personality, either through content choice or writing style, consequences will follow from that decision. A writer can feed into the a perception they have created and only deliver content that is of a specific subject. Honestly, it’s why I have chosen to start writing about topics that go beyond lifting, such as these two essays about writing. I don’t want someone seeing “Life Through Lifting” and assume that the only content here will be strength training in nature. The “Life Through” part of the tag line is every bit as important as the last word. Given that this is a text based blog, my writing about writing shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone for any reason. Writing about all different sorts of topics helps draw eyes from a different intended audience. Maybe they will stick around for the content that is mainly written about. The overall point is to put real effort into making reality be reality, not helping feed into perception. That may be unavoidable but if a writer puts real effort into being multifaceted, the readers might see that and reward the writer with a degree of loyalty. To borrow a term from strength training, weak point training is always necessary.
A second part of “perception is reality” involves the personality of the writer. I’d like to think that everybody knows there is a difference between sounding smart and actually being smart. The latter leads to the writer to actually being taken seriously over the long haul while the former leads to the eventual loss of credibility. Using correct terms is helpful to a point but the writer risks losing credibility when they use only scientific terms to describe injuries, actions or anything else. “Dumbing it down” isn’t the answer either. The best scenario is when the writer can help the layman understand the scientific terms accurately. This allows the writer to work both scientific and layman’s terms into the essay or article for better flow and understanding. This tactic will also land the the greatest sweet spot of readers.
Sometimes the writer needs to remove verbal tendencies from the normal communication practices to get a broader audience. Anyone who has ever had more than a 2 minute conversation with me knows that words “fuck” and “motherfucker” come out of my mouth a lot. I use them as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Yes, even the last one. Reader’s don’t see them here a lot because they just don’t belong in the essays I write. I thought I would use them more freely when I write but I don’t ever feel the need to use them unless specifically called for. One example I can think of is the difference between “messed up”, “screwed up” and “fucked up.” The first two mean virtually the same thing. The last is just the first two taken to a higher degree. Derek from MorePlatesMoreDates Youtube channel curses a lot in his videos and his are some of the best videos to learn about supplements and PEDs on Youtube, so both curse free and non-curse free content can be both taken seriously. It impacts more when it comes to making money from the content. Youtube, Twitch and other streaming services have specific rules on cursing, sexual innuendos and such. One can easily tell the videos that got demonetized because they are the only ones that play without ads if one hasn’t paid for ad-free content.
One of the major benefits of writing for publication is that the act of publishing written content is that it forces a writer to become better at their craft faster. This is no different from learning any other skill. Competition, as a whole, tends to show who is serious and who is messing around very publicly. Those who want to be taken seriously have the burden of learning a skill on an accelerated clock. It doesn’t help a ton to learn the skill after the moment of opportunity has passed. If a writer wants to get paid for their work, this concept is even more important. Being one of the first ones to the party might help build up loyalty in the readership before others walk through the door. Learning the writing skills will take a writer through all the sub-topics I have written above and to do so increasingly more efficiently. The ultimate goal of this training is to become instinctive so that the sentences that sound better aloud than on paper don’t even enter a writer’s brain and that the writer’s voice becomes more present automatically every draft. The important thing to do is get it done faster and better so that other more fun things can be done.
Life Through Lifting 