It’s been proven in many scientific studies that we writers are significantly more emotionally healthy than the general population.
Why is that?
Because we write about the hard things of life. We write about the things that haunt others’ souls. We write about our pain, share our torment. We write about the worst experiences of our lives.
While the rest of the world lets their agony steep, we write.
Why do readers suddenly have the attention spans of gnats?
It’s easy to blame writers and suggest their quality of work has declined, but I contend there’s a growing evil sucking attention away from the page. This villain takes many forms.
I hold responsible the brilliant innovators, creators and storytellers of our generation for producing the most competitive market place for readers’ attention that the world’s ever seen. Fewer and fewer people can make it through an entire page before departing and plugging back into their easy-to-consume content outlets.
This new reality means you must write smarter than ever to seize attention and audience engagement. You must be calculated in how you connect with readers.
Several times a month, writers ask me, “How can I balance blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Goodreading, and all the other stuff I’m supposed to do to build my platform, while also focusing on my writing? I have a full time job, a family, and a cat. I just don’t have time for all that other stuff.”
Writers today are overwhelmed, frustrated, and let’s be honest, a little pissed off. Why do we have to build a platform anyway? Can’t we just focus on writing?
“How often do you blog?” these writers would ask.
“Every day,” I’d say, with the stiff upper lip required of such statements.
“Wow. I don’t know how you do it.” I usually tell them it’s like my second job, that if they treated blogging like their job, they could do it, too. However, some still aren’t satisfied.
“I would run out of ideas!” they say.
