Read to understand yourself. Write to reflect and connect with others.
As my bio states, I’m an avid reader. I love books. I feel that they’ve kept me sane and raised me for most of my life.
Every time I’m experiencing a drastic life change or thinking about something new and profound, I reach out for, well, a book.
It’s my medicine.
I often read two to three at a go; usually something heavy about finances or trauma recovery. Alongside something absolutely soul-stirring like a memoir and/or poetry.
Right now, this looks like Patricia Bright’s Heart and Hustle alongside my healing balm, Untamed by Glennon Doyle.
I happen to be in the trial phase of my Audible subscription. And listening to her powerful declarations constantly has me shouting a resounding YES to the universe.
I could be chopping up vegetables or washing dishes and I’ll have that one chapter called ‘Let It Burn’, replaying over and over.
If we wanna build the new, we must be willing to let the old burn. We must be committed to holding on to nothing but the truth. We must decide that if the truth inside us can burn: a belief, a family structure, a business, a religion, an industry…it should’ve become ashes yesterday.
I stand there recalling every limiting belief I’ve scorched. Literally screaming with my heart because her words resonate so deeply with my experiences.
They free me.
And I need freeing, I need freedom. Freedom from those little pockets in my brain that make me feel like a novice every time I read a new book or blog post.
Freedom from the immediate reaction of pulling my notebook out. And mindlessly jotting down ideas as though my brain was completely blank.
As though I don’t have previous expertise on the same subject.
I am so tired of downplaying my writing experience, my writing career as I submit to the gods — the authors I read.
As I wait for them to tell me my future. Forgetting how much value I also bring to the table.
Just, where did I go wrong?
I know the root cause of the problem. I believed the ginormous lie:
I can’t earn a sustainable income as a writer — doing the kind of writing I love
Which is more honest, unfiltered, and based on my personal experiences.
Five years ago when I started, it wasn’t exactly the norm, or so I thought. Over time, I grew to discredit my writing style as anything worthy of monetary value.
Then I got stuck hiding behind a copywriting career.
But I’ve come to realize the genre/writing style I keep going for, the new books therein, are written and read by people just like me.
And I’ve already found that here too. In writers like Sergey Faldin.
One of my absolute favorite highlights comes from his post, Why I Completely Stopped Using Social Media:
The key skill of this century, of this age of overload, is to cut through the BS. To figure out what works for you — who you are — and eliminate the rest.
He’s right.
You’ve got to know who you are and what you like. In this case, your core writing values and how they resonate with your chosen writer.
Changing tactics
Remember Glennon? You’ll realize she’s made a career out of sharing her incredible vulnerable, utterly mortifying, seemingly erratic life experiences.
Seemingly because as you already know, I’m pro-starting over.
She’s the author who wrote a memoir based on saving her marriage. This was right before announcing her divorce from said marriage.
Why? Glennon met the love of her life, Abby Wambach.
And she wasn’t going to let an older version of herself dictate what her future happiness should look like.
LET IT BURN, remember? Just watch!
Meet Glennon: My Fellow No-Longer-So-Broken Badass
Glennon is a picture of organic relatable evolution for me. Not as a writer, but as a human. A human who documents her journey and expresses herself through writing.
A human visibly in touch with her mind, body, and especially soul.
One not afraid to change, to allow her writing to reflect this very same change. And that’s exactly why I read her work.
It resonates with my core writing value — authentic human expression.
So here’s what I’ve learned about my own writing from loving Glennon’s work:
I know exactly what I like to read and write (at different points in my life)— I just need to be still and patient long enough to listen to myself.
I get to enjoy tossing books — If I didn’t resonate with a five-star best-seller like Becoming, it’s okay. (It didn’t quite pick for me so I didn’t finish. And that may change, or not). I love her interviews instead.
I am an existing repository of information — so other writers/authors aren’t supernatural beings. I’m right there in the ring doing my own thing, learning, beating my best score (yet).
I do in actual fact want to consistently produce heart content and build a career on this — My content is valuable. I too have something to offer and I’m doing so now, here.
There is an audience for my content — I am my audience. Glennon is my audience. You are my audience.
When I read Glennon’s works, I don’t feel like I need to measure up or try to be like her. I’m inspired to show up as my most authentic self — and that’s what my writing should do for others.
Next steps
I’ve not here to only always learn afresh — except when I do, Data Science is an unfamiliar field for me.
But to also impart knowledge and wisdom gained from my writing experience.
I’ve come to connect. To engage in meaningful discourse with rather than worship at the feet of any successful (high-earning) writer.
And I think you should too.
At some point you need to ask you yourself, are you reading as an escape from getting to know yourself?
Or are you reading to reinforce your evolving journey of self-awareness?
Then allow this to dictate the books/publications you read. And to reflect on your writing.
Remember, you’re an expert too!
And contrary to public belief, there are people like you out there. At least, people with the same writing values.