--- ## Highlights Desperate for a solution, I started writing online. At the time, I was nameless and stuck on the sidelines because I didn’t have the gumption to share my ideas. I experienced a cocktail of searing emotions — envy, inspiration, fear, curiosity, rage, hope, hopelessness, excitement, and self-loathing. But with each article, things got a little better. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkq5mtbpeqsgbw0dcmgc29a6)) TYPES OF FEEDBACK ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0581877wez24z1fn6kx1n)) In [Write of](https://writeofpassage.school/) [Passage](https://writeofpassage.school/), we use an acronym called CRIBS. Editors mark if a section is confusing, repetitive, interesting, surprising or boring. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb05xga5vkm7e5gq6rx7nsw)) **Surprising:** This is the holy grail of quality writing because surprising ideas challenge the reader’s worldview. It is the writer’s equivalent of a laugh. It’s the metric we use to determine if our writing is engaging. It comforts the confused and confuses the comforted. Ideas that are novel but not surprising are the definition of trivia (which sounds a lot like trivial for a reason). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb079vdwskyxp7sbtfhkdpw)) Resist the temptation to build an audience on multiple platforms at once. I once had a conversation with an aspiring online writer. We’ll call him Mike. He’d been writing online for five years, but struggled to build a meaningful audience. When I asked him about his distribution strategy, he told me he’s re-purposing his content for all the major social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and even the new up-and-coming ones that everybody knows won’t live up to the hype. All that work paralyzed him. He was so scattered that he didn’t allow himself to commit to a single platform. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0bvxapgjrfqe5qtzh9wbn)) - 💭 Don’t move to a second platform until you’ve mastered the first. There are two ways to think of newsletters. Some people see newsletters and articles as separate (like me). They see newsletters as a short hello and save more substantial thoughts for articles on their website. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0jyw19rptq406a4xrxqr0)) Make it POP Good writing has three components: it’s Personal, Observational, and Playful. Writing that feels stale is almost always lacking in one of these three dimensions. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0qcx0pzv2b7jnvgq2whxy)) Personal writing goes wrong when it lacks the other components of POP because it’s neither insightful or fun to read. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0s75vaz3dv1n0610zv338)) When writing is only observational, it’s boring. School textbooks come to mind because they are neither personal or playful. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0stk5438f0vrpvw0za48b)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0v8whz8gqadqtw87ndxct)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0v9f01kdeymdtrrs1wv51)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0v9x0kahbd6f82rens97j)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0va80faf73cffqpw81gyw)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0vadsxndweca12svgrvyb)) (which writes for a high-end clientele)doesn’t ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0vajgd6njxjmg7xae9yhx)) ) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0v6y6je4xhgyvd481yw81)) A shiny dime is the smallest viable idea you can write about. Like “Snakes on a Plane,” it’s the most compressed distillation of what you’re trying to say. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0y20kc157hjszhf7jt86d)) Good writing is focused. It orbits around a single point. Once you find your shiny dime, you can instantly reject every idea that doesn’t relate to it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0xszyystx2cafrsyvkwwp)) When you distill an essay down into a simple word or phrase, you not only create a memorable title for your work, but you make a contribution to the English language. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0yhz5a1rc6ycz46gs8pwk)) Coined phrases often hold these characteristics: 1. **Surprising** – They surprise us in the moment, but feel obvious in retrospect. Once we see them, we can’t unsee them. 2. **Ambiguous** – They create suspense and spark the reader’s curiosity. 3. **Visual** – Good metaphors activate the reader’s senses and are as vivid as they are true. 4. **Fun** – Like a jingle, you can’t help but say them out-loud. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb0yxrh2hd6z7qfznb7v562)) Reverse engineering your favorite writers starts with changing how you read. Don’t just highlight their best ideas. Highlight the ways they use language too. Notice their word choices and sentence structures. Notice the analogies they use and how they transition between paragraphs too. Try on different writing styles and see how they feel. Most of what you try will feel unnatural, but some of it will feel right, and when it does, double down. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb11rm30q1wzfjfnappt1tk)) Just as logos are homogenized and Instagram pushes girls to look like Kim Kardashian, it seems like every non-fiction book follows the same regurgitated formula of making an assertion and backing it up with a study — over and over again, until the reader falls asleep. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb12m6kvd9vhxrp546w8v3j)) where are the Hunter S. Thompson’s of the world who write with such fiery prose that each sentence and each paragraph is unequivocally theirs? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb12zctd0xnjengdh15x9x7)) Contemporary non-fiction also follows the same treated blueprint of short sentences, simple words, and logic so basic a five-year-old can understand. And yeah, it’s efficient, but all of us would benefit from some more unhinged writers who look at what you’re “supposed to do” and instead of bowing down, give it the [New York Salute](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=New%20York%20Salute). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb13d3q5q1zxg5xs56y97fz)) Every successful Personal Monopoly has basically four characteristics: 1. **Complimentary**: Different skills come together to form a special superpower. Since the elements work together, the sum of a Personal Monopoly is greater than its parts. 2. **Useful**: People demand the Personal Monopoly because it provides something rare and valuable. 3. **Specific**: By precisely defining your Personal Monopoly, you instantly stand out and distinguish yourself. 4. **Experiential**: The more your expertise is rooted in experience, the harder it is to replicate. Or, to state the inverse, the easier it is to learn something on the Internet, the less valuable that knowledge will be. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb15cez42m1h3e3rw1mha8y)) - **Write from Abundance**: Curate your online feeds so you can pull from a unique set of ideas and information. - **Write from Conversation**: Get feedback from your friends and readers to learn which topics and quirks you should double down on. - **Write in Public**: Write consistently. Develop your command for language, so your real-life voice and expertise translates onto the page. Once you’ve published a bunch of articles, look back on what you’ve written to identify the patterns in your thinking. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gkb168w429m3fwmmqj9g8w12))