Last updated on April 13th, 2021 at 04:19 pm
The hardest part of creating great content is figuring out where all the pieces go.
The job of a great storyteller is creating a compelling narrative from beginning to end. No fluff to lose your audience’s attention. No ambiguity so they miss the point. A great storyteller uses every tool at their disposal to tell tales that stay with people long after they hear them.
And it’s rare—with blogging, most creators only think a post at a time. They pat themselves on the back for a job well done when they knock a story out of the park.
But there’s a much bigger story at hand—that massive overarching story that started when you shared your very first piece of content with the world and that you’re still developing even as you hustle today.
Maybe it was when you first became a parent and started jotting all your thoughts as your whole world changed around you. For others, it’s that proud moment they finally start a business and begin changing their destinies.
But for me, it goes back earlier still—to my first days as a writer in the ’90s when I wrote short stories and novels as a teenager. I didn’t know then what I know now—that it was the start of a story more than twenty years in the making. One that’d show me where I need to go next.
The Master Plan—Writing ’til There’s Nothing Left to Write.
The plan is this—to keep writing until there’s nothing left to write. In the next four months, I plan to bleed pens dry and obliterate my notebooks as I work to graduate from the years of staying buried in my thoughts from the past and start working on my path to the future. I’ve made blogging work longer than most, but even I have my limits—after writing thousands of stories after decades of work, I think I’m finally ready for something… more.
It’s like having a cheat code—while other creators struggle to find their next idea, I’ve always had a vault of ideas for whenever I get stuck. It’s helped me skirt a number of the issues other bloggers grappled with over the years. Burnout. Losing relevance. The things that usually have creators scrambling to regain their positions haven’t much applied to me… but one’s bag of tricks can only last so long.
What it comes down to is that I can do more than just write. I’ve been drawing, designing and analysing information in Excel like there’s no tomorrow. Video production. Audio interviews. There’s so much more than just the written word, and I’ve kept stepping in one cautious toe at a time because of the content cloud hanging over my head. But with just over 110 days left in the year, I’m drawing a line in the sand. I’m looking at my pile of unfinished work, every day hoping that I’m doing it for the very last time.
Because frankly, this life ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Let’s Do This One. Last. Time.
“…we back again
For a couple things we lost in the fire
The drive, the desire to perform at a higher plateau
I’m at that show lost in a mire
Wondering how we got so far from inspired…”— Black Thought, “Funk Flex Freestyle #087“, Funk Flex Freestyle, Hot 97
Back when I started in late 2010, I didn’t need to have a reason to hustle hard—I just wanted to be the king of the hill and show my city I deserved the spot. But time passed. My peers moved on from the culture. I eventually realised I don’t need to be at the top of any list—I just need to create content that I love, regardless of what the industry looks like around me.
So this month, I’m done with the belly of the beast. I’m done feeling like I’ll never overcome this challenge I’ve set out for myself and forever be a one-trick pony. It’s time I put everything I’ve got into pouring all of this out of my soul…
…it’s time to go out with a bang.
I hope you’re all having a stellar back-to-school season, and until the next, I remain,
