I'm not a writer
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Sure, it says so on my business card: writer.
And I seem to rank pretty high on Google searches for keywords involving professional writing and editing.
But really, |NAME|, can I tell you a secret?
I’m not a writer.
Not really. It’s just a title I use: shorthand to the deeper value I work hard at offering to my clients.
Writing is something I pretty much do for free. On its own, it’s not the occupation that directly gives me so much joy in the work that I’ve been doing for over thirteen years on my own and for over two decades professionally.
Writing is an outcome. But what I really do is something a bit more complicated.
William Zinsser, in his must-read book “On Writing Well“ observes: “writing is not a special language owned by the English teacher. Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly can write clearly, about anything at all.”
I’m always mindful of that advice. You see, writing is a thing that pretty much everyone can do, and do well if they apply themselves and get some help where they need it.
That’s really where I see my role.
I help people solve a problem that’s standing in the way of being as clear as they’d like to be with their ideas. The writing I do is the output of that important process.
What you are selling is not what people buy.
This is a timeless adage in copywriting. And it holds true because it recognizes there is an important difference between what people pay for and the value they get.
Have a look at your own business card or the title on your job description. Now ask yourself: what is the value behind the service I am providing? What’s the problem I help solve?
Understanding this is what will set you apart from the vast majority out there in the workforce. The reality is that far too often we let titles tell the story about who are, without digging deeper into why we do what we do.
It sells us short. And really, we’re about more than that.
Hope you’re enjoying your Sunday, |NAME|. I’m spending mine re-reading Gregory Hays’s translation of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. There’s wisdom in it that reveals itself anew with each visit.
How about you? What’s on your reading table these days?
Don’t be shy with that reply button.
Patrick Gant thinkit creative (613) 825-3233
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