Making it hard so I can delight you

I’m giving myself 45 minutes to write this then I’m stopping whether it’s done or not — whether it’s good or not. Either way, you’re gonna get it.

I was looking back at some of my favorite writing over the last month and trying to figure out why I liked it. I tried to not consider the open rate, the volume of responses, or whether or not the readers indicated they got value out of it.

I was more interested in the ones that just felt good to write.

💡 Was it the idea?

😆 Did I have more jokes?

🎯 Was it more entertaining?

Yes, yes, and yes.

But why? I have tons of good ideas — and I’m hilarious. Theoretically, I should be able to knock it out of the park every fucking day. Why is my performance better on some days? What is it about those days?

I think I figured it out.

75%+ of my favorites were written when I had a hard stop time — somewhere to be, something to do. 

On days without a hard stop, I use a stopwatch and “enforce” 90-120 minutes.

But it’s not a real enforcement — my back isn’t against the wall and I know it. 

I know that if I haven’t figured it out when the time is up, I can just keep going. No big deal.

Not good.

Freeform exploratory writing certainly has its value and it’s wise to make time for it.

But I’m in that “dip” period where this daily publication schedule is starting to feel like a drag. If history is any indication, it’s gonna last a week or two.

So I can’t allow myself to wander — to overthink.

Not now. I have a job to do — to write and publish. Time to tighten the fuck up, babycakes.

It’s been 30 minutes and I already feel pretty good about what we’ve done together.

Are you satisfied?

Good. Me too.

Until next time.

PS - here’s a cool response to yesterday’s post from Erin J.

I was thinking about why I follow you and read your stuff and I think I believe you can help me make money in some secret, cool, or magical way. Also entertainment value.

She gets it.