Last Saturday saw the end of National Novel Writing Month (or #NaNoWriMo for social media purposes), where more than 300,000 aspiring novelists from around the world aimed to write 50,000 words during November.
Some wrote more, some wrote less. And not all will be happy with the quality of the words written, but the point is to get those words down in some way.
We’ve been trained to think writing is either committing words to paper, using a pen/pencil or typewriter or bashing away at a keyboard, but the truth is a lot of writing goes on in the head, with ideas formulating for hours, days, weeks or even years before they are written.
I’ve worked with business owners who have published a book based on their expertise or a life event, and many didn’t sit down to write in the ‘traditional’ way. Instead, they recorded themselves talking through a concept or anecdote, or asked someone they trusted to ‘interview’ them about their chosen subject. You don’t even need a recorder; most smart phones have recording devices, or you can download an app. When finished, the recordings are transcribed and voila, you have ‘written’ content!
There is so much information we store in our heads about our field of knowledge. This expertise is evident when asked about the topic by someone over coffee, at an event or during a presentation. Have you ever thought about how valuable those answers would be if you had the time or skill to write?
The time issue I’ll have to leave to you to sort out, but the skill is already there. Sure, great writers create believable characters that exist in settings you can really immerse yourself into, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a great story from what you know about your industry and position yourself as a thought leader with your words.
While you might not be aiming to write 50,000 words in a month like the NaNoWriMo participants did, there is nothing stopping you locking yourself in the office for an hour and talking through some of the concepts you are often asked to explain. You will be surprised at how much content you can produce in that time, especially once you’re on a roll. Once transcribed, you have the makings of a series of blog posts, articles or even a chapter for that business book you’ve been thinking about writing.
So, what have you written for business lately?
