Writing Trouble

I started a newsletter many years ago. It happened on a whim, tied a moment in my professional career when I didn't have a job. The newsletter focused on a product that changed how I looked restaurant and other hospitality-related recommendations.

Here's a link to the product, called Text Rex: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-infatuation-launches-text-rex-in-san-francisco-300756834.html#:~:text=%22Text%20Rex%20is%20a%20unique,and%20how%20they%20want%20it.

I wrote my first newsletter quickly. It was funny, persuasive, and was not my best writing. But it confirmed the model for the future: write when something sparks an emotional response.

Writing challenges me because it is something that requires that emotional response. It's difficult to write for the sake of writing. It is easier to write with a passion for the topic. I recently wrote a newsletter edition in just over a day, fueled by interest and disgust in the FTX collapse. Crypto is something that I monitor from the sidelines. But I like a good story, and the FTX story sparked an emotional response.

How could this happen?

I'm writing here because today I'm hunting for another emotional response, and not easily finding it. But I wonder if this is common to all writers. How many folks are able to sit down and punch out lots of coherent words without agonizing over word choice, phrasing, structure, etc.?

It's also easy to forget that I'm not a professional writer. I don't earn my living writing. I earn it in the tech industry in a product/sales/technical role. Maybe the magic of writing regularly would come together if I started writing professionally instead!