snapshot from interview with David Cain
Inspiration can be a challenge for any writer, but it seems like some are able to overcome it. I noticed that David Cain of Raptitude.com is good at posting consistently high quality content.
This quality intrigued me because David’s writing covers some pretty deep topics. I invited David to do this WriterViews interview to find out his secrets of inspired writing – and he shared some good stories.
After all, we are talking about a man who once wrote a post titled How I Found the Secret to Happiness While Totally Naked.
1. Fight Writer’s Block by Keeping Notes
I’ll pull over in my car, do whatever, jump out of the shower… if I have an idea.
– David Cain, on moments of inspiration
David describes Raptitude as a street-level look at the human experience. With so many of us around, that means the world is full of inspiration. He says that a quick read through the newspaper might yield dozens of topic ideas, as can a walk up and the street, or a trip to the mall.
However you find inspiration, David has a simple method of keeping track of those “a-ha” moments; he carries a little moleskin notebook with him. And that inspiration David found while totally naked?
He jumped out of the shower and rummaged through the drawers for anything to write with. The four words he write have forever changed his life, and were jotted down with a Jiffy marker on a 50 cent bill of Canadian Tire money.
By taking time to make a few notes, when David sits down to write he says there is no shortage of ideas as long as he can find an angle and an entertaining way to present them.
Action Step: Start carrying pen and paper. By making notes of inspiration, you give yourself a running start when it is time to sit down and write.
2. Fight Procrastination With a Schedule
When I finally sat down to write, I was shocked at how difficult it can really be.
– David Cain, on why he implemented a writing schedule
Since Raptitude is David’s first blog, it took some time to figure out the technical issues of getting setup. He then searched the internet for standard doctrine on how often to post. Knowing that five to seven posts per week would be too much on top of his full time job, David settled on posting every other day.
Then it was Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then Monday and Thursday. What he found with each iteration was that less frequent posts meant higher quality ideas, and more time to produce higher quality writing.
Now, David posts once a week. He started with Wednesdays, but found that procrastination throughout the week would leave him scrambling to finish off the post Monday and Tuesday night. So the solution was simple, David now makes posts on Monday morning. This schedule forces him to put in productive writing time over the weekend, and frees up the weekdays for his other interests.
Action Step: Find a day of the week that allows you to manage your writing time more naturally, and stick to it. A variation is sticking to a writing deadline, and then measuring analytics for posting on different days.
3. Fight Fading Away by Internalizing Your Motivation
It’s become a therapy for me, and it’s become a way to express myself. It’s kind of an identity for me now. It’s just such a part of my life… the motivation to continue is always there.
– David Cain, on why he needs to write
Though David has earned some income from Raptitude, this has never been his motivation. He writes because he’s fascinated by people, and as his blog’s following has grown, it’s become a forum to discuss his deepest reflections on humanity.
The benefit is that self expression is a potentially bottomless pit, while a narrow pursuit of online-income might have you jumping from project to project for a quick fix. So, how can we find the internal motivation that David does? We must write about what we love, and for the people we like spending time with.
That way, as we build a community around our writing, it becomes an important part of who we are and how we choose to spend our time. This part of the interview really did resonate with me. When David said “I can’t not write. It can’t not be part of my life now”, I knew that feeling is one that we all need to share.
Action Step: Write about what you love, for the people that you like. By connecting these two dots, you’ve drawn a very healthy source of motivation.
4. Stop Fighting and Just Deal With Questions
But yeah, that came directly from a reader question. The title of the post was exactly how they worded it.
– David Cain, on how posts are sometimes inspired by reader questions
The inspiration for your writing need not solely depend on your own ideas. Sometimes David creates a post from questions he’s been asked through comments or by email. He cited one example of a reader asking him how he deals with negative people.
What David realized is that really he has two ways: the “grumble, grumble, that ruined my day, and I’m going to dwell on what I could have said for a long time” method, and the much healthier second method is empathy and understanding.
The contrast of these two methods provided David with all the content he needed to write a full post. Another obvious example is a Raptitude post titled Your Questions, Answered.
Questions also inspire David’s writing when he poses them to readers. One such question is a post called Why do you do what you don’t love? where David expresses genuine curiosity for his reader’s responses. A secondary advantage of this kind of post, is that it encourages reader engagement through comments, and provides an opportunity to build relationships with them.
Action Step: Answer questions you’ve been asked, or you see elsewhere on the internet – share your honest ideas. Try asking some questions yourself too, ones that you are genuinely curious about and want help figuring out.
Question:
So, I’d really like to know: how do you find inspiration for your writing? Do you force it with a schedule? Do you walk out into the world, until you think “bam! I’ve got the write about that!? Another way?
A lot of people struggle with writing creatively, many will know exactly what they want to say, but will often struggle with finding the way of writing it in a creative fashion. Posts like this one are extremely important at encouraging others to follow your lead.
Twitter: freedommmc
says:
Yep I agree. I think its important to keep a pen a pad handy to write down your ideas. Sometimes you just cannot remember your best stuff. What inspires you most?
Jacko recently posted..Martin Luther King Jr – InfoGraphic
Twitter: theSarayiahpost
says:
Hi
Interesting article. I launched my blog – http://www.theSarayiahpost.com which is my views on life, love, relationships etc at the end of August 2011. Initially I was going to post everyday, but that went by the wayside very quickly. Now I post when I have inspiration, but so far in just over 4 months my site has jumped more than 26m places in the world-wide rankings according to Alexa to being almost in the top 800,000 which is WOW! My traffic for December was up 30% on Nov, which in itself was a record month since I launched.
I am trying to help people change their way of thinking and problem solving so they can challenge the status quo and “be FREE be ALIVE be Truly HAPPY.” Please check out my site and leave comments – http://www.theSarayiahpost.com – my latest article is about New Year’s.
Happy New Year and have a wonderful day.
Love
Isaac Sarayiah
Isaac Sarayiah recently posted..Happy New Year – The Final Edition – My Posts
Very cool – congratulations :- )
Twitter: theSarayiahpost
says:
Thank you.
:-)
Isaac Sarayiah recently posted..Happy New Year – The Final Edition – My Posts
Fight Your Way to Inspired Writing:
that’s was amazing this is excellent topic and very hopefully,
The inspiration for your writing need not solely depend on your own ideas, you’ve been asked, or you see elsewhere on the internet – share your honest ideas. my inspiration through different it just comes and when it does, I need to get it down in writing, Considered to have the to serve your people to do support and teach all of us that you have any information. Thanks
William Anderson recently posted..motivation blog
I think that with many people it is important to set up systems to help with their writing. I think that it is not a case of not having good ideas but not having a system to structure their creativity.
Sometimes I have one light bulb moment spurs many post ideas and other times I have nothing for days on end. So when ideas strike, I take note of them as they come! No waste of time because I tend to forget as soon as I think of them (I know right).
Great post. I especially appreciate number 3. It’s important to remember why I began my blog in the first place in order to help stay motivated. I’ve also found my blog to be therapy.
Derek Morton recently posted..It’s You
Yeah – that therapy – personal passion – is what will really keep us going.
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
Passion probably is the most underrated aspect of business.
Derek Morton recently posted..It’s You
This is the suitable weblog for anybody who needs to seek out out about this topic. You notice so considerably its virtually laborious to argue with you (not that I really would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a brand new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just excellent!
Jhony recently posted..The Amazing Spider-Man 4 Release 2012
Very good post, I agree with your points.
Michael Belk recently posted..Actor management can add to the movie budget. | Reasons why dogs make better actors.
Thanks.
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
Twitter: davelucas
says:
So, SantaMike – should we add these 4 tips to the 5 Reader Engagement Tips you posted at FamousBloggers and then have 9 helpful hints – can you add one more and make it a “TEN”??? LOL!
Dave Lucas recently posted..Almost 2012
Watch the interview – way more than 10 tips there.
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
Twitter: bloggersethics
says:
i like the way you have presented this post and all the points are relevant. thanks for the share
Tushar recently posted..Why Big Bloggers Need to Write Own Posts?
Thanks. I like writing quote heavy posts – the authority bloggers seem to have a way of verbally expressing their thoughts very well.
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
It’s very important to dedicate time to brainstorming ideas and writing. The reason that so many blogs go inactive is because it isn’t a priority and just gets pushed to the side.
Howdy Nick – do you have a particular method of brain storming?
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..What?! There really are secrets to getting millions of page views?
I get my inspiration through different ways. Some times, it just comes and when it does, I need to get it down in writing (either on paper or typing it) or else it disappears. Other times, I get my inspiration from conversations with other people. Even when I watch TV, I get a few ideas based on what they show or a comment made or a question posed. These are, of course, during a good day.
During a bad day when I am challenged to get inspired, I read and read and do research and take notes. At first, the article sounds so detached. But once I get them down and I start editing it, I manage to still come up with something more personal.
Adeline recently posted..Visualize Your Goals for 2012 with Your Own Vision Board
It’s cool – though for some reason your comment sparked a thought for me. Basically, a lot of us are scrawling down notes/ideas/inspiration on all kinds of paper. I wonder how many great ideas get lost in our pockets/desks/garbage.
I keep my notes on my phone… and sometimes they even get lost on there.
Thanks Adeline :- )
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..What?! There really are secrets to getting millions of page views?
I went to his blog and I was really pleased to find some very nice and amazing posts that got my attention. For for writing, it requires some schedule and the sooner you set it up, the eaiser it is going to be for you to cope with the amount of work that you have about your blog.
Thanks DiNaRa – I may be a little biased by I think David is one of the best writers online.
Do you use a schedule for your writing?
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
I have a global schedule for a day/ week, but what I do at a particular time depends on my mood and situation. I would like to get creative in the mornings and like to do my research in the evenings, for example.
Raj recently posted..3 Simple Things to Remember About Your Content Strategy
Cool Raj – do you schedule in breaks too or work 7 days per week?
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
I work primarily on my music blog and personal blog on weekends. So, its fun and like a break anyway. Breaks happen when I find that my eyes are strained, after looking at the monitor for a couple of hours. In fact, I sleep three times a day and find that the moment I wake up, I am at my efficient best!
Raj recently posted..3 Simple Things to Remember About Your Content Strategy
Nice. David and I talked about alternative sleeping schedules in our interview… Atleast briefly. I like the multiple sleep strategy – beats my attempts at no sleep. And yeah, days with naps are way more productive.
Why manage multiple blogs instead of focussing on one?
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
I started with my personal blog before about four years. Its a venue where I explore creative writing and travel related posts. But that’s only for hobby. The music blog is something I started to listen and discover songs released at my place. Its a long lost passion, that I recently caught up with. Obviously, I cannot write about these topics on my business blogs, on which I work on week-days.
I take a compulsory off on one day (every week) in order to travel to various tourist destinations around my place and write about them on my personal blog. I am doing it mainly to keep away from the laptop. Of course, its fun :)
Raj recently posted..3 Simple Things to Remember About Your Content Strategy
Looks like we can only go five comments deep ;- )
I like the idea of taking a full day off. I find that after even just a few days hunched over the laptop my neck starts to ache, my eyes are sore, and I don’t sleep very well. My strategy is to take about three hours off and go for a walk with a friend – - – it’s not enough though.
I started out with a travel blog too – and I can appreciate the value in keeping it. Even though I deleted the blog from the public-web, I still send off mass emails to all my friends and family. It’s not the kind of writing that is likely to become a business, but it’s the kind of writing I’m most passionate about – so we continue.
–
Michael
writerviews recently posted..What?! There really are secrets to getting millions of page views?
Thanks Anna – one of the most fascinating things about inspiration is that everyone can find it in a different place.
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
As for me, things can be different for example I make notes from time to time and i usually take the topics from life. It can be either questions, or some talks and conversations that i hear and even when I don’t know something I go and study it and then write it as well.