I believe wholeheartedly that you are right, Jen. Sometimes, I forget about this truth. I have heard many writing teachers explain that the more personal you get in your writing, the more universal the appeal. It's in the details of our own experience that other people see their own lives, hopes, dreams, and fears reflected. People gloss over generalities. They latch onto specifics, especially personal ones. Thanks for the reminder. 💜
Thank you Jen, and I have a question about how personal is TOO personal. I have a story I hope to eventually share where I describe just how I reached rock bottom. The lost pet recovery nonprofit organization that I tried to form struggled to get developed. Because we received NO donations, I took a part-time job delivering newspapers. It was a week before Christmas, pouring rain, and I had torn cartilage in my painful knee. It was a Sunday newspaper that I was delivering, wrapped in a thick stack of Christmas sale advertisements, making each "paper" as large as a log and weighing about 6 pounds! As I hobbled up a driveway with the paper, I got an extremely uncomfortable WEDGY! I broke down and limp-sobbed my way through my paper route, vowing that there HAD to be a better way to develop my dream of pioneering lost pet recovery services! I quit my job that morning.
Is writing about a wedgy TOO personal? It was truly what sent me over the edge, but perhaps some stories are better off not shared? In my first month of posting in Substack I shared a funny story about the first autopsy I attended. I lost a few subscribers with that story and realized that perhaps I need to be more careful about what I share with the world! Thoughts?
Hey Kat, I think it totally depends on how you frame the wedgy and whether it's a humorous moment woven into the main message of the piece. It takes a certain level of skill to pull that off. The wedgy is supposed to be a funny moment of relief in a narrative with a deeper message.
This question is a little complicated to answer in the comments. I'm going to kick off a Subscriber chat on Thursday afternoon. If you can bring it there, it's a better place to back and forth about this.
Jen—this is such a timely reminder.❣️ I am preparing to launch a new substack, "Living your best life with cancer." It is based on sharing the lessons that my partner and I (both stage-4 cancer) learned during our years of treatment.
Writing these lessons is both an emotional revisiting of the past and a challenging experience to open up about such personal experiences. 🙏🏼
Glad it was good timing for you Mike. Sharing those relatable moments in such a challenging experience is a powerful way to connect with your readers. Let me know if I can help at all.
I believe wholeheartedly that you are right, Jen. Sometimes, I forget about this truth. I have heard many writing teachers explain that the more personal you get in your writing, the more universal the appeal. It's in the details of our own experience that other people see their own lives, hopes, dreams, and fears reflected. People gloss over generalities. They latch onto specifics, especially personal ones. Thanks for the reminder. 💜
It's so true - those personal details and stories are exactly what creates connection.
Glad you like it ✨👍🏻
Thank you Jen, and I have a question about how personal is TOO personal. I have a story I hope to eventually share where I describe just how I reached rock bottom. The lost pet recovery nonprofit organization that I tried to form struggled to get developed. Because we received NO donations, I took a part-time job delivering newspapers. It was a week before Christmas, pouring rain, and I had torn cartilage in my painful knee. It was a Sunday newspaper that I was delivering, wrapped in a thick stack of Christmas sale advertisements, making each "paper" as large as a log and weighing about 6 pounds! As I hobbled up a driveway with the paper, I got an extremely uncomfortable WEDGY! I broke down and limp-sobbed my way through my paper route, vowing that there HAD to be a better way to develop my dream of pioneering lost pet recovery services! I quit my job that morning.
Is writing about a wedgy TOO personal? It was truly what sent me over the edge, but perhaps some stories are better off not shared? In my first month of posting in Substack I shared a funny story about the first autopsy I attended. I lost a few subscribers with that story and realized that perhaps I need to be more careful about what I share with the world! Thoughts?
Hey Kat, I think it totally depends on how you frame the wedgy and whether it's a humorous moment woven into the main message of the piece. It takes a certain level of skill to pull that off. The wedgy is supposed to be a funny moment of relief in a narrative with a deeper message.
This question is a little complicated to answer in the comments. I'm going to kick off a Subscriber chat on Thursday afternoon. If you can bring it there, it's a better place to back and forth about this.
Hope that helps!
I'm traveling Thursday so won't be available, but thanks for the input!
Hope that input gives you something helpful to think about:)
Jen—this is such a timely reminder.❣️ I am preparing to launch a new substack, "Living your best life with cancer." It is based on sharing the lessons that my partner and I (both stage-4 cancer) learned during our years of treatment.
Writing these lessons is both an emotional revisiting of the past and a challenging experience to open up about such personal experiences. 🙏🏼
Glad it was good timing for you Mike. Sharing those relatable moments in such a challenging experience is a powerful way to connect with your readers. Let me know if I can help at all.
I need this reminder over and over. I always hesitate to go too personal, but I know it lets readers understand and connect with me more.
I agree 100%. My most liked and commented story ever on Wildhood is the one where I got fired at 50.