When it’s your turn, the most important thing you can do is realize it’s your turn. Marketers have led us to believe we need to wait to be picked or approved, but that’s simply not true.
This week on The Portfolio Life I’m joined once again by a role model of mine: Seth Godin. In this new episode, Seth and I talk about his new book What To Do When It’s Your Turn, the invention of writer’s block, and what you can do to change things for the better.
I also ask Seth a question I've always wanted to ask him, one of the world's most popular bloggers: how does he write? The answer might surprise you.
Listen to the podcast
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More about the new book
The excuse for this interview was Seth's new book, but we ended up talking about a lot more than just that. Honestly, I asked him every question I've ever wanted to ask and even got an inside look at how he approaches his career as a writer, entrepreneur, and marketer. It was fascinating.
When deciding what kind of book to write, like the last one he just published, Seth approaches the craft uniquely. Rather than looking at what book he thinks he could sell, he decides which book to write based on whether or not he cares enough about it to devote a year of his life to its making.
Seth asks himself, “What do I need to read?” Then he makes the assumption that there are other people like him who need to read that book, as well. This time, it meant crafting a book that’s more like a magazine than a book. And he released it in a pretty remarkable way (find out how in this week's episode).
Highlights from the show
- You have to write the book that wants to be written.
- The people who are doing good writing almost never have time to complain about how unfair things are.
- The magic of writing is that we all get the same 26 letters. It’s what we do with them that matters.
- The secret to non-fiction writing is you have to write stuff that almost everyone says is insane, stupid, wrong, or ill-informed. Otherwise we’ve already read it.
Resources mentioned in the show
- What to Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn) by Seth Godin
- “Writer's Block and the Drip”
- Seth's blog
- The first time Seth appeared on the Portfolio Life
[specialbox]Because I love his work so much, I’m also giving away one copy of each of Seth Godin’s 18 books to a lucky winner. Go here for more information.[/specialbox]
What's stopping you from writing your book that wants to be written? Share in the comments.