H = Have passion in what you do.
This is the first letter in HABITS from the CREATIVE HABITS and a habit that can make your work and life more fun and meaningful. To me it’s the glue that holds us together, in good times or not so good times. What can we do when that passion starts to wane? Read on for my thoughts…
The best clients a writer or creative consultant can have are people who want regular writing on topics that interest you the most, the articles, documents or books you would have written anyway. But these clients can be rare finds. Most freelance writers and consultants will end up writing some articles, books and pieces that are on topics they are just not interested in personally.
As a creative consultant and writer myself, I understand how difficult it can be to become passionate about topics like reducing excessive sweating or computer drivers, especially since I know little about either topic. These are just examples, but you will have your own nemesis topics, ones you find difficult to be passionate about.
I find that focusing on the trust the client has in me as a creator and writer helps. I have agreed to produce work that has the same quality of writing as work on topics that I am naturally enthusiastic about. Therefore, I owe it to myself as a writer, and to my client to write well. Writers should take pride in their work. Writing is a skill that not everyone can learn. Crafting words together for the best effect is often difficult, but good writers will focus on building these skills.
When I have a client who is paying me for quality articles or documents about a topic that doesn’t interest me particularly, I make an extra effort to focus on the craftsmanship of my writing. What synonyms can I use to make this word more exciting or enthralling to the reader? How will the reader engage with this writing?
How can I change this sentence structure so that clarity is paramount and I can be sure the reader will understand what I am saying? This question is particularly important to ask when writing about technical subjects, where the reader may have limited knowledge about the topic.
By asking these sorts of technical questions about my own writing, I find I become passionate about the work, even if the topic itself is tedious.
Focusing on writing as a craft or trade and working on the quality of the writing itself, can often be the key to making a boring topic interesting for the reader and your client.
The other trick I use is to focus on facts, figures, statistics or some way of grabbing the reader’s attention in the first paragraph. Research really helps. In every writer’s portfolio there will be articles that they have written that rely solely on good research skills. When you are researching, look out for the ‘by the way’ kind of information that makes you say, “Wow, I didn’t know that!” This fact, figure or statistic could be the lead that grabs the reader’s attention.
Every topic can be fascinating when you have an endless curiosity. Encourage yourself to be open to exploring new ideas and topics. If your client has requested a particular topic, it means that your client believes there is a market for that topic. Thinking about the people who may be enticed to read my writing is one way I become passionate about what I am writing, even if it is about a topic I do not care about personally.
Your clients, and the people reading your writing, trust you to make this topic interesting. You have a responsibility as a writer to employ all the tricks of the trade to have passion about that topic, even if it is only while you are actually writing about it.
Focus on the quality of your writing, look for the unique facts that will hold a reader’s interest throughout the article, and encourage an endless curiosity in yourself to become more passionate in your writing.
