Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books

When Can You Call Yourself A Writer?

When Can You Call Yourself A Writer?


So – when can you call yourself a writer?

When you get up and write everyday.

I explained the idea of daily action to one of my children recently like this.

Helping on a farm for a day or a week does not make you a farmer.
And writing, in the same manner, does not make you a writer.

A farmer is one who farms everyday – and a writer is one who writes everyday.

I have addressed this topic before.

See, no writing on the wall can help you. No one will ever give you permission. Nobody is going to give it to you. And – no – you don’t have to have an MFA to start. 

Just write. Just start.

Still—do you really need permission and a hall-pass to go there? Do you need someone to make you a paper badge with the word WRITER on it before you can believe you are one? God, I hope not.

-Stephen King, On Writing

To Convince Someone, The Group Matters

To Convince Someone, The Group Matters
The view of the group matters.

See, if you identify as part of group X, the more likely you will be to align yourself with the characteristics and ideas of group X.

Does that make sense?

For example, I am not from West Texas but I graduated from Texas Tech and I live here now.

I have no real reason to despise Texas A&M, but I have grown to do so.

Red Raiders dislike Aggies and – well – I’m a Red Raider.

This seems silly, but it has larger implications.

For if you can get a group as a whole to lean a slightly certain way, aren’t you simultaneously persuading the individuals too?

PERSUASION TIP 1:  When you identify as part of a group, your opinions tend to be biased toward the group consensus.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly

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