This is an excerpt from my upcoming book Get To Know Your Backyard Opportunity, a guide that shares my story of interviewing small business owners in Austin, Texas, and a guide to help anyone anywhere interested in doing a similar project in their own local community. This is a chapter on why blogging/writing is key to making the most of the project.
Why Write?
Grammar is to writer what anatomy is to a sculptor, or the scales to a musician. You may loathe it, it may bore you, but nothing will replace it, and once mastered, it will support you like a rock. — -B.J Chute.
Okay, first thing, we are not talking about grammar, not entirely. Yeah, it will come in handy later, but let me draw a bit from the quote above.
Writing is a ‘flesher’ of thoughts. It brings order to things said, and is one of the greatest skills you can develop. Anything that has to be put into writing challenges the writer to think carefully — he has to put one word after the other to make a point — and brings out what’s not necessarily clear.
Why not just say it, you may ask? Well, you could, but the spoken word unless written down gets taken up by the air, and though could be collected in the memory, in time the memory fades. So to rely on it is to leave you scratching your head when it comes time to recollect it for use. Herein comes the point of this saying: A short pencil is better than a long memory.
But in saying this, for our purposes here, I do mean excellent writing. I mean a decent record of your thoughts that others can read and see what you mean, and at this point mistakes are allowed. This is why I do not stress grammar, but the ability to start practicing now.
Growing up as a kid, I heard a bit of the Marco Polo sheep but didn’t quite understand why the sheep was so named. Later in life, I read a piece somewhere of Marco Polo, and why he is renowned worldwide for his documentation of his travels to Asia, and how his book — “The Travels Of Marco Polo”— was Europe’s introduction to Central Asia and China.
But wait, was he the first, or was he the most knowledgeable about that region of the world, at the time? Enter Wikipedia:
Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China (see Europeans in Medieval China), but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. This book inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers. There is a substantial literature based on Polo’s writings; he also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map. — WikipediaThere, is the power of the pen, which is said to be mightier than the sword. Well, in our day, it will be punching the keyboard, right?
Yet you may say to me, “Kingston, nah, I am not Marco Polo, I am not that big.” Well, we all have to start somewhere, right? We all can’t be great from the outset. We have to start where we are, though; use what we have, build a muscle for whatever skill we desire, and see what opportunities come our way to use it. I am sure Marco started writing, or had a great appreciation for it at a much earlier time before he penned the famous book. Plus, his expedition to Central China or Asia, in a large sense, was a project, too.
Two, you need a platform. This is why I talk about starting a blog. When you start a project like this one, with the few people you may share it with or who will know about it ( or even the professionals you end up interviewing), they will like to follow your progress, and reading is how they do that.
So in that sense, reading is how they consume what you are creating. Reading, then, is consumption. It’s like eating, and proper eating demands that food be served on a plate. Your project is a service you are rendering to others. Serve it on plate, a platform — which is simply a “form” of “plate,” and writing is the tool you use to put it on that platform.This very book you are reading itself is a platform. There has to be a ground upon which I share my story and the lessons. The story is my ground, and the book is my writing pad, my platform, and I typed the words onto the “plate.”
Three, writing on a platform like a blog, sets you up to share your findings. The project will lead you to discoveries, not only about your neighborhood, people, or situations, but your own self. Make sure you note those. And when you will like to share some of these, a blog gives you a tool with share buttons ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and others) to easily distribute it.
Also, the more you write, do projects, and share your thoughts, the more the right people will come to you. The reason people are hesitant to come to connect with others is a lack of information. Lack of information is like walking in the dark. Few people like that. Knowledge is light, and the more you share, the more people know about you, and makes it easy for others to decide how to connect to you. This is how writing improves your chances of getting where you want to get by connecting you to the right people.
The president of the United States, president Barack Obama, is a writer. I have heard stories here and there about how he sometimes writes his own speeches. How does being a writer help him? Well, in a few key ways.
I’m sure some folks read his books — “Dreams From My Father” and “ The Audacity Of Hope” — especially during his first campaign for president, and saw his thinking process. They checked if they agreed with him or not on most issues at play. For those who did, they easily voted for him. That — writing, someway, somehow, helped pave the way for his election. It supported him and connected him to the right people.
So it is with all of us. Your ability to gather your thoughts, package it, and use it to make a point is a rare skill. Not everyone can do that. But you can start small, and with a project that you enjoy, and can write all about it. In time, you’ll get better.Even the great God Himself who created all things, when He sought to record His thoughts, He put it in a book for men to read. This is how we know His will.
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