My wife and I celebrated our 17th-wedding anniversary on Saturday. And as most people do in this wonderful age of social media, I took to Facebook as soon as I woke up.
While she was in the living room watching TV, I found a handful of cute pics for a collage, dressed them up nice, and then wrote something. But I didn't want what I wrote to be the generic stuff like, "Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you to the moon and back." No. I had to follow my Write Like You Mean It philosophy ... even for a cute Facebook post.
What I came up with is below.
Let me first say that I knocked it out of the park if I do say so myself. A HUGE pat on the back to me! But it was never meant to be a "Hey, look at us" sort of thing.
It wasn't a competition.
I didn't do it for the likes.
All I wanted was to leave no doubt in Leslie's mind that I love her and genuinely love our life together. And the best way to express that to her was through my words and writing skills.
But yes, it quickly got everyone's attention. And why? Because I wrote from my heart.
I wrote with purpose. I wrote as if no one was listening or reading except for Leslie, and I focused on telling a story. It would have been easy for people to simply like the post and say, "Hey! Happy Anniversary." But from the very first sentence, friends, family, AND ESPECIALLY LESLIE, told me that my words sucked them in like a tractor beam.
They read the whole thing.
It didn't matter how long it was.
More importantly, it kicked our day off right, and I accomplished my mission of letting Leslie know exactly how I feel about her and our life together.
It's time for you to Write Like You Mean It
I shared this quick blog post because it's important that everyone realizes that they, too, can write like they mean it.
You don't have to be a professional writer, and you don't even have to set your sights on having anyone else except you see it at first. But whatever it is that you write, do it purposefully and with passion. If you do, your words and intentions will fit together beautifully.
And it can really be anything:
A heartfelt social media post
A blog
An article for a newspaper
A private love letter
A poem
Emails
Short stories that you'll one day share with others
The next great American novel
Do You Need More Tools and Tips to Help Improve Your Writing? Buy My Book, Write Like You Mean It
I wrote Write Like You Mean It: Mastering Your Passion For The Written Word for anyone who wants to be better at writing. Yes, the target audience is writers. But truth be told, we all need to know how to communicate effectively – regardless of which career path we choose.
Just a few of the topics covered in this book include:
* Overcoming your fear of writing
* What writer's block is trying to tell us
* How to be a better storyteller
* Honoring the editing process
* How to improve your writing
* How to write the next great novel
* Getting published
Get your copy:
Thank you for reading!
*STEVE GAMEL is the President & Owner of Edit This, a writing and editing services company located in Denton, TX, and the author of Write Like You Mean It: Mastering Your Passion For The Written Word. Steve handles anything involving the written word. Give him a call today to help give your business a clear voice.