This is dedicated to all the new, incredible writers and activists who have been flooding this site as of late. This month marks my 11th year writing on DKos. Before that, I had my own blog on Florida politics. I don't count myself as one prominent enough to dispense advice, even when asked. However, I can certainly share things I've long regretted over the years--and learned from:
1. Writing On Issues I Don't Give a *&*&* About
There's some issues I just don't care much about, although I wish I could. There are other issues I'm very passionate about that I wish I wasn't. I've written articles about both--guess which ones do better? If I don't care about something, there's no way I'm going to make you care about it. Write with passion, or don't bother. Rant like a lunatic, get it out, and clean it up afterwards. Brings me to #2.
2. Trying to Go Viral
A friend of mine is a young lady who has a popular YouTube channel. She gave me a tremendous piece of advice that, although we work in different mediums, completely applies. She said if something you create goes viral, you can choose to either enjoy it, or let it consume you. She said that when she first made a video that got over a million hits, she was obsessed with creating the "next big thing". It's addictive, and it's destructive.
I noticed once that several of my posts that came after a viral one usually sucked. That’s because I was always trying to figure out what you liked, and that's damn near impossible. I should have written about what I liked, which, by the way, was the common thread among my viral posts to begin with.
3. Becoming Sean Hannity
Establishing credibility is critical for anyone in our field. Now, before I write anything, I ask myself this one simple question: If the other side did it, would it be okay?
When a liberal is accused of doing something, my gut instinct is to rationalize and defend. When a conservative is accused of doing something, my gut instinct is to attack. That's fine, but ask yourself if the party identification were flipped, would you still be defending/attacking? Bandwagons are fun just as long as you don't become a hypocrite. Hannity is infamous for this, which is why no one respects him--including his fans. I don't care how popular you are, you don't ever want that reputation. Don't worry, there is no shortage of things to be genuinely outraged about.
5:30 mark
4. Hating Adversaries
Whoa, have I ever been down this road.
You can’t have too little passion (see #1), but too much is worse. My personal hatred of someone never affected that person, who probably didn’t even know me, but it hurt my mental and physical well-being plenty. No one is worth getting sick over. Sometimes it made me a sloppy writer, other times it just made me a jerk.
I changed when I started a diary once intending to mock a rival's pain. I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I wound up trying to help him instead. It's so easy to hate people in our business, especially when so many of them hate us. I'm not telling you how to feel about anyone; I'm just explaining why I don't do hate anymore.
5. Letting Someone Intimidate Me
At some point, I got noticed. I've been threatened before, mostly from supporters of the other party, but sometimes even from within my own. Whether you write as a hobby, therapy, or really want to make a go of this, you may reach a threshold where the person you are writing about actually reads what you wrote. Hurt egos can be dangerous. I’ve been threatened by powerful people, for pointing things like this out about our former congressman (:23), and later, this about a shady Florida real-estate mogul (3:55). I've been threatened to be sued on several occasions by wingnuts who demand free speech until someone points out their blatant dishonesty.
John Oliver recently did a brilliant piece on coal where he was threatened with a lawsuit if he moved forward with it. He didn’t back down. Nowadays, I always write with the assumption that a legal team is going to try to take me to court, reference everything, then do it anyway. Hitting a nerve means you are making a difference. The one time I did change something out of intimidation was a diary early on in my career, and I still regret that decision.
6. Hyperbole
In my early days, I sensationalized headlines. Some of them make me cringe (along with titles that say BREAKING or OMG!) No more. Besides, with this current administration, it’s not even needed.
7. Obsessing
My best work has always been those posts where I knew exactly what I wanted to say and how to say it. More often than not, I scour the internet to see if something will speak to me. I’ll write, rewrite, and sometimes, start over from scratch. I’ve put a lot of efforts into some posts that I thought were great, but no one else did. I’ve put no effort into stream of consciousness rants that exploded. I’ve learned not to sweat any of it. If you like it, great. If not, I’ve got plenty more.
I always read the comments, but, unless they point out a glaring error, I am not influenced by them. I love and accept constructive criticism, and ignore the other kind. I appreciate and encourage people to email me on this site. Hopefully, my list of mistakes will help you on your own quest. If not, I’m sure you’ll make your own list in 11 years. Just promise me you’ll let us read about it...