Musings, mumblings and meditations on business, life, internet marketing, web life, and everything else in between.
Insights, advice, suggestion, etc, gleaned from learnings, experiences, falls, laughter, pain, melancholy, happiness, poignancy, and every other shade of emotion that it is possible for a human being to experience.
No promise to post everyday (there may, in fact, be a hiatus of many moons between posts) but I promise that when I do post, the words will be mine, and the insights will be mine, although in a world where learning is ever inter-related, one cannot really tell when others' ideas end and one's own begin.
Insights, advice, suggestion, etc, gleaned from learnings, experiences, falls, laughter, pain, melancholy, happiness, poignancy, and every other shade of emotion that it is possible for a human being to experience.
No promise to post everyday (there may, in fact, be a hiatus of many moons between posts) but I promise that when I do post, the words will be mine, and the insights will be mine, although in a world where learning is ever inter-related, one cannot really tell when others' ideas end and one's own begin.
Can I "Hear" You When You Write?
Posted 5th January 2009 at 12:16 PM by kennethtang
I posted the following post some time ago in response to a WSO posted by Paul Myers for his Killer Content ebook.
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You know, I like to read the WF late at night, with some slow, earthy and even homely voice singing on the radio. Reminds me of those nights long ago, when we used to go camping, and the fire's burning low, and voices speaking in low tones, the light of the campfire reflected on boyish faces...
Faces full of hopes, dreams, adventures...
I've looked long and hard for a "voice" that'd speak to me like that, but sadly, there aren't all too many of those around these days.
Too many of today's writers have no depth, no voice. There is no soul behind the writing.
People long, no, they YEARN for such a voice, such a soul, behind the writing. They do not put it in so many words, but what they're looking for is to connect with the human being behind the words.
Will you write with voice, with soul, with heart, with HUMANITY showing from within? The world needs such a voice, they yearn for it. Will you be that voice?
What's all that got to do with this WSO?
I don't know. You decide, but I'm here to tell you Paul "Zen Redneck" Myers remains one of the very, very, very few people I still read online. Because he has what he advocates in his writings: his own literary voice; all his own and nobody else's. And behind those words, behind that voice, I have glimpsed what I have been alluding all along -- the human element; humanity.
When you have a certain voice of your own, when your humanity shows forth, you have a kind of moral force and conviction behind your thoughts, which in turn reveals itself in your writing.
Everyone has that humanity. It is in everyone. It is in you. You need to let it out in your writing.
Recently on Twitter, in response to someone else's comment that Paul hasn't disappointed anyone yet, I quipped, "Well, he's nowhere near as good-lookin' as Richard Gere". Well, that he isn't, and he's no Shakespeare either (one is enough, ask any high-school kid who has ever been forced to read him), but he does have a voice, and he shows us there's a human being behind that writing.
The worst thing you can do when it comes to writing, is to neglect to learn from him. $27 bucks is a ridiculous price for a multi-faceted jewel, and writing IS a multi-faceted jewel, and Paul's book will help you polish that jewel.
I like to think I'm somewhat a person of discerning taste...ahem...when it comes to a few things: actions (behavior), speech, food (in this respect, I, too, am a person of a little substance, particularly around the waist), reading and writing.
Especially reading. I always pick and choose what I will and will not read.
I've read what seemed like gazillions of books on the subject of writing: non-fiction, fiction, poetry, etc., etc. I consider myself to have some facility in dramatizing ideas, and I have some clue about writing. "Killer Content" is a very POTENT book in the ideas, concepts and methods it reveals and teaches. You cannot go wrong with it in your grubby...er, I meant noble little hands.
Long, long ago, I read in the poetry section of Grolier's Encyclopaedia that a person who had developed some facility with poetry will tend to have a powerful command of the English language. Since then I've developed an appreciation of poetry and have written some. Not to woo women and not to move nations, not even to talk the birds down from trees, but just to practice my English.
Paul advocates mastering writing humor. I believe it improves your writing, much the same way poetry improves your English.
It's true. Poetry does improve your command of English, way beyond what you could imagine. In the same vein, after reading "Killer Content", I can tell you flat out that it can improve your command of writing, to a degree you'd never have imagined, if you really apply yourself to its lessons.
Writing is magic; and if you meditate upon, apply and practice the ideas in Killer Content, you can do magic.
Believe me.
Kenneth
PS. I believe I CAN write to woo women (though the Mrs. would not approve) and move nations, and I can write to talk the birds down from the trees, if I have to, believe you me (no, I will not be accepting any dueling challenges anytime soon). You can have such confidence, too, if you KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the skillz :-) Killer Content is the perfect teacher
PPS. If you visit the sales page and its not available at the moment, just email Paul and ask to buy the ebook. I'm sure Paul can accommodate your request in some way.
----------------------------------------------------------
You know, I like to read the WF late at night, with some slow, earthy and even homely voice singing on the radio. Reminds me of those nights long ago, when we used to go camping, and the fire's burning low, and voices speaking in low tones, the light of the campfire reflected on boyish faces...
Faces full of hopes, dreams, adventures...
I've looked long and hard for a "voice" that'd speak to me like that, but sadly, there aren't all too many of those around these days.
Too many of today's writers have no depth, no voice. There is no soul behind the writing.
People long, no, they YEARN for such a voice, such a soul, behind the writing. They do not put it in so many words, but what they're looking for is to connect with the human being behind the words.
Will you write with voice, with soul, with heart, with HUMANITY showing from within? The world needs such a voice, they yearn for it. Will you be that voice?
What's all that got to do with this WSO?
I don't know. You decide, but I'm here to tell you Paul "Zen Redneck" Myers remains one of the very, very, very few people I still read online. Because he has what he advocates in his writings: his own literary voice; all his own and nobody else's. And behind those words, behind that voice, I have glimpsed what I have been alluding all along -- the human element; humanity.
When you have a certain voice of your own, when your humanity shows forth, you have a kind of moral force and conviction behind your thoughts, which in turn reveals itself in your writing.
Everyone has that humanity. It is in everyone. It is in you. You need to let it out in your writing.
Recently on Twitter, in response to someone else's comment that Paul hasn't disappointed anyone yet, I quipped, "Well, he's nowhere near as good-lookin' as Richard Gere". Well, that he isn't, and he's no Shakespeare either (one is enough, ask any high-school kid who has ever been forced to read him), but he does have a voice, and he shows us there's a human being behind that writing.
The worst thing you can do when it comes to writing, is to neglect to learn from him. $27 bucks is a ridiculous price for a multi-faceted jewel, and writing IS a multi-faceted jewel, and Paul's book will help you polish that jewel.
I like to think I'm somewhat a person of discerning taste...ahem...when it comes to a few things: actions (behavior), speech, food (in this respect, I, too, am a person of a little substance, particularly around the waist), reading and writing.
Especially reading. I always pick and choose what I will and will not read.
I've read what seemed like gazillions of books on the subject of writing: non-fiction, fiction, poetry, etc., etc. I consider myself to have some facility in dramatizing ideas, and I have some clue about writing. "Killer Content" is a very POTENT book in the ideas, concepts and methods it reveals and teaches. You cannot go wrong with it in your grubby...er, I meant noble little hands.
Long, long ago, I read in the poetry section of Grolier's Encyclopaedia that a person who had developed some facility with poetry will tend to have a powerful command of the English language. Since then I've developed an appreciation of poetry and have written some. Not to woo women and not to move nations, not even to talk the birds down from trees, but just to practice my English.
Paul advocates mastering writing humor. I believe it improves your writing, much the same way poetry improves your English.
It's true. Poetry does improve your command of English, way beyond what you could imagine. In the same vein, after reading "Killer Content", I can tell you flat out that it can improve your command of writing, to a degree you'd never have imagined, if you really apply yourself to its lessons.
Writing is magic; and if you meditate upon, apply and practice the ideas in Killer Content, you can do magic.
Believe me.
Kenneth
PS. I believe I CAN write to woo women (though the Mrs. would not approve) and move nations, and I can write to talk the birds down from the trees, if I have to, believe you me (no, I will not be accepting any dueling challenges anytime soon). You can have such confidence, too, if you KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the skillz :-) Killer Content is the perfect teacher
PPS. If you visit the sales page and its not available at the moment, just email Paul and ask to buy the ebook. I'm sure Paul can accommodate your request in some way.
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