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Cabin Closure

Being a freak in the streaks

Who I'll always be (in 2025 and beyond)

Social/Internet Media Poseurs

This one weird trick that grows your audience massively

This ain't no time for chit-chat

Is everything black or write?

Third most popular Kennedy endorses my approach.

What kind of writer are you?

it's going to take a while

The biggest frustration of the writing life

Blank rage blues

Something to stick in your mouth

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 600px">2024 is almost over.&nbsp;And although there's no real change as the clock rolls around to midnight tonight...&nbsp;...it's a good time to take stock.&nbsp;To stop.&nbsp;To reflect.&nbsp;To do some thinking about the past, and the future.&nbsp;And so, I light up my pipe full of Jamestown 1607 plug, swirl the rum pensively round my glass and think about the year that is nearly no more.&nbsp;(Yes, to the one subscriber who was on the same call as me earlier, I know. It's my second rum and my second pipe of the day. It's Hogmanay, I'm cutting loose a little.)&nbsp;As I do that, I'm thinking back to an email I got during my break.&nbsp;It was from a writing-related creator. They had their own little writing-related niche that they'd carved out, and I subscribed to and supported them.&nbsp;But lately, to be honest, I'd found the content more and more bland and generic. More and more business focused. Less and less interesting deep dives on the craft of writing of any kind.&nbsp;And lo, the email explained it all.&nbsp;I swear I've seen variations on this email a dozen times over the last years.&nbsp;And it's not just the writing or writing-related accounts either. I've seen it all over the place in every niche.&nbsp;It's an email that spells death for my interest in a newsletter of any kind.&nbsp;And I'm sure you'll have read a few of these emails yourself.&nbsp;It's the email that starts out with a vague reference to change. Then there's the lengthy section of self-introspection. The reiteration that they really honestly do love helping writers but...&nbsp;...they prefer helping business owners with branding and positioning and marketing etc.&nbsp;And so they'll be sharing fewer writing-related tips and more "big-picture" strategy stuff. And then there's the lengthy bit about how that's better because it's more important and it helps more people.&nbsp;And the pivot is almost always tied to leaving said creator's 9-5 in order to make a living online.&nbsp;Look, I'm deliberately being vague here because I have no interest in calling out this creator or any of the others I've seen this kind of email from. They're well-meaning content creators trying to make a living, not CAW-CAWs like little Dickie Bush and Nicholass Cole.&nbsp;But let's be honest here.&nbsp;Moving from helping writers write to helping business owners market stuff is not coming to a long and hard look deep into your soul and deciding that your mission has changed.&nbsp;It's going where the money is.&nbsp;And that, dear reader...&nbsp;...let me bold and italicise this for emphasis so you don't miss my point...&nbsp;...is completely fine.&nbsp;&nbsp;There's nothing wrong with going where the money is. It's smart. I applaud them for making it work.&nbsp;And yet, I unsubscribed soon after, as I always do. Because business and marketing content largely bores me. I have a few that I go to for that, who're really good at it and interesting. Experts like John Bejakovic, Ben Settle and Daniel Throssell.&nbsp;This creator was the only one in the niche they wrote in, now they're one of a thousand others in their new niche of business-building. I'm sure it'll work out for them. But it's not for me.&nbsp;Like I said yesterday, there are many paths to success but you can only walk down some of them.&nbsp;For me?&nbsp;I'm a writer. I'll always be a writer. I can't be a business coach or a copywriting guru or a social media guru.&nbsp;Those are valid paths.&nbsp;But they can't be my path.&nbsp;It's one reason I've been committed to always having a second income stream of some kind until my "mission money" is comfortably paying the bills. Whether that's a 9-5 of my own, or my wife's job that she enjoys and wants to keep doing, or freelance client work.&nbsp;I always want something so I'm never tempted to compromise the mission here to call up some money.&nbsp;A large part of my work the last month or two has been making sure I have that in place for next year, more on that another time...&nbsp;Sure, I'll gladly teach you guys how to make more money with your writing by building a business like we teach in the Ghostletter Seminars but even there, I leave the business teaching to my far-more-qualified friend and partner Wade Skalsky. More on that another time too...&nbsp;Or I'll offer you a chance to work with me and other on building a social media brand if that helps you to do what I've done and free your time for writing. More on that another time as well...&nbsp;But all those are tangential to the mission of making you a better writer for whatever your writing goals are.&nbsp;And so, as I bring this lengthy email to a close, dear reader, let me tell you straight:&nbsp;This is who I'll always be. In 2025, in 2026, and God-willing for a decades beyond that.&nbsp;Not a "I'm still going to share writing tips but mostly I'm selling business advice" writer.&nbsp;Just a plain ol' simple writer.&nbsp;Yes, I'm going to sell you stuff. Everything you buy justifies me spending more time writing to you, after all.&nbsp;But that stuff that I sell will help you <a href="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/SDS/?__position__=0" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#1155cc" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/SDS/?__position__=0" data-label="write faster" data-tooltip-id="IYEFfUDeNuk2czpfa8MDF">write faster</a>, or edit more effectively*, or <a href="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/how-to-write-bad/?__position__=0" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#1155cc" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/how-to-write-bad/?__position__=0" data-label="overcome perfectionism" data-tooltip-id="rcB6yvYngidMvThej5KLV">overcome perfectionism</a>.&nbsp;In other words, my focus, paid or unpaid, is going to be on making you a better writer in 2025 and beyond.&nbsp;So from the bottom of my writerly heart let me wish you a very Happy New Year.&nbsp;God bless you, one and all.&nbsp;James Carran, Craftsman Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;*I opened the cart on this one because it tied so tightly into my point. But the hyperlinked text wasn't applying the little Hogmanay discount I decided to offer mid-email so go here instead:&nbsp;<a href="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/effective-editing/?__position__=3&amp;coupon=HOGMANAY" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#1155cc" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/effective-editing/?__position__=3&amp;coupon=HOGMANAY" data-label="https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/effective-editing/?coupon=HOGMANAY" data-tooltip-id="r9bXlc8OUYcZlhpnrrEj7">https://getpaidwrite.thrivecart.com/effective-editing/?coupon=HOGMANAY</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;But that's only saying up for the forty-eight hours or so it takes to make sure everyone read the email. Then it's down again until I get a proper sales page up and charge full price.&nbsp;</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 600px">Dear reader,&nbsp;I'm back.&nbsp;Did you forget who I am like the gurus promised? Did you vanish off and decide to spend all your money with other writing teachers?&nbsp;I hope not.&nbsp;Because I'm back.&nbsp;And raring to go.&nbsp;I might make this an annual habit, because taking a break every now and then is refreshing to the soul. And when you're writing more than just shallow content, the soul is exactly where it comes from.&nbsp;The CAW-CAWs cry about "keeping the streak" and boast about never missing a day in eight years and...&nbsp;...I get it. No really, I do. Streak tracking and habit hacking is all good stuff. But I dunno, it never made much difference to me.&nbsp;I can break a thirty-eight day streak on Wordle because I was busy and it doesn't change my interest in playing the next day.&nbsp;Likewise I can break a several-month long streak of daily emails and pick right back up without a hitch.&nbsp;(A sentiment which you may be doubting given that this is coming out hours later and hundreds of words shorter than normal, but that's just life at this time of year, honest!)&nbsp;Often I find that deliberately breaking a streak is mentally helpful because it lets me instantly see if I'm doing something because it's worthwhile and enjoyable or just for the performative productivity of ticking the box.&nbsp;That's me though, a freak in the streaks.&nbsp;Most folks find streaking (heh) to be a powerful motivator.&nbsp;Look, let me segue a little here to get to my point.&nbsp;People like to say that there are many paths to success.&nbsp;They're half right.&nbsp;Because yes, there are many paths to success but you can't walk half of them.&nbsp;Posting clickbait content and memes is a path to success online. I know that, and yet I can't do that. It doesn't gel with me.&nbsp;Build an arbitrage business where you farm out low-paid workers and take a cut is a path to success but ask my friend Wade Skalsky what he thinks about that sometime.&nbsp;I won't multiply examples because it's late, but there are a hundred reasons why you can't walk the same paths as others. From moral ones to mindset ones. From personal choices to problem people.&nbsp;Yes, there are a hundred ways to win, but what ways work for you?&nbsp;As Wade says "know thyself is not a platitude, it's a business strategy."&nbsp;Knowing myself was why I took a week off everything this last week.&nbsp;Knowing myself was why I've made moves to eliminate my reliance on client work to pay the bills.&nbsp;And knowing myself was why I never followed the usual path of creating social media growth courses after I blew up on there.&nbsp;Instead, I just recommend people who love that stuff and who're honestly much better than I am at it.&nbsp;People like my good friend Kieran Drew who is running a FREE THIRTY-DAY writing challenge that starts in just two days. It's got a sexy name too, would be a good name for a newsletter come to think about it...&nbsp;<a href="https://kierandrew.kit.com/writeway?__position__=1" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#1155cc" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://kierandrew.kit.com/writeway?__position__=1" data-label="You can join me and sign up for that here." data-tooltip-id="yv7aYfr9nAJSk3G0nTHoC">You can join me and sign up for that here.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;It’s totally free, Kieran knows his stuff, and you’ll learn a lot. In fact, you'll get a whole bevy of better ways to say stuff - something that lets you hunt out the ways that work for you and not for others.&nbsp;Hey, maybe it'll even help you set up a streak and that might be just what you need.&nbsp;Yours,&nbsp;James Carran, Craftsman Writer</pre>

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