Write About What Makes You Tongue-Tied

Not what you are certain of. (What is anyone really certain of?)

Not what you are an expert on. (There are likely 100 experts who could join your ranks.)

What makes you tongue-tied. 

If you've read Penelope Trunk or James Altucher, you've likely picked up on the babbling brook quality in their writing style. My inner managing editor used to cringe at the run-on sentences, contradictory statements and comma splices galore. The more I read them, the more I began to realize that this rambling is an art in and of itself. It's the art of writing about what makes you tongue-tied. They've likely worked for years to eliminate the mental barriers between their thoughts, their experiences, their observations and their writing of all three.

Many people rightly--and sometimes rudely!--point out in the public comments that often these writers make absolutely no sense. And yet we read them, share them, ponder their non-sensicalness. But if you look back at Trunk's earliest advice about careers, relocations, etc., there was something sensical in it. She chose to be tongue-tied in a very public way, and now she's made a business out of it. As for Altucher, I don't know where he's quite headed with his babbling brooks, but I'm sure he'll get somewhere before the rest of us.

Bottom line: staying in what's sure and safe and embodies perceived authority is what creates the best of ruts. Start writing about what you don't know and eventually one day, maybe you'll know it all. ; )