This reminds me of a bicycle I had as a kid.
My first all-terrain vehicle was a one-wheel drive, and it could take you anywhere you had nerve and guts enough to peddle it.
Most of the other kids around had decent, well-mannered bicycles of distinct makes and models. Mine was a balloon-tired monster born out of wedlock halfway between the junkyard and the secondhand store. Some local hillbilly had built it with his own three hands and sold it to my parents for about the price of a good milk cow.
Back when I was a kid growing up in the mountains, transportation was the name of the game.
You could walk to some good fishing holes, but when the guys you were with all rode bikes, you had to walk pretty fast.
Perhaps the worst thing about “The Bike”, as I called it within hearing range of my mother, was that you simply couldn’t ride it in a manner that allowed you to retain any sense of dignity. The chief reason for this was that the seat was permanently adjusted for a person about six-foot-four. I was only five-foot-four.
The proportions of the handlebars suggested strongly that they had been stolen from a tricycle belonging to a four year old midget. The result of this unhappy combination was that wherever I went on “The Bike”, my rear was always about three inches higher than my shoulder blades.
The seat on “The Bike” was of the kind usually found on European racing bikes. The principle behind the design of this seat is that the rider goes to beat Hades the sooner to get off of it. The idea for heel-and-toe walking races was conceived by someone watching the users of these particular seats footing it back home after a race.
To get the proper effects of one of these seats, you might spend a couple of hours sitting balanced on the end of a baseball bat-the small end. Put a doily on it for cushioning.
Whatever the other guys thought of my appearance on “The Bike”, they had respect for me. I was the fastest thing around on two wheels, thanks to that seat.
But anyway, that story prompted this article.
Let me tell you why.
It’s Not the Prettiest Thing
When you finally start to get serious about your content writing, you see what you have gotten yourself into.
I remember when I stepped a big toe into the icy waters of competition called content marketing. Since then, it has been a painfully fast ride to get to where I’m trying to go.
I didn’t arrive as beautifully as the other people’s content, but at least I got there.
It’s easy to watch as other professional writers send their content out as effortless as the wind, while you create with blood, sweat, and tears, you pour over your content like a mad scientist looking to find the missing link to the evolution of your content.
But it’s ok.
Your content doesn’t have to be like everyone else’s. It doesn’t have to have the prose that Demian Farnworth so eloquently slips in every now and then.
It just needs to be the way you are.
Your content should be written the way you speak.
And while I’m a fan of the new word I’ve found on Demain’s blog, explained as word-slaw, I find that I am the chief slaw maker when it comes to writing content sometimes.
The Accent Article
It’s a good thing when your articles speak with your lingo and dialect.
There will be people that will come to you in secret sharing how you should be a little more refined and high falluten’, but if that’s not you, then you’re going to be hard pressed to squeeze out a heifer when your a pig.
That’s another story entirely.
People are more responsive when you just talk to them through content. The way you’re reading this is exactly the way a conversation between you and me would sound like.
I know it’s a little one-sided right now, but I promise I would listen when you speak too.
Sometimes I hear you, which is a little weird and something the doctors are working on.
But, the next time you’re trying to spend so much time making your article spiffy like someone else’s, remember that your audience will probably be more in tune with the way you wanted to write it that first go ’round.
And I’m not talking about editing either, because that’s needed.
I am merely suggesting that the way you speak should be incorporated into the way you write.
Accent and all.
It took me a long while until I started to understand that the writing is conversational. It’s the conversation you would have with someone at the barber shop, it’s the dialogue that you would engage in sitting by your favorite fishin’ hole. It’s not trying to say something you don’t understand, therefore putting the reader in a coma in the process.
Those are the true conversations and they show the real you.
Incorporate that story, dress it up in a way that someone would enjoy it, and become engaging with your content to the reader.
A great story in a piece of content will make the point of where and when you want your reader to act.Click To TweetBuild your article around that call to action inside of your post. Make a clear and concise message with intent as to what they need to do.
City slicker or sod house dweller, if you are creating a CTA that entices, then you are doing a good job.
The main thing is to just be you as you write.
Final Word
You’re pedaling furiously to get to the finish line.
It’s a painful and daunting ride, I know, but when you start to realize that this content you’re riding is your means of transportation into someone else’s conversation, into another person’s thoughts and mind, and it’s your gateway to show who you really are.
The young boy looked into the mirror. While he had spent most of his time hiding who he was for fear of rejection, he understands that this is the very thing people want to see.
Be like him. Be fearless. Allow yourself the displeasure to let people see your faults.
Step out proudly with who you are. Write like the nerd who secretly enjoys video games, like the tough guy who thinks the smell of roses is “pretty”, and always remember where you came from so you can help the people that really need it.
It’s up to you now.
Don’t blow it.
Wade Harman
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