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- 11 Tips On Writing From Ryan Holiday
I’ve been a fan of Ryan Holiday for years.
And not because of the books he writes, but because of the process he uses to write them (His books are also good, don’t get me wrong).
In today’s letter, I’ve curated 11 of Ryan Holiday’s writing tips that have helped him write and publish 15 books in the last 12 years.
Let’s dive in.
Momentum is everything: Don’t get bogged down in the details. If something is stumping you, make a note and return to it. Ryan believes momentum is everything when writing a book, or anything for that matter. So make daily contributions to your work so you don’t lose momentum, even if it’s just a couple of sentences or a small piece of research.
The best marketing tool is excellent writing: By creating a great book, you save yourself more time on the back end.
Read constantly: Ryan Holiday is a professional reader, he reads ALL the time. Let’s keep in mind he does do this for a living so he will inevitably have more time to read than most. But that is not an excuse to exclude yourself from being a reader because you're too busy. Find the time.
Determine what you’re willing to sacrifice: We each are given 168 hours per week. If you want to become a great writer choose what you’re willing to cut from your given hours and give that sacrificed time to writing
Talk about your ideas: This quote speaks for itself.
“A book should be an article before it’s a book, and a dinner conversation before it’s an article. See how things go before going all in.”
-Ryan Holiday
Research first: Not to sound like a fanboy, but Ryan Holiday’s research process IMO is extraordinary. I’m not going to explain it here for time’s sake, but here’s a great article on it. Ryan spends months researching for the book he’s going to write so writer’s block becomes obsolete. His process is truly outstanding, check it out here.
“Writing a book is not sitting down in a flash of inspiration and letting genius flow out of you. Most of the hard work is done before you write–it’s the research and the outline and the idea that you’ve spent months refining and articulating in your head. You don’t get to skip this step.”
- Ryan Holiday
Figure out who you’re writing for:
“Envision who you are writing this for. Like really picture them. Don’t go off in a cave and do this solely for yourself.”
- Ryan Holiday
One sentence: Can you articulate the idea for your book in one sentence? You should be able to do this before you begin the writing process. This crystallizes the idea for you and will serve you as a guide along the way.
Plan longer than expected: There’s always something that stands in your way of finishing your book. The key is to not get frustrated when it happens. You will miss deadlines, you’ll feel like you’re not making progress at times, and there’s no way around this. Accept it and keep moving forward.
Have an escape: Writing a book is similar to how a laptop feels when you close it and it doesn’t shut off. You never properly shut off, your brain keeps going. Having physical activity helps with this. It will be therapy. For Ryan, it’s running and swimming.
I hope you’ve found these insights valuable and put at least 1 of them into practice.
That’s all I have this week,
Wishing everyone a transformative week of writing and exploration!
~ Chris
P.S.
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