Remembering Steve Jobs. š
āA writer is working when heās staring out of the window.ā ā Burton Rascoe
If someone shared this with you, subscribe here.
Steve Jobs passed away 11 years ago. šŖ¦
His 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University is a captivating collection of insightful life lessons.
This is my favorite one about connecting the dots.
Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
Let me give you one example.
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
Because I had dropped out and didnāt have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science canāt capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.
If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
And since Windows just copied the Mac, itās likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.
Again, you canāt connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something ā your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
āļø Unlimited Books & Magazines
ScribdĀ is considered āthe Netflix of books.ā One subscription gives you access to over 1 million eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and documents. Available worldwide. Your first month costs zero.
šĀ Read Unlimited Books for $0
Want to promote a product or service?Ā Become a supporter.
Writing Tip of the Week
šµāš«Ā Use transitional words. Make sure everything you are writing flows.
The main idea from each point smoothly falls into the next.
All without any disjunction.
As if your reader is skating from point A to Z on some freshly sharpened skates.
Best Writing Examples
Discover sharp copy, inspiring quotes, and powerful messaging from the best apps, websites, magazines, and books.
Sometimes you donāt have all the answers, and itās alright to admit it honestly. If you embrace radical honesty, your audience will trust you more, not less. Hereās a great example here fromĀ SEO Blueprint.
BLUF is a military communications acronym. It stands for ābottom line up frontā and is designed to enforce speed and clarity in reports and emails. You put must-have information at the top and nice-to-have below.
One page should have one message and one call to action.
But what happens when your business services different industries and has multiple use cases?
You create subpages for each industry, use case, feature and write crystal clear copy. Check out how Intercom does it.
Best Reads
Favorite stories from Writer News.
šĀ Taking Notes While Reading. Learn to focus, retain, and use what youāre reading.
āI rarely listen to books but if you are listening to a book, create a new note for that book and type in notes as you are listening.ā
šĀ 60,000 Word Book In 30 Days. Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole promise to give you a book writing framework that will change the way you think about writing long-form forever.
āYour book's Main Title/Subtitle is 80% of the work.ā
šøĀ 29 Ways to Make Money Writing. A massive guide packed with valuable methods and strategies you can use to earn from your writing.
āEditors are busy and donāt have time to read a novel in their inbox. Your pitch is the perfect place to show that not only are you a great writer, but you have an excellent understanding of clear and concise communication.ā
š°Ā Magazines That Pay $100+ to Freelancers. There is writing for money, and then there is writing for decent money.
āļøĀ Writer NewsĀ is a new place for writers to share their work, get feedback, and discuss writing. Itās invite only, join the waitlist here.
Cool Tools
Interesting apps and software for curious writers.
Sudowrite. A magical writing app to help you bust writerās block, brainstorm on demand and even get beta feedback without having to find beta readers.
Upword. This AI-powered app promises to capture key ideas 10x faster with personalized summaries.
Make My Persona. A powerful tool to learn what a buyer persona is and how to conduct research, surveys, and interviews to build your own.
Also Asked. Discover and visualize the questions people are asking. A great way to explore PAA (people also asked) boxes of certain Google search queries.
Food for Thought
āIf itās endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining.ā ā Marcus Aurelius
āThe whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.ā ā Seneca
āThe real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.ā ā E.O. Wilson
āHowever beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.ā ā Winston Churchill
āLiving doesnāt cost much, but showing off does.ā ā Jeffrey D. Sachs
š£ Shoutouts
Zohaib explains how hard skills get you a $1,000 client. How soft skills get you a $10,000 client.
Adam Crookes shares interesting niche site affiliate ideas like this one here about backpacking.
If you have a biz, product, or anything else you want to promote, post your elevator pitch and Samantha Anderl will be re-sharing all week.
Dominic Kent is building a list of writers to use and refer to when having excess work.
Interested in sponsorship, shout-out or cross-promotion with Best Writing? Reply to this email and letās chat.
Did You Know?
Author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, kept an immense collection of nearly 300 hats. When facing writerās block, the place Dr. Seuss would go was his secret closet, where he would choose a hat to wear until he felt inspired. š©
Best Writing Jobs
Find your next writing job, freelance gig, or side hustle.
- Full-Time Content Designer at Mind (London, UK)
- Full-Time Editor at LNS Research (Remote, US)
- Full-Time Curriculum Writer at Fueling Brains (Remote)
- Full-Time Content Manager at Sky (Osterley, UK)
- Full-Time Content Associate at Beauhurst (London, UK)
Freelance opportunities for members only.
šĀ Marketing Writer at Grow and Convert, $500/article (Freelance)
šĀ B2B SaaS Writer at Ignite My Site, $350/post (Freelance)
šĀ Diet/Nutrition/Health Writer, $200+ per article (Freelance)
šĀ Writer at News Futures 2035, Ā£250/day (Freelance)
šĀ Politics Writer, $150-200/story, 800-1,000 words (Freelance)
šĀ Become a member to get instant access to daily freelance gigs not advertised anywhere else.
š¼ CheckĀ all open rolesĀ or become a member to getĀ daily job alerts.
Hiring writers? Use the code āFIRSTJOBā at checkout to get $100 off yourĀ first job post.
Whatās New at Best Writing?
We started the blog migration and itās going well!
We created content hubs with the best books, book notes, quotes, writing wiki and writing blog.
šāāļøĀ We posted 30+ new jobs and added new members to the writerās directory (hereāsĀ how to get listedĀ if youāre a writer).
Did You Like the Newsletter?
šĀ Please share it with a friend.Ā Send them this link.
š¤Ā Want to get featured or collaborate? Send me your ideas. Yes, itās me, a real person writing these emails.
āļø Feeling generous? Tip $5. Weāll spend it on coffee.
š¬Ā Want to become a supporter?Ā Letās talk.
Until next week,
Tomas Laurinavicius (your dot-connecting friend)
Co-founder,Ā Best WritingĀ (formerlyĀ Content Writing Jobs)
P.S. Supplies!