{"id":5949,"date":"2019-10-05T22:06:32","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T22:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/05\/how-to-outgrow-write-what-you-know\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T22:06:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T22:06:32","slug":"how-to-outgrow-write-what-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/how-to-outgrow-write-what-you-know\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Outgrow  Write What You Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><body>&#13;<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">&#13;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\">&#13;<br \/>\n  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/abbtop.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"120\"\/><\/a><br \/><a 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class=\"style7\">&#13;<br \/>\n                <font color=\"#FB7014\" size=\"4\" face=\"Tahoma\">How To Outgrow &#8216;Write What You Know&#8217;<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n            <\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" height=\"19\">\n<div align=\"justify\"><span class=\"style2\">by: &#13;<br \/>\n                <font size=\"3\" face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#FB7014\">Jenna Glatzer<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n            <\/tr>\n<tr>\n<div id=\"article\">\n<td align=\"left\" height=\"12\"><span class=\"style2\">&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Every writer has heard it time and again, and it\u0092s not without merit: \u0093Write what you know.\u0094&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>When I began freelancing, I was just out of college, so what did I write about? College. I wrote profiles of collegiate entrepreneurs, I wrote editorials about college life&#8230; and after a while, I really wanted to move on and write about other things. But I didn\u0092t feel qualified.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, I didn\u0092t let that hold me back for too long.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>\u0093Write what you know\u0094 is a very good starting point. But that\u0092s all it is. It\u0092s a place for you to go to get your feet wet, and a place to come back to when the tide gets too high. But it\u0092s not a place to stay for very long.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>A better piece of advice, in my opinion, is \u0093Write what you WANT to know.\u0094 One of the great perks of being a freelance writer is that you get paid to learn about things. So\u0085 what do you want to learn about?&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>If I had completely disregarded \u0093Write what you know\u0094 and simply opened a page of the Writers Market at random, figuring I\u0092d send a query to whichever market my finger happened to touch, my career would be very different today. I might have ended up writing about finances, miniature horses, and aerobics. And you know what? I would have hated it.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>I have no experience with any of the above topics, and there\u0092s a good reason for that: I never really WANTED to have experience with them. Since I have no real passion for any of the topics, if I had to write articles about them, it would feel like work.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>But did you ever stop to think about the things you always wanted to know, but never found out? Or all the interesting people you wanted to meet? Or the problems you\u0092ve encountered that you wanted solved? Now those are article topics.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>Try this exercise. Fill in the blanks with your answers.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If time and money weren\u0092t factors, I\u0092d love to take a course in ___________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>I\u0092ve always wanted to ask (person you know)______________________ about _________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>I\u0092ve always wanted to know how __________________________ works.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>My life would improve if I could only ______________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>When I have a sleepless night, it\u0092s usually because I\u0092m worried about ____________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>The worst injustice I can think of is ______________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>When I was a kid, I was really passionate about _________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>I have always been embarrassed to admit that ________________________really interests me.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>In my life, I have overcome ___________________________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>If I could volunteer for just one cause, it would be __________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>I wish I were better at ___________________________________.&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>I have always wondered why _________________________________________.&#13;\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You may have lots of answers for each statement. That\u0092s great! Each answer is a possible article topic. Most of them won\u0092t be specific enough (or perhaps too specific) for an article, but they should give you lots of new starting points from which to brainstorm angles.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>Think of freelance writing as your own opportunity to learn about all the things you ever wanted to know, and don\u0092t worry if you\u0092re not yet an \u0093expert\u0094 in any of these areas! Among my favorite writing assignments have been topics in which I had no previous expertise:&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>-An article about a woman who started her own greeting card business for Woman\u0092s Own. Of course, I\u0092ve never started my own greeting card business\u0097but the topic certainly interested me, and I wanted a good excuse to learn more about it.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>-An article about how \u0093media overload\u0094 affects children\u0092s development for KidsGrowth.com. I\u0092m not even a parent, let alone an expert in child psychology. But I\u0092ve always wondered how increasing media immersion (TV, Internet, video games, radio, etc.) has affected people in MY generation.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>-An article about book packagers for Writer\u0092s Digest. Okay, I had written for a book packager at that point&#8211; but just one, and I was eager to learn more about the industry and its players. It gave me the perfect excuse to contact book packagers and learn more about the market. And If not for this article, I would never have written Celine Dion&#8217;s book&#8230; I sent my resume and samples to one of the packagers I interviewed, and an editor there wound up calling me years later with the assignment!&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>-Several articles about interesting inventions for Zooba.com. How much fun did I have learning about how Velcro, aspirin, and Post-It Notes were invented? This made for great dinner table conversation for weeks. My father always fancied himself a bit of a mad inventor, and I guess the gene spilled over to me. I devour these quirky stories of how the human mind approaches problem-solving creatively.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>-Every disabilities-related article I\u0092ve ever written. Was I an expert in this area when I began? No. I have a brother who has Down syndrome, so I had the benefit of some extra understanding, but I only became an \u0093expert\u0094 by writing about this topic over and over. Each time, I learned something new that I really wanted to learn&#8211; new legislation for people with disabilities, profiles of amazing people with disabilities, issues of discrimination, etc.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>When working to broaden your writing horizons, be sure to think about two things: your passions, and your curiosities. You don\u0092t need to write only about topics that mean \u0093everything\u0094 to you&#13;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" bgcolor=\"#dddddd\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><b>About The Author<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Jenna Glatzer is the editor of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.absolutewrite.com\" target=\"new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.absolutewrite.com<\/a> (pick up a FREE list of agents looking for new writers!) and the author of 14 books, including MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER, which comes with a FREE Editors&#8217; Cheat Sheet. She&#8217;s also Celine Dion&#8217;s authorized biographer. Visit Jenna at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jennaglatzer.com\" target=\"new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.jennaglatzer.com<\/a>&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:jg@jennaglatzer.com\">jg@jennaglatzer.com<\/a>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n<\/p>\n<form action=\"http:\/\/www.articlecity.com\/cgi-bin\/search.cgi\" method=\"post\">&#13;<br \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"sf1\" value=\"The_Author\"\/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"words\" value=\"Jenna Glatzer\"\/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><input type=\"submit\" value=\"Other Articles by Jenna Glatzer\"\/><\/p>\n<\/form>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><i>This article was posted on August 11, 2005<\/i><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/td>\n<p>&#13;\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p align=\"left\">\u00a0        <\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n      <\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    <\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<hr width=\"800\" noshade=\"noshade\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/ADSENSEWEBSITES\">RETURN TO ADSENSE BUSINESS-IN-A-BOX MASTER ARTICLE INDEX<\/a><\/p>\n<hr width=\"800\" noshade=\"noshade\"\/>\n<div class=\"fb-share-button\" data-href=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/\" data-layout=\"button\" data-size=\"large\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fon-line-interactivity.com%2F&amp;src=sdkpreparse\" class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n<script async=\"\" defer=\"defer\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v4.0&amp;appId=103650273035821&amp;autoLogAppEvents=1\"\/><!-- End of FACEBOOK SHARE BUTTON CODE --><span class=\"style6\"><br \/><span class=\"style2\">\u00a92019 - All Rights Reserved by <a href=\"http:\/\/HelpMeFindFreedom.Online\">HelpMeFindFreedom.Online<\/a><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.website.ws\/kvmlm2\/my.dhtml?sponsor=geekzonehostingcom&amp;bannercode=gif002&amp;language=english\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.website.ws\/images\/english\/banners\/kvmlm2\/468x60_02.gif\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; \u00a0 &#13; \u00a0&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Article Navigation &#13; Back To &#13; Main Page &#13; &#13; &#13; \u00a0 &#13; Click Here &#13; for more articles &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; How To Outgrow &#8216;Write What You Know&#8217; &#13; by: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adsense-business-in-a-box"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}