Picking the Brain of Sean Platt, Writer Dad

Sean Platt (AKA Writer Dad) has taken Blogopolis by storm with his endearing prose and crisp cadences. His gentleness and love for his family and community shine through his writing in a world that often values brashness and looks out solely for number one. (To put it poetically, he’s a breath of fresh air, tinged with the scent of Daisies. Ok, I still suck at this prose stuff.) I was hooked the first time I read his words.

His blog caught fire like dry kindling and soon drew the attention of the “Big Bloggers”. Sean has had a few important guest posts and has several more scheduled at top secret big time websites that you won’t want to miss.

Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

I’ve gotten to know Sean over the last few weeks (as much as email allows), and I can honestly say he’s a genuinely nice guy with huge amounts of natural talent. We are honored that he would agree to this interview. Sean was the first writer I approached, and the first to agree (in like 2.4 seconds).

We started this series because of a deep burning need to find out how top bloggers developed and improved their unique writing styles. Sean answered the same three questions as the other awesome bloggers to keep it consistent, short, and sweet.

What writing habits do you practice daily?

Writing my posts is the most consistent writing I do, besides private journaling about my life and family. I’d love to pull far enough ahead to where I have a bank to pull from, but now that would be difficult. I pen my posts the night before, then publish first thing in the morning. Daily exercise was the impetus to start.

Right now, writing is stuck somewhere between calling and career. I carry a notebook wherever I go, and have them spread in every room in the house. I also have a small digital recorder that I carry. My children call this (aptly) the “Story Maker.” I’m constantly writing inside my head, and am always eager for the moments I have to drain my thoughts. Sometimes this just means transferring notes to relevant files on the computer. Large blocks of time are a rarity now, but in three months, I’ll be writing full time. I’d love you to ask me again then.

What is your process for improving your writing?

When I write, I don’t hold back. I never labor sentence by sentence. I let the words spill, then I bring a mop to the revision. I probably lose a third, but I write fast and never feel bad about what I lose. They’re words; I can always make more.

What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics of your writing the most?

That’s difficult. Here’s three. Copyblogger’s always to the point with sensible advice. Zen Habits taught me that one speaker could gather a large following in a relatively short period of time. Men with Pens showed me swagger.

As far as books, all of them. I have no memory of learning to read. It was a gift given early. The first big book I remember reading was the Hobbit, at six. I’ve read thousands since, and they all gather together to render me into a better writer. The poorest among them probably had more to do with me picking up a pen than the good ones. About a year and a half back, I read a few rather mediocre children’s books. I found myself thinking, “I can do that.” I started writing soon after.

“I let the words spill, then I bring a mop to the revision.” Sean, you’ve written some of my favorite words on the Net. Anyone can teach, few can inspire. You inspire others to experience life and reach for their dreams with your prose. Thanks for taking the leap of faith into the world of blogging. It’s not so scary once you get used to the water.

As if life change motivator wasn’t enough to qualify Leo for the blogger extraordinaire category, he’s a genuinely down to earth nice guy. Despite his crazy schedule, he was one of the first bloggers to respond to my request for a mini-interview, and he didn’t hesitate to agree even though I’m sure he was thinking, “Jamie, who?” Thanks Leo for participating and being so kind.

Enough with the warm fuzzies. Let the Zen picking begin, shall we?

What writing habits do you practice daily?

First, I try to make a regular time to write, every single day — that habit ensures that I write a lot. I also make my writing come before administrative tasks, because if I don’t the writing will get pushed back. Writing is the single most important thing I do in my work, so it gets top priority.

What is your process for improving your writing?

My writing is mostly about finding my voice. When I can do that, I’ve succeeded. Often that means removing things that are getting in the way of my voice, but most often it’s just a matter of listening to that voice in my head and allowing that to come out on paper. I strive to do that every day, and when I fail, I try to figure out why.

I also listen a lot to my readers. That’s what I love about blogging — in no other form of writing can you get such instant and direct feedback, from a group of interested readers. They call me on it when I’m not putting my soul into my writing, and they let me know when I’ve done well. That’s invaluable feedback for a writer.

Lastly, I read a lot. I read fiction, non-fiction, blogs, magazines and more. And the more I read, the better I get.

What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?

There are way too many to name. I’ve been influenced by so many great writers, from Fitzgerald to Vonnegut to Hemingway to Shakespeare to Nick Hornby and Ann Patchett and Douglas Adams and Jonathan Lethem and William Gibson and Haruki Murakami. Even among my favorite bloggers, I couldn’t choose just a few … but some of the bloggers who’ve been most influential include Gina and Adam of Lifehacker, J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, Dooce and Darren Rowse of Problogger. I have many more favorite bloggers and authors — it’s too hard to name them.

A blogger that admits to listening to his readers~ you can’t get much more genuine than that. I think that statement alone is sage advice for all of us. Thanks again, Leo for letting us peer into your well organized and healthy mind, and thanks for inspiring us all to live better.

Leo has written a couple of amazing eBooks to help you in your business, and your personal life.
Click here to find out more about Zen to Done: the Simple Productivity eBook.

Click here to find out more about The Zen Habits Handbook for Life.

She weaves sarcasm, humor, solid advice, poignant personal experiences, and marketing genius into one big ball of blogging greatness. Naomi’s blog immediately caught my attention the very first time I visited, and I’ve been returning to her classroom daily since then. Her humor and honesty is refreshing. If you haven’t visited Itty Biz, stop in and prepare to laugh your way though some solid marketing teaching and street-smart advice.

Enough of my jabber, on to Naomi’s interview.

What writing habits do you practice daily?

Well, I blog between three and five days a week, and I’ve always got a couple of books on the go. At this point, most of my writing is what I’m professionally obligated to do. Not much time for Morning Pages anymore, although they were nice while the lasted.

What is your process for improving your writing?

If I feel like I’m starting to lose my voice, I read Dooce. Preferably the really old posts. Also Amalah and The Bloggess. If I feel like something sucks, I cut 35%. I read stuff out loud to make sure I’m not repeating words. (“Bunch”, “stuff”, “bazillion” and “shit” in every conceivable part of speech are big culprits.) I refuse to write when I’m tired because I’ve finally learned that whatever I come up with when I’m sleepy sucks and I have to redo it the next day anyway.

What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?

Heart, yes. Mechanics, no. I have absolutely zero time for mechanics. If I die under the wheels of a bus tomorrow, I don’t want to have spent today worrying about my grammar.

There are the usual suspects – Writing Down the Bones, The Artist’s Way, Bird by Bird — but those are obvious. I really liked Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers by Carolyn See. (No! A book about writing novels by a person who’s actually written novels? Say it ain’t so!)

Also, if you want to write fiction of any genre, there are two fantastic and totally underutilized resources that come to mind. JA Konrath’s website, and the community and lessons at eHarlequin.com. (Romance editors are vicious when it comes to things like characterization, so if you can learn to please them, you can pretty much please anyone.)

“If I die under the wheels of a bus tomorrow, I don’t want to have spent today worrying about my grammar.” That ’bout says it all.

Thanks Naomi for letting us pick your brain. You’ve given me enough information and resources to occupy my brain for the next month.

Up to bat next week is Leo Babauta, of Zen Habits. Mr. Babauta will provide us with his insight on how he improves his writing. You won’t want to miss it.

(Just a note, while the books listed in Naomi’s interview are linked to Amazon for your convenience, these are not affiliate links. Feel free to click away.)

We end this week with an interview with one of my favorite people on planet Earth; James Chartrand. James is the spunk and panache behind Men with Pens. He has heart and passion and occasionally breaks the rules, but that’s okay. He makes his own rules (he’s cool like that). James cares about the business of writing, but more importantly, he cares about people. He works hard to make the Internet a better place for us all. If you don’t believe me, just read one of his posts. In fact, read all of his posts, James writes terrific content.

Now that I’m done singing his praises, let’s get on with the interview already, jeesh.

Now Live:  James Chartrand

Like everyone else, James received the same three thoughtfully constructed questions as the other bloggers. Here’s what he had to say.

What writing habits do you practice daily?

I don’t have any particular writing habits beyond my routine schedule – daily emails, daily content writing, blog posts for clients, ebook writing…

I mean, my keyboard is always rattling away, so the writing habit I have is writing!

What is your process for improving your writing?

I love to analyze and pick things apart. I look towards certain writers that I admire and I read over their work to see what they do, what their strategies are and how I can apply the same to my work.

If I decide to try something myself, I focus on that one thing for a little while and I analyze the results. Did I achieve what I wanted? Was it a hit and miss? Did I enjoy this type of writing?
If I have a bad habit (and I’m always picking up one or the other), once I recognize it, I work daily to eliminate it with conscious effort.

Then of course, another bad habit crops up

What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?

Brian Clark has a way of rocking my boat every now and then with very powerful posts. They’re not just ones I admire, they’re ones that get me thinking, that make me go, “Hmmm…” I toss around his ideas for days and find myself thinking in new directions. His Crossroads post sticks with me still today after months of its being posted.

And Stephen King’s On Writing. I picked that up recently and found myself hating adverbs after reading it.

One heavy influence has been RPG gaming. Creative writing in this style was a true joy for me. Why was that scene good? What made it dramatic or beautiful? What could have been done better? How about this dialogue? I wrote many pieces of indulgence that had no more focus than a post-it note in a scene. When I managed to stop time for a reader by drawing the person into that world for a moment, the feeling was awesome.

And from that, I wanted to keep getting better and replicate the experience.

“When I managed to stop time for a reader by drawing the person into that world for a moment, the feeling was awesome.” The power of words continues to amaze me daily. Your words matter to many, brother. Never forget that. You inspire many to achieve their dreams.

James, your wisdom is timeless, your friendship is priceless. Thanks for agreeing to this interview.

Next up on the interviewee list is Charlie Pabst of Men with Pens/ Charfish Design.  Charlie recently joined the Pen Men and has been fairly quiet thus far. We’re not sure if he just can’t get a word in edgewise, or if he’s playing up the whole man of mystery thing.

Mr. Pabst is a self-taught web designer and writer with loads of style. He’s got a street-smart way about him and he fits in nicely with James and Harry. Charlie has a background in architecture, which brings an interesting and pleasantly unique style to his web designs. He also hails from Seattle, Washington and may find me on his doorstep some day if I get the time to travel to the West Coast. (If only JP Beaumont were a real person, I’d look him up, too!)

Charlie’s Responses

Charlie received the same three questions for the mini-interview, and these are his responses.
What writing habits do you practice daily?

My only real writing habit is to be sure I do it every single day. Not necessarily a blog post, or a story or even something remarkably literate, but something.

What is your process for improving your writing?

Part of it is just doing it and doing it and doing it. Another part of it is actually reading the things I write. Not in a critical fashion, but from the viewpoint of someone who may be reading my work for the first time. Being able to see your writing from another’s viewpoint is really important.

As a writer, when you put ideas down on paper, you do so with a concept in your mind already. I mean, you’re writing what you’ve already envisioned in your mind. Your readers don’t have that same concept. You, as the writer, have to GIVE it to them.

Some new writers I know have that problem and wonder, “Why don’t people get my writing? It seems so clear to me.” It’s much easier for us to understand what we’ve written ourselves.

Another thing I do is practice. I don’t like to be lazy with my writing. Say, if I’m just writing an email and I want to say something funny, I’ll purposely try to write something really funny. If I’m in a bad mood and writing a friend or associate, I’ll explain it in a way that’s more creative than just saying, “I’m grumpy.” Once you start practicing like this, it starts to feel like your repertoire is starting to grow. You’ll start to have more confidence that you can convey moods and ideas more successfully.

What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?

One person I’ve learned from is Seth Godin. He’s got a very punchy style. His writing doesn’t have that, “I’m going to talk about this now. Now I’m talking about it,” sort of rigidness to it. He just gets right into stories and concepts, and he really makes it work. He’s my go-to guy for seeing how to make really succinct writing work, without losing your reader conceptually, as I brought up earlier.

Another is Nick Cernis of PutThingsOff.com. My interest in his writing is not with his choice of topics or subject matter. I just like his style. It’s loose, humorous and it often involves regional patois that, again, he just makes work.

Bill Bryson, who’s not a blogger as far as I know, is an incredible non-fiction essayist. He can write about anything and make it luscious, funny and vividly real. I feel like I know him personally just from the heart and honesty he puts into his writing. That honesty is something that is ultra-necessary, regardless of the type of writing you’re doing.

Honesty and heart make a writer’s work vividly real.  It sounds like those two qualities deserve active development and nurturing in writing if we want that lucidity and lusciousness that Charlie talks about.

Great responses, Charlie. Thanks for letting us pick your brain!

In case you’re just tuning in, we’ll be posting mini-interviews with top bloggers here at Blue Duck over the next few weeks. You’ll have the chance to get a sneak peak into how these bloggers improve their writing and what inspires them to do what they do so well. I’ve had a blast reading the answers to these mini-interviews and can’t wait to share them with you!

Here’s Harry!

First off in this series is an interview with Harrison McLeod of Men With Pens. Harry is a gifted graphic designer with all the bells and whistles of a fancy degree to back up his work. He also writes thoughtful and entertaining blog posts for the company’s website, as well as content for clients from time to time. His style brings readers back for more day after day. 

Let the Brain Picking Begin

To be fair, I asked each blogger the same three questions. Here are Harry’s responses- unedited.

What writing habits do you practice daily?

I have to say there aren’t any writing habits that I practice on a daily basis. I used to be in the habit of writing every day, but the demands of our business keep me occupied with graphics.

Having gotten away from writing on a daily basis, I find that when I do sit down to do some serious writing, it shows. It’s like jumping back into an exercise routine; the muscles don’t respond the way they used to. You get sore and tired quickly at first.

Writing every day, even when you don’t feel like it, is important on so many levels.

What is your process for improving your writing?

 

The more I read, the more reading stimulates my brain. Sometimes it helps with style. Other times it helps with new ideas and perspectives, or I’ll see a new technique to try or hit on a method to use.

 It’s the same as when I was in art school. Critiques and the studio atmosphere do more than foster social interaction. You get ideas from the way other people work. You need the constant give and take of discussion and debate.

 You might see what another person is doing and want to try it yourself. It may work, it may not, or it might lead to something better that no one has ever seen before. The world is your studio; use it.

 

 What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?

 

The one book that has influenced me the most is Stephen King’s On Writing. The book was incredible and it helped me see that there isn’t anything wrong with the way I write – I have my own style and that’s fine.

 King’s methods and mine are very similar. I may not be the greatest writer on the face of the earth, but I have a knack for connecting with my audience and I’m a very good storyteller.

 

“The world is your studio; use it.” That just may become a personal mantra for writers, web designers, and bloggers around the world. Yes, Harry, you do have a knack for connecting to your audience, and your responses are… well, they’re classic Harry. Thanks for letting us pick your brain!

If you would like to read more of Harry’s musings, you can visit Men With Pens to read more. You can also view some of Harry’s stunning handiwork on the MwP website. He also designed the banner and logo for Blue Duck Copy. We love it, but we’re a little partial.