As a home baker and recipe creator, it’s hard to pin down my chain of knowledge, but this has me thinking. Trying to please all people in all subjects, ain’t gonna happen. So deciding on which subjects I know the most about, is going to be key to me moving forward.
It may sound strange, but my knowledge base always seems very wide but very shallow. For example, it's always an interesting experience working in my small town because most of the people who live there are retirement age. I grew up in the age where the internet screamed at you when it was turning on, and know enough that I can usually turn something off and turn it back on again. If you ask my local community, I'm something of a wizard. Turning something on and off again is about the extent of my knowledge though.
This is kind of a funny one because it's true. I'm sure you know more than turning on/off lol. You're on Substack...that is SOMETHING more you know than retirement aged people. My mother (76) would never be able to figure out how to get started here because she's afraid of digging into online spaces. She just doesn't know how.
To be honest, I'm much more comfortable "breaking tech" and getting it wrong than a lot of the people I serve. In fact, I encourage them to find ways to break the tech. Partly because I get paid better if I can find design flaws like such and such button doesn't work in such and such conditions, partly because it gives them confidence to push buttons. Like Mrs Frizzle said, "Make mistakes, and get messy!"
My (piano) teacher calls it the “curse of the expert”. You know so much about something that it *feels like* every one knows about it too. For me, music and social media is like that. ☺️🦋 Great article so glad I found you!!
I agree with everything you’ve said here, David, and I’ve always been a “write what you know” believer, but I’m still torn. I’d love your thoughts on this…
What I KNOW that I know is education. I’ve had nearly every role in my field for the past 26 years (teacher, administrator, central office, training, special education) and I LOVE helping students, teachers and families by teaching about learning and instruction, BUT, I long for a respite from the toxicity that has increasingly encumbered public schools over the past two decades. I dream of returning to my first passion of writing for the love of writing and I am thrilled to have found a safe space for this purpose on Substack. Taking the “write what you know” approach, I’ve begun my Substack but I’ve received feedback that if I want to be a writers’ writer then I should lower the presence of my educational expert voice. I’m writing a novel in verse off of Substack and I have a variety of other drafts, but I’m feeling torn about my purpose here. Do I continue to write what I know or do I go full on writing for the joy of writing? I know this is probably a question only I can answer myself, but your post clearly moved me to deeply ponder.
Nicole, I think the key question is, do you LIKE/LOVE education? If you're only writing what you know because you know it, you'll burn out down the road. But if you love it and are passionate about it that's a whole different story.
I can really relate with this. I often feel a natural urge to help others grow spiritually with the insights have gained over time but then again the feeling of maybe almost everyone already has this knowledge and there's no need sometimes slows me down.
I have been learning a lot about what I know the last year and I totally get what you are saying! I am also constantly extolling the virtues and necessity of newsletters and no one understands me either. 😊
I don't know what I love about this post more: The subject matter or the fact that you used Poppycock and "creamed my corn" in sentences. 😁
This was a fabulous post because it's all so true. That's the beauty...we all know different things and can use that to help others! Not to shamelessly plug myself here but this is precisely why I started doing Substack virtual assistance work.
#1, I love the mundane, behind the scenes chores here. Weird I know.
#2, fellow Stackers were asking me for help with it so I was like, wow...people actually want what I have/like/do anyway.
It's also why I provide very informative tips and guidance for travel writing. Because I did it for MANY years and some people just need a leg up in getting started. Nobody would learn anything if we didn't all share knowledge!
As a home baker and recipe creator, it’s hard to pin down my chain of knowledge, but this has me thinking. Trying to please all people in all subjects, ain’t gonna happen. So deciding on which subjects I know the most about, is going to be key to me moving forward.
Totally agree Lynn!
Yessss Lynn. You could easily narrow that down to the pieces you love the most and could teach with passion.
I love the way you have broken the process down in this article David! Thank you! 😊
Thanks Gina!
I can relate so much with this article, put so simply to put into action as well. Thank you! 🙏
My pleasure Charlie!
It may sound strange, but my knowledge base always seems very wide but very shallow. For example, it's always an interesting experience working in my small town because most of the people who live there are retirement age. I grew up in the age where the internet screamed at you when it was turning on, and know enough that I can usually turn something off and turn it back on again. If you ask my local community, I'm something of a wizard. Turning something on and off again is about the extent of my knowledge though.
This is kind of a funny one because it's true. I'm sure you know more than turning on/off lol. You're on Substack...that is SOMETHING more you know than retirement aged people. My mother (76) would never be able to figure out how to get started here because she's afraid of digging into online spaces. She just doesn't know how.
To be honest, I'm much more comfortable "breaking tech" and getting it wrong than a lot of the people I serve. In fact, I encourage them to find ways to break the tech. Partly because I get paid better if I can find design flaws like such and such button doesn't work in such and such conditions, partly because it gives them confidence to push buttons. Like Mrs Frizzle said, "Make mistakes, and get messy!"
That's awesome!
My (piano) teacher calls it the “curse of the expert”. You know so much about something that it *feels like* every one knows about it too. For me, music and social media is like that. ☺️🦋 Great article so glad I found you!!
I agree with everything you’ve said here, David, and I’ve always been a “write what you know” believer, but I’m still torn. I’d love your thoughts on this…
What I KNOW that I know is education. I’ve had nearly every role in my field for the past 26 years (teacher, administrator, central office, training, special education) and I LOVE helping students, teachers and families by teaching about learning and instruction, BUT, I long for a respite from the toxicity that has increasingly encumbered public schools over the past two decades. I dream of returning to my first passion of writing for the love of writing and I am thrilled to have found a safe space for this purpose on Substack. Taking the “write what you know” approach, I’ve begun my Substack but I’ve received feedback that if I want to be a writers’ writer then I should lower the presence of my educational expert voice. I’m writing a novel in verse off of Substack and I have a variety of other drafts, but I’m feeling torn about my purpose here. Do I continue to write what I know or do I go full on writing for the joy of writing? I know this is probably a question only I can answer myself, but your post clearly moved me to deeply ponder.
Nicole, I think the key question is, do you LIKE/LOVE education? If you're only writing what you know because you know it, you'll burn out down the road. But if you love it and are passionate about it that's a whole different story.
I can really relate with this. I often feel a natural urge to help others grow spiritually with the insights have gained over time but then again the feeling of maybe almost everyone already has this knowledge and there's no need sometimes slows me down.
Thank you David. Very clear and helpful.
So simple yet powerful.
This is helpful. Even for those who have been doing this a while.
This is so good. I think I know a lot of it intuitively, but you’ve given me a process to go through that makes sense to my brain. Thank you!
Thanks for making these points so clearly. I’m off to brainstorm my own checklist. I’m definitely a self-underestimator too!
I have been learning a lot about what I know the last year and I totally get what you are saying! I am also constantly extolling the virtues and necessity of newsletters and no one understands me either. 😊
I don't know what I love about this post more: The subject matter or the fact that you used Poppycock and "creamed my corn" in sentences. 😁
This was a fabulous post because it's all so true. That's the beauty...we all know different things and can use that to help others! Not to shamelessly plug myself here but this is precisely why I started doing Substack virtual assistance work.
#1, I love the mundane, behind the scenes chores here. Weird I know.
#2, fellow Stackers were asking me for help with it so I was like, wow...people actually want what I have/like/do anyway.
It's also why I provide very informative tips and guidance for travel writing. Because I did it for MANY years and some people just need a leg up in getting started. Nobody would learn anything if we didn't all share knowledge!
Thank you Caleb!