A.C.E. Writers

Listening to Ty Harmon and Erik Stone chatter about Mike Huckabee’s column this morning made me wonder if either of them realize how much personality they bring to the “Anything Goes” morning show on KLMR Radio in Lamar, Colorado? Erik Stone’s professional reporter/journalist personality comes across loud and strong on the show, countered by Ty’s “country boy in the city” drawl. Either could write a column, do a radio show, or even broadcast their humor over youtube.com and have an additional income with just a little effort on their part.

So what does it take to create a column you write for profit?

Whether you’re on the radio or on paper, the first thing you need is personality. I’ve noticed it isn’t so much what you look like in the videos as it that you sound like you enjoy what you do. Up the anti on personality by having a good time. If you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll sound far better, be more relaxed and get a much better response from others.

Small papers, radio stations and blogs seek columnists. If you’re interested in becoming a columnist, here’s what you do…

1- Select a Topic

This topic should be broad enough to capture a wide scope of interest and narrow enough to have some focus. The best way to do this is to select a topic surrounding your perspective or personality. For instance: if you’re a sports caster and you write about sports already, how about “the Sporty Spin on Life” as your topic. That broadens your interests to life, and gives you a specific focus for dealing with what life brings you.

Now, consider for a moment that you want to write about Mount Rushmore on your vacation. (I am so not a sports writer.) You’d have to put a sporty spin on your tale about Mount Rushmore. Perhaps you hiked your way across Lincoln’s lips or stood for a moment atop Roosevelt’s head. Either way, you’d be telling your sporty illustration of the Mount with figurative language that expressed the breathtaking views and concepts that your athletic type readers would relate to on a daily basis.

The clincher is, your topic doesn’t have to be sporty, but the twist with which you write should be sporty.

2 – Innovate Originality

The concept of originality gets debunked here, because I’m suggesting you use other people’s words to inspire your writing. No, not copyright infringement, but rather as quotes, targeted citations and referenced remarks to base your column upon. The idea is to use a quote or reference and build on that small tidbit of information. You use the concept and grow it to larger proportions in a whole story or idea that you share with others.

Don’t copy another’s work without giving them credit. Once you give credit for a reference, let the reader find the other person’s work to read it, write  your own. Use your imagination and skill to write your own commentary on the quote or concept.

3 – Use Your Voice

Write like you speak. In fact, I often speak into a recorder when first writing a column to get the right voice and tone of speak. I like the speaking tone of a column, as if the person is sitting right there talking to you. Once they realize you’re a personable person, they can almost hear you speaking the words. This isn’t English class – use whatever punctuation is handy to get across your points. If you pause – a short line may do it. If you actually stop talking… You may want to use an ellipsis to bring the reader into your mind enough to capture their interest in what you’re saying.

Don’t use a pellet gun to insert commas on your document, but do use them to make your words come to life. Using a phrase at the end of one sentence or the beginning of the next, says the same thing, using different punctuation. It’s like changing the music to a tune you’re singing. The tune sometimes makes all the difference in the world to the words of the song. Find your rhythm and write what you want to say, the words will come out well, they’ll sound positive and they’ll flow like a river.

4 – Invite Response

The best commentators stir up their audience and rile up the natives. It’s a great way to get people thinking and adding to the story. When your audience has something to say back to you, either in agreement or disagreement,  you know you’ve hit your mark. The best way to become famous is find a controversial subject you agree with and stand your ground. People will come out of the woodwork to agree with you, or better yet, to argue with you.

When your readers get involved in your message, you know you’ve got a hit on your hands. You’ll be carrying off the dollars, so fast, you’ll need an army to budget your money. Go do it. Get response.

5 – Write For Yourself

I’ve heard people say all my life that I should write for my audience… Well, yeah, I should. But I’d probably run out of things to say in a mili-second and then what? Write for yourself. If you’re not interested in what you’re writing, why would anyone else be interested? If you’re really so far out in left field that nobody else is reading you, nobody is interested, you won’t sell much. You’ll know to hit a broader target next time. But in the meanwhile, write what you like and see if you don’t get an audience. I bet there’s more than one person out there interested in sports who will want to see the world through your perspective.

Your family and friends aren’t going to read what you write all the time, so don’t trust their viewpoints. Give them a chance, but don’t trust them to always be on target, they just don’t get it most of the time, so don’t ask. I’ve found even when they do read my stuff, they know something about me so they judge my work according to something I’ve said. Then it’s just frustrating to here them ridicule my work if I don’t write just like I talk. Or worse, you’ve changed your mind about an opinion you said, and then they disagree with you and tell you how wrong you are. ARGH. Love ‘em bunches, but don’t ask them to read your work.

Now you know how the hottest column writers on the radio, or in the paper, or on the net write their stuff. Go out and do this stuff!