76: Sting, Synchronicity, and Structure: A Note About My Book Writing Process

Welcome back to Write With Impact, I'm Glenn Leibowitz. I'm a writer, four-time LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of Write With Impact Academy, a learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy and enter your email to subscribe. It's free. I recently joined Everything Thought Leadership, a podcast and video program hosted by Bob Buday, founder of Buday Thought Leadership Partners and author of the new book, "Competing on Thought Leadership: How Great B2B Companies Turn Expertise into Revenue." I interviewed Bob in episode 80 of Write With Impact, which I encourage you to listen to. With Bob's permission, I'm sharing the complete episode here. In my conversation with Bob, I talk about why I believe good writing is so essential to building a reputation as a thought leader. I also explain what I think thought leaders should do to both improve their own writing, as well as what they should do to work more effectively with idea developers like Bob and myself. I hope you enjoy listening!  

Jeffrey Towson is an investor, digital strategist, keynote speaker, business professor, bestselling author, podcaster, and one of the most productive and inspiring content creators I know. He's also the founder of TechMoat Consulting, a boutique digital advisory firm. I've known Jeff for the past decade, since we first collaborated on one of his bestselling books, One Hour China. He's incredibly insightful about all things digital and enormously knowledgeable about China. He's a deep thinker, a captivating speaker, and gifted writer. I always learn something from him. In addition to writing regularly on his blog, jefftowson.com, he's been writing on LinkedIn for the past 8 years, and has amassed a formidable following of over 3.1 million. He was named a LinkedIn Top Voice a few times as well. In our conversation, he talks about: Why he writes How he writes so prolifically How he uses (and doesn't use) generative AI during his content creation and publishing process. He shares his view of the impact of generative AI on writers and other content creators. He explains his own strategy for making use of generative AI, while continuing to personalize his content to put his own distinctive, human stamp on it. And, as a kind of bonus segment unrelated to writing and publishing, Jeff shares the incredible story of the few times he met with Warren Buffett in Omaha Nebraska. You can watch the video of our complete conversation over at WriteWithImpact.Academy, or on my Write With Impact. And be sure to follow Jeff's writing on LinkedIn, on his blog, jefftowson.com, and check out his Tech Strategy Podcast on Apple Podcasts. If you enjoyed listening to this conversation, I'd appreciate it if you could share it with a friend. And reach out and connect with me, or just follow me on LinkedIn.  

Welcome back to Write With Impact, I'm Glenn Leibowitz. I'm a writer, four-time LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of Write With Impact Academy, a free learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy and enter your email to join. Today I'm very pleased to introduce Martha Coven. A Yale-trained lawyer, Martha is a Visiting Lecturer at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University, and the founder of Coven Consulting. She has been writing for more than twenty-five years, in her various roles as an advisor to the President at the White House and for members of Congress, as well as in the private sector. Martha teaches courses on writing at both Princeton and NYU, which is what inspired her to write her new book, "Writing on the Job: Best Practices for Communicating in the Digital Age," published by Princeton University Press. Her book contains a lot of practical and actionable advice, and I highly recommend you buy a copy for yourself. You can learn more about her book and how to purchase it on her website at writingonthejob.com. In our conversation, Martha shares some of the very practical advice she shares in her book such as creating a simple bullet outline, using your voice to express your ideas, writing your first draft, using examples to illustrate your points, and getting feedback. In addition to writing advice, Martha also shares her views on ChatGPT and its usefulness in helping writers conquer the blank page syndrome. She also shares her concerns about this new technology. You can watch the complete conversation with Martha over at writewithimpact.academy, or on my YouTube channel, Write With Impact. And be sure to reach out to me on LinkedIn! I publish a newsletter there with writing tips and share excerpts from my interviews with writers.

Before I introduce today's guest, I'd like to make a special announcement about this podcast: Write With Impact is now 8 years young!   Thank you to all of my guests who have shared their wisdom and experience so generously. I couldn't have done this without you. And thank you to my listeners from around the world who have taken the time listen to one or more of the 80 episodes I've produced since April 2015. As you may know, since 2021 I've been conducting these interviews on video. So if you would like to watch these episodes head over to Write With Impact Academy, my learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy. You can also watch my interviews on my YouTube channel. Just search for Write With Impact. Okay, let's dive into today's episode. Since the roll-out in December of the powerful new AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, I've been trying to sort out what this new technology means for professional writers and editors like myself. One writer who has been thinking through the impact of ChatGPT is Jane Rosenzweig. Jane is the Director of the Writing Center at Harvard University, where she's been teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to improve their writing for nearly 23 years. Jane has been sharing her initial impressions of ChatGPT on her Substack, Writing Hacks, published opeds in the Boston Globe, and even shared her thoughts in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, the nationally-broadcast TV program. I first spoke with Jane when she joined my podcast a year and a half ago to talk about her advice for writers. So I invited her back to help me parse through the implications of this new technology. She covers a lot of ground in our conversation. She examines how ChatGPT might impact t learn the process of discovering and articulating their own ideas and interests through writing, to how the use of ChatGPT to generate blog posts and even novels could potentially sever the human link between author and reader. Jane also shared some practical writing advice drawing on her experience teaching at Harvard, as well as her work with corporate clients. She talks about cutting repetitive language, removing words that weaken the impact of your message, being more selective about when you should use active versus passive verbs, eliminating what she calls "fake transitions," and writing shorter and more impactful sentences. There's a lot in here, and I strongly encourage you to listen through to the end. To watch a video of the complete conversation with Jane, head over to Write With Impact Academy, my learning community for writers, hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy, enter you email address, and you're in. It's free. And be sure to check out Writing Hacks, Jane's excellent Substack about writing. You can find her at writinghacks.substack.com.

Robert Buday is one of the world's most renowned experts in thought leadership publishing. Over the past 35 years, he's helped professionals from a wide range of industries write bestselling books, publish more than 50 articles in Harvard Business Review, and author hundreds of articles for top-tier business publications. He recently codified everything he knows about thought leadership into an excellent new book, "Competing on Thought Leadership: How Great B2B Companies Turn Expertise into Revenue." Bob joined me for an in-depth conversation where he breaks down thought leadership into its essential elements. He shares some of the frameworks and strategies he uses to help his clients develop their ideas into publications that build brands and attract new business. To find out more about Bob, his work for clients, and his new book, visit his website here. Watch a video of the complete conversation at Write With Impact Academy, my learning community for writers on Substack. Find me on LinkedIn here--let's connect and share ideas. If you enjoyed this episode and got anything out of it, please give Write With Impact a 5-star rating and a positive review.  Thanks for listening! Glenn

In this episode of Write With Impact I spoke with Robbie Abed and Troy Sandidge. Robbie is the founder and CEO of No Middle, a content creation agency that helps busy tech entrepreneurs create engaging content on LinkedIn. Troy Sandidge is the COO of No Middle and works with Robbie to turn their clients' ideas into shareable content on LinkedIn. Robbie and Troy gave me an incredible insider's view of how they work with clients to create and distribute engaging content. With just a 30-minute interview, they can help a busy tech CEO create enough content they can use for several months on LinkedIn. They share several valuable nuggets of advice that can help you hone your LinkedIn content creation and marketing strategy. To watch the video of the entire conversation, go to my learning community for writers at Write With Impact Academy, which is hosted on Substack. It's entirely free. And if you learned something from this podcast, please share it with a friend or leave a positive review.  

If you're currently writing a book, or you're planning to write one, you'll understand the complexities involved with writing, editing, designing, publishing, and marketing your book. You may have thought about getting the help of a book publishing coach or consultant to help guide you through the process. Jenn T. Grace can help: as Founder and CEO of Publish Your Purpose, she and her team help aspiring authors turn their dreams into published pages that have an impact on the world. Jenn joined me recently for a Writing Masterclass, where she shared some of her best tips for writing, editing, and marketing your first book. In our conversation, Jenn covered a lot of ground, from techniques to help you gain clarity around your target reader, to fighting imposter syndrome and staying true to your authentic voice, to building an audience of potential readers even before you've published your book.   To learn more about Jenn and how she helps authors, visit her website at publishyourpurposepress.com. This is a free excerpt from a longer Writing Masterclass, which you can find on Write With Impact Academy here (subscription required). Sign-up for lots of free content to help you become a better writer at Write With Impact Academy here.

Alan McIvor is a headhunter based in Taipei at the Paul Wright Group. We met several years ago when he was just starting to build his clientele and presence on LinkedIn. Alan joined me recently for a LinkedIn Live video session where we exchanged tips for writing articles on LinkedIn. Alan has had a lot of success recently with several viral articles that have attracted tens of thousands of views and thousands of likes and shares. I asked Alan about his writing process, how he incorporates personal stories into articles that demonstrate his expertise, and how he crafts click-worthy headlines. He also shared some of his tips for writing outreach messages on LinkedIn. If you'd like to watch our entire LinkedIn Live session just go to my new learning community, Write With Impact Academy at writewithimpact.academy. Just enter your email to sign-up. And if you enjoyed this episode, or any other episodes of Write With Impact, I'd appreciate a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Follow Alan on LinkedIn here. And follow me, Glenn Leibowitz, on LinkedIn here.

This is an audio version of a post I published on Write With Impact Academy about the relevance of synchronicity, a concept introduced by Carl Jung, to my book writing process. Sign-up to Write With Impact Academy to start building your writing skills today.

Andrea Wilson Woods is an entrepreneur, patient advocate, speaker, podcaster, and author. She's the CEO and Co-founder of Cancer University, a for-profit, social-impact, health-tech startup. Andrea is also the president and founder of the nonprofit Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Her bestselling book "Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days" is a medical memoir about raising her younger sister Adrienne from the age of eight until she died from liver cancer at the age of 15. Her book has won numerous prestigious writing awards. In 2020, her book went on to win the Writer's Digest Self-Published E-book Award as well as the Independent Press Award. Visit Write With Impact Academy to watch a video of the entire Writing Masterclass with Andrea.