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Am I a good writer? I want to be. Is my grammar on point? No, it is not.

Do I enjoy writing? Yes, absolutely. Writing is what I do.

Before you go on reading, know this is my personal manifesto for being a good writer. I wrote it for me first.

(1).Read fiction

The best book description I absolutely agreed with was an LA Times dubbing of James Clavell’s ‘Noble House’ novel as “spellbinding”. He is my favourite author.

I am not encouraging you to go read the book so that you do not get the delightful treat it is.

Other fiction books I kept turning page nonstop were Stephen King’s ‘The Eyes of the Dragon’, Gcobani Bobo and Elvis Jack’s ‘Rise of the Dagger’ (Disclaimer; I work with these guys) and Lorenzo Carcaterra’s ‘Gangster’.

Fiction is spellbinding because the authors concentrate on storytelling, fascination, drama and they are majestic with words.

As a nonfiction writer, I want my writing to be spellbinding. It is challenging as my text is mostly informational. So I try to be fictionally nonfiction.

How? By making use of storytelling, anecdotes, analogies, and trying to be majestic with words.

Why? I want people to keep turning page-after-page when going through my writing.

(2).The ‘how-to-guy’ could be a dick

There are a lot of people who tell you how to write. I am not one of them, but I guess in this post I am. It is a bit contradictory.

What I mean here is; go with whatever advice that resonates with you and might assist in becoming the writer you want to be.

(3).Find your framework

I write early in the morning before I start work.

I get up at 5am, read a spellbinding book for +/- 20 minutes, just to charge up my mood. I then write for an hour or more.

I tested writing at different day times and I found the mornings to be best for me.

After writing, I feel like I have fulfilled a part of me. Different knocks in the day, maybe brought by work – cannot disrupt the joy and fulfilment I caught off writing. I become robust.

When I do not start with writing, I become vulnerable to a day’s ever-changing mood.

(4).Develop your shtick

Mine is bringing together my interests with experiences, stories, theories and ideas; and then pulling out a lesson or whatever that serves the interests.

My interests are teaching, self-help, entrepreneurship, comedy, music, psychology and development-economics.

For instance, at the point of writing this article; How My Grandmother and Her Daughter, My Mother, Ruined My First Businesses – I was recounting the numerous times I failed in entrepreneurship.

I then thought of the allowing role played by both my mother and grandmother in my early childhood as an aspiring entrepreneur. The comedic sensibilities in me said, “…but they ruined your home-farming ventures by always giving away your produce.”

In the article, I am dancing around with these experiences with an intention to reminisce and humour. The one anecdote people loved was when I said, “Every morning after noticing that I had wet my bed, it would be a reminder to water my garden.”

(5).Practice weekly

You get better at what you practice often. You maintain fitness when you work-out weekly or even more frequently.

Athletes do practice at least five days in the week.

I try to write every day, though I fail every week, I do write three or more days in the week. My idea-generation muscle is good because of this.

(6).Forgive your past writing

You will write bad material which at that time seemed great. Once you start realising it was awful, it means you are improving.

Accept to have shame. Live with it and own it by practising some more – to become better.

(7).Have your own writing manifesto, like I penned this one

I write to achieve the following:

Self-deprecation

I have comedic senses, I have to feed them. When I can critique and laugh at my own misfortunes, the lessons marinate properly.

Practice connecting concepts as a writer

This is my shtick.

It trains and stretches my creativity muscle. I am fit to solve various problems; work-wise and otherwise.

(8).Go to school

This is my writing manifesto. On my ‘to-do-list’ is to take a writing class.

Browse for what you need to do to reach the next level – from the internet, books, etc.

(9).Live an interesting life

Do interesting stuff. The things you are scared to do but want to do. It is to the benefit of your development and subsequently the world.

Interesting lessons, developments and discoveries emerge in this way.

The interesting shenanigans I forego as an entrepreneur gives me content to produce books and awesome blog posts I ever wrote.