Every writer has heard it time and again, 
and it’s not without merit: 
“Write what you know.” 

by Jenna Glatzer

Jenna is the editor of http://www.absolutewrite.com  
(where you can pick up a FREE list of agents looking for new writers!) 
and the author of 14 books

 

When I began freelancing, I was just out of college, so what did I write about? College. I wrote profiles of collegiate entrepreneurs, I wrote editorials about college life... and after a while, I really wanted to move on and write about other things. But I didn’t feel qualified.  Luckily, I didn’t let that hold me back for too long.  “Write what you know” is a very good starting point.  But that’s all it is.  It’s a place for you to go to get your feet wet, and a place to come back to when the tide gets too high. But it’s not a place to stay for very long.  A better piece of advice, in my opinion, is “Write what you WANT to know.” One of the great perks of being a freelance writer is that you get paid to learn about things. So… what do you want to learn about?

If I had completely disregarded “Write what you know” and simply opened a page of the Writers Market at random, figuring I’d send a query to whichever market my finger happened to touch, my career would be very different today. I might have ended up writing about finances, miniature horses, and aerobics. And you know what?  I would have hated it.  I have no experience with any of the above topics, and there’s a good reason for that: I never really WANTED to have experience with them. Since I have no real passion for any of the topics, if I had to write articles about them, it would feel like work.  But did you ever stop to think about the things you always wanted to know, but never found out? Or all the interesting people you wanted to meet? Or the problems you’ve encountered that you wanted solved? Now those are article topics.

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Try this exercise. Copy this list of questions to your computer.  Then <sup>fill in the blanks with your answers. 

1. If time and money weren’t factors, I’d love to take a course in ___________________. 
2. I’ve always wanted to ask (person you know)______________________ about _________________________. 
3. I’ve always wanted to know how __________________________ works. 
4. My life would improve if I could only ______________________________. 
5. When I have a sleepless night, it’s usually because I’m worried about ____________________. 
6. The worst injustice I can think of is ______________________________. 
7. When I was a kid, I was really passionate about _________________________. 
8. I have always been embarrassed to admit that ________________________really interests me. 
9. In my life, I have overcome ___________________________________________. 
10. If I could volunteer for just one cause, it would be __________________________. 
11. I wish I were better at ___________________________________. 
12. I have always wondered why _________________________________________.</sup> 

When working to broaden your writing horizons, be sure to think about two things: your passions, and your curiosities. You don’t need to write only about topics that mean “everything” to you; you can-- and should-- also write about the little things that bounce around your brain. Have you always wondered how the custom of kissing under the mistletoe evolved? Or how Mexican jumping beans jump? 

Write what you want to know, and soon enough, 
it’ll be what you DO know.


About the Author: Jenna Glatzer is the editor of http://www.absolutewrite.com  
(where you can pick up a FREE list of agents looking for new writers!) and the 
author of 14 books, including MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE 
WRITER, which comes with a FREE Editors' Cheat Sheet. 
She's also Celine Dion's authorized biographer. 
Visit Jenna at http://www.jennaglatzer.com