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The Writing Skill No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)

What Makes Writing Great?

Sometimes, I like to think back to when I first began writing and imagine what I would tell myself.

What advice would I give my younger self, knowing everything I know now?

It’s kind of fun — like  a mini Back to the Future moment.

When I started, I didn’t know I would become an Amazon Best-Selling Author. I didn’t know I would mentor with Hollywood writers, and Hell, I didn’t even know what I wanted to write about.

Yet, 10 years later, writing is my job.

If I could go back in time to give myself advice to accelerate my progress, I’d say this:

Good writing isn’t about rules.

It’s not about slashing adverbs or banishing words like “that” and “really.”

Good writing is about noticing the moments that make you feel. 

What Makes Writing Good?

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s trying to define something subjective.

It’s like asking someone to describe what makes a great cup of coffee, and they say, “Well, it tastes good.” Thanks, Einstein. 

But on this, I’ll plant my flag:

Good writing is writing that makes you feel.

It’s writing that lets the reader know, “Hey, you’re not alone — I’ve felt that way too.”

Because, as humans, that’s what we want most.

We want to know we’re not alone.
We want to feel understood.
We want to know someone else has felt the things we’ve felt.

And that’s what great writing does. It pokes us where it hurts and says, “Oh, did that sting? Yeah, same here.”

The secret to writing like that?

You have to notice your own feelings first. You have to become aware.

You can’t expect readers to connect with your work if you’re not willing to connect with yourself.

Why My Medium Stories Got Boosted

Every Medium writer dreams of their stories being boosted — shared far and wide for the world to see.

And I’ve been fortunate to have my stories boosted across three distinct content pillars: Comedy, Personal Development, and Marketing Advice.

Now, this is not conventional.

 Most writing advice says to stick to one niche and become the expert, but for me, that never worked — I’d get more bored than an animal in a zoo.

So what’s my secret?

Every boosted story I’ve written began with a moment I emotionally responded to.

Take my comedy piece:

https://medium.com/muddyum/oh-no-you-went-to-an-expensive-sandwich-place-4f9894fccc2c

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the price of a burger shocked you?

Of course you have.

I did too — and I turned that moment into a funny story.

Or my Personal Development story:

View at Medium.com

Have you ever given someone really good advice and wondered why you couldn’t do the same for yourself?

Me too.

Noticing that irony was the seed for this story.

Even my marketing story:

Why Simple Messaging Works Wonders in Marketing
A powerful lesson I learned from my annoying bossbettermarketing.pub

Have you ever felt confused reading a company’s marketing material?

It happens to me every time I scroll through LinkedIn, and it likely does for you, too.

That realization sparked this story.

Despite writing across three different topics, the throughline is always the same:

I notice what I respond to because if I feel something, chances are you do too.

We’re human — and we’re more alike than we think.

How to Notice Stuff Worth Writing About

Here’s the hard truth: most of us are sleepwalking through our lives. We’re too busy scrolling TikTok, desperate to distract ourselves from noticing how we really feel.

But if you want to write well, you have to wake up and start paying attention to the tiny blips on your emotional radar.

 I’m not even talking about the big stuff— it’s the little, fleeting moments.

  • Annoyance at a slow cashier.
  • Awe at a sunset.
  • That pit in your stomach when you realize you forgot your friend’s birthday.

Those moments are gold.

They’re the raw material for writing that connects with people.

So your job is simple: catch them before they disappear. Write them down. And for the love of the paper, don’t let it go to waste.

Writing Is About Feeling

At the end of the day, writing isn’t about sounding smart or piling up accolades. It’s about connecting with people.

Pure and simple. 

It’s about saying, “Here’s what I felt. Here’s my mess. Is it anything like your mess?”

Because that’s what readers want — to know they’re not alone.

So stop overthinking it. Stop obsessing over the rules- you’ll learn them in time.  Just notice what you feel and write it down.

Everything else is noise.

 

Please like, comment, share, and tell me what you think!

137 thoughts on “The Writing Skill No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)”

  2. This is so true. So much of writing that makes people feel resonance with is what I think always hits home. You understand them, and their feelings, not trying to overly express or impress. Real human emotion.

    Reply

  3. So good. I am bookmarking this and will return again and again to remind myself. I suspect I am slightly autistic (suspected for a LONG time) and as such being a writer is difficult some days. I become hyper-fixated on rules and words and why they go here, vs there, and I often times forget the emotional variable. This is a great read – that I can come back to again and again to remind of that! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

      1. yes! absolutely – know the rules, but don’t get so caught up in them that you forget the emotional stuff too! 😉

    2. i have the same its terrible right? I practice sometimes to write ugly an deeper, that it is not liked, and i fin dmore people like it then often, when. When I write to impress, I also notice that, so I focus on that I am not important, so many things going on lol

      Reply

  4. Great advice. I agree that writing is about putting your feelings down on paper. Not everyone can do it and some get lost along the way. I started at 16 and have been writing ever since and have been lucky enough to have two books out there and over a thousand articles published.

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    1. Quite right. I find writing – putting my feelings down on paper as you stated – to be incredibly therapeutic. It’s also the most effective way for me to make sense of something I need to figure out or solve – strategically shaping it to make sense when reread, is wonderfully insightful. Most frequently, what starts as a personal musing turns out to be the most popular blog posts!

      Reply

  6. Hi, i find it beautiufl. It sounds like my natural path. I would, however, stop this, when i tried to make wwriting and my work professional 😀 thanks for reminding. I also think that professional text is helpful, so that I try to combine these.

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  8. I agree. My own brand, as supported by my blog, advocates for real, raw and relatable writing. When readers relate to your content, they feel a sense of connection, of belonging to the tribe – however weird that tribe might be (mine certainly is…) I believe that good writing is about leaning into our imperfections and embracing the peculiarities, displaying our authenticity shamelessly.

    Life is too short to be taken too seriously. As a creative, I have every intent of doing on every clean slate and canvass exactly what I feel to do in that particular moment. If it resonates, great. If it doesn’t, we’re probably not like-minded and your tribe is different from my (weird) one. No harm, no foul.

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  9. Very well said. I don’t know if I am a good writer – it is very subjective, but I know that I feel what I write, and I want the few readers I have to feel what they read. I avoid clichés and opt for authenticity and relatable words. And that’s something I always recognise in your writing too.

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  10. So, so true. I keep telling editors that what I’ve written is what I want to say. Just correct the obvious mistakes I’ve missed, please.

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  12. THIS!!!

    “The secret to writing like that?

    You have to notice your own feelings first. You have to become aware.

    You can’t expect readers to connect with your work if you’re not willing to connect with yourself.”

    Facts!

    Reply

      1. Understood. I DEF understand. I am glad you’re continuing on Medium. After having been on the platform for nearly 11 years, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore–gave it up last October. Enjoy the ride.

      2. It’s kind of a lame platform, like honestly I feel like people write about the same things, and there isn’t anything new or unique, WordPress is my main, I just write my posts here first and I’ll send some over there on the off chance they get boosted – but I don’t think it’s really creative and I feel like people write the same article 1000 times

      3. And that is ONE OF the MAIN reasons why I left. LOL. And it’s also a money-hungry platform now, and that just rubs me the wrong way on so many levels. I am glad you’re still here on WordPress.

      4. Yeah WP I’ll never leave – it’s my base – I also don’t like dealing with certain editors – especially when I get feedback here, and I’m like I know this works as is – there’s too many cooks in the kitchen and yeah it’s not what it used to be

  16. Thank you so much for this! I made the decision to write what I feel and what I thought may resonate with people, but through my emotional lense. Doing that for my blog has truly helped me publish more than I ever have since I started it and I find myself really loving my writing and look forward to sharing it with others.

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  21. Thank you for this, I learned a lot from reading this. When I reflect on pieces I did write for Medium or my blog, I believe that I got the most response from when I invoked feeling into my posts.

    I think I have to step back into doing this, so thanks for this reminder. I’ll definitely be rereading this post again.

    Reply

  22. Well explained. Been in the writing journey for few years now but I always felt am not gramatically good or articulating things well. But this article proved me wrong and reminded me , that it is always you who can doubt and stop from getting better. Much needed and good start of the year reading this . Its all about how I feel and nothing else !!

    Reply
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  25. Dear Anthony
    As a professional author and editor, I absolutely agree with you. I was spotted by an editor of a big publishing house. She spotted the articles I wrote for a magazine and came to my university courses. She never interfered with my writing but helped me find an agent and deal with foreign rights etc. I suppose you can’t teach writing. One has to learn to write by writing, but as important as the actual writing is the business side of writing. PR, organising lecture tours, selling foreign rights, how to present yourself on talk shows, styling etc. For this, every beginner needs a mentor.
    Happy New Year
    Klausbernd 🙂

    Reply

  27. Spot on, good sir! You hit on something that also really bugs me. Writing is subjective, that’s what makes it beautiful, which some writers disagree with. Certainly, you can choose to write “by the book” and follow standards and rules put into place many years ago, but I’ve found the best writing comes from the heart.

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  30. This is a noble advice. I couldn’t stop reading till the end. Rules nag each time I think about them. But whenever a piece of work connects well with the audience, broken rules are often regarded as style. And so, I concur. It’s the feeling first, second and third, and then so comes the rest.

    Reply

  32. Bravo Anthony Robert for sharing your wisdom about writing. I honestly, got the message loud and clear and that is write with the intentions of connecting to people. Catch them before they disappear is a nice way to get the words out there and just write. At the end of the day, it is about writing what you feedl and being human in your writing without sugarcoating it! Have a great day bro!

    Reply

  34. You’re so right, and thanks for the examples. My writing life has lain fallow for several years, but suddenly (somewhat mysteriously) the creative window has reopened and I am back to it. I am listening again and seeing all those stories right in front of me — like the fabulous old guy telling a tale worthy of Flannery O’Connor about witnessing his Dad’s cremation in 1970, (actually a hilarious story, odd as that may sound), or a woman spilling her life story to me in a medical waiting room last week (fortunately it was the 15-minute Reader’s Digest condensed version) — but it was incredible, and rich fodder for this week’s free writes.

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  40. I agree. I’ve always loved horror. The things that keep you up at night and make your heart race. I thought that I might have a hard time finding ideas to draw off of but I started writing my nightmares when I would wake up. It surprised me but now my nightmares no longer scare me, they fascinate me instead.

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  42. I didn’t know till now that I wanted to hear the exact same words from someone for a long time. Your words satisfied my ideologies about writing. I hope my writing will evoke some sort of emotion in my reader someday.

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  43. Fantastic advice. I only have a handful of followers on my blog but time and time again comments say that what I write struck a chord or was powerful and it touched them somehow. Making that remarkable connection with someone you know nothing about is what keeps me going.

    Reply

  45. This reminds me of Anne Lamott’s advice in her book “Bird By Bird” to take inspiration from what you observe in real life. And that when you write about truths you’ve personally experienced, readers will relate, seeing parts of your story in their own lives.

    Well done, Anthony.

    Reply
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