“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” – George Orwell
👋 Hi! I’m Tom, and this is the Best Writing Newsletter (Issue #10).
Every Thursday, I send great reads, tools, jobs, tips, and friendly encouragement to do your best writing. If someone shared this with you, subscribe here.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA for the first time.
During his tour of the facility, he met a janitor carrying a broom down the hallway.
The President then casually asked the janitor what he did for NASA, and the janitor replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
Whether the story is true or not, it makes you think
about the purpose of your work.
What you write matters more than you think, even if you don’t realize it.
⭐️ Unlimited Books & Magazines
Scribd is considered “the Netflix of books.” One subscription gives you access to over 1 million eBooks, audiobooks,
magazines, and documents. Available worldwide. Your first month costs zero.
👉 Read Unlimited Books for $0
Want to promote a product or service? Become a supporter.
Writing Tip of the Week
🧢 Use six thinking hats. Product designer Adam Amran shares a powerful mental tool to
help you look at a decision from different perspectives.
Here's what each hat is about:
🟡 Yellow hat is about positivity. Try seeing the benefits of this decision and what opportunities it opens.
🟢 Green hat represents creativity. Let your mind run free and generate ideas without censoring them.
🔴 Red hat is about emotions. How do you feel about this? Use your intuition and gut feelings.
⚪️ White hat makes you focus on the data. Analyze the available data and trends.
⚫️ Black hat represents looking at the downside. What are the worst-case scenarios? Take a defensive approach.
🔵 Blue hat is for controlling the process. It’s good to step in and enable the group to move forward when there’s no progress.
Best Writing Examples
Discover sharp copy, inspiring quotes, and powerful messaging from the best apps, websites, magazines, and books.
Know your audience and their language. Then use it. Here’s a cute example from BarkBox.
Sometimes you have many customer segments, and it’s hard to have a single headline. Zapier uses a dynamic headline to show
how different people can do what Zapier does the best – automate stuff.
Teddy Mitrosilis shares a simple writing tip to get you going on slower days.
Best Reads
Favorite stories from Writer News.
✂️ How to Write Concisely. The author offers advice on how to make your writing shorter and sharper.
“But your readers don’t necessarily need to follow the journey you took while you were drafting the document. They just need to know where you ended up.”
💰 8 Websites Paying Freelancers. Here are websites that pay freelance writers $50–750 for writing articles.
📊 Universal Digital Marketing Skills. Stand out and learn new skills as a writer to unlock more opportunities in new markets that few can compete in.
🏛 Pillar Page Examples. Pillar pages are nothing new, but if you haven’t yet created a pillar page, or you’re thinking about revamping yours, then now is a good time.
✍️ Writer News is a new place for writers to share their work, get feedback, and discuss writing. It’s invite only. If you want one, respond to this email.
Interesting apps and software for curious writers.
Compose AI. A free Chrome extension that cuts your writing time by 40% with AI-powered autocompletion.
Polywork. Discover opportunities and find collaborators on a new professional social network way more
fun than LinkedIn.
CleanShot X. This app has 50+ features making it the ultimate screen capturing tool.
Untools. Collection of thinking tools and frameworks to help you solve problems, make decisions and understand
systems.
Food for Thought
“You can do anything, but not everything.” – David Allen
“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” – William Wallace
“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” – Rumi
“When you are not practicing, remember, someone is practicing, and when you meet him, he will win.” – Bill Bradley
“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” – Maya Angelou
“Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die than produce lemons, whereas instead of dying the average person would rather be someone they are not.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
📣 Shoutouts
Kaitlyn Arford asked, “What’s your #1 best tip for getting through a recession as a
freelancer?” Check out practical answers to prepare better.
The Chase is a weekly column focusing on hiring, career/re-skilling management and growth leadership in tech.
Adrienne Smith's weekly newsletter helps you create and sell content strategies as an independent consultant. You can subscribe here.
Highrise delivers free marketing news and actionable strategies to your inbox weekly.
Interested in sponsorship, shout-out or cross-promotion with Best Writing? Reply to this email and let’s chat.
Did You Know?
The nineteenth-century French writer Honoré de Balzac supposedly consumed fifty cups of coffee per day. ☕️
Best Writing Jobs
Find your next writing job, freelance gig, or side hustle.
- Freelance Deals Writer at Android Police (Remote)
- Full-Time Content Manager at eFounders (Paris, France)
- Full-Time Content Marketing Manager at Risk Ledger (London, UK)
- Full-Time Content Associate at Netflix (Remote, UK)
- Full-Time Content Writer at Classy (Remote, US)
💼 Check all open roles or become a member to get daily job alerts.
Hiring writers? Use the code “FIRSTJOB” at checkout to get $100 off your first job post.
What’s New at Best Writing?
📚 I republished some posts on our new blog (which is still in secret mode, and no one else has seen it yet 🤫):
🙋♂️ We posted 30+ new jobs and added new members to the writer’s directory (here’s how to get listed if you’re a writer).
Did You Like the Newsletter?
😉 Please share it with a friend. Send them this link.
🤝 Want to get featured or collaborate? Send me your ideas, and I’ll respond. Yes, it’s me, a real person writing these emails.
☕️ Feeling generous? Tip $5. We’ll spend it on coffee.
💬 Want to become a supporter? Let’s talk.
Until next week,
Tomas Laurinavicius (your purpose-driven friend)
Co-founder, Best Writing (formerly Content Writing Jobs)
P.S. work smart, not hard. 🔨
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