Writing Remix Ep.110: Note From Dan & Reflection Questions
Listen to Ep.110. Embracing Authentic Writing w/ Medium’s CEO Tony Stubblebine
Good writing changes people, it entertains them, it deepens their understanding, it’s a chance for you to pass some wisdom that you’ve picked up on to someone else.”
-Tony Stubblebine
I want to encourage everyone to write. I want to encourage everyone to write and to share their writing. I want everyone to pass their wisdom on to whoever is near them and to everyone who is far. I want everyone to write.
Good writing is writing that connects with people, it reaches from the depths of one person’s spirit and makes contact with another person’s spirit. It awakens.
As a teacher, I think about writing every day, about what “good” writing is, what effective writing does, and how to grade and assess writing. I mediate workshops with my student writers and listen to their excitement when they see their projects coming together. I leave feedback. I read student work. I write my own work. I’m surrounded by language.
Yet, what really is “good” writing? Tony Stubblebine believes it’s writing that connects with human beings and passes wisdom from person to person; “good” writing makes sure that we don’t feel alone.
In this podcast episode with the CEO of Medium.com, we dig into this idea of “good” writing. When people are looking for something to hang on to for dear life, writing can be that thing. Writing is the reminder of our collective humanity when everything is being torn down around us. We are looking for words, we are looking for language, we are looking for any sort of syllables to provide a little light in so much darkness. To be a writer, today, might mean to say, “You are not alone” as loud as possible.
If you don’t see the words you’re looking for, then be the voice. We all are a voice, and we get to define what voice is and how to makes noise. We all can light up the darkness. Put pen to paper, put your hands on the keyboard, type something out and send it out into the world. We all need your words.
As a writer, I struggle every day with imposter syndrome. I question if I’m a “good” writer. I have emotional breakdowns when I have to write sentences, “academic” sentences, because I never felt like a “good” or “smart” writer. I still don’t feel like a writer that belongs in this weird “academic” world where good writing means passing through the gates of peer review many, many times. It means being told that you’re “relevant” enough to be read and heard. We don’t have to do that anymore. We don’t have to ask for permission. There are more than enough spaces for our writing to be seen and for our writing to be read.
People are looking to read something inspirations, to learn something, to find community. I believe we live in a reading culture. It might not look like or act like reading cultures of the past, and that’s because it’s not the past. I say we embrace the tools we have now and participate at higher levels as creators. We can flood the space with positive work to drown out the negativity. We can share words of love in the face of hate. We can create inviting communities as people are being excluded.
Writing is about human connection; you just can’t get past that […] There’s something about your life experience that you’re trying to articulate and pass on.”
-Tony Stubblebine
In this episode me and Tony dialogue about the powerful potential of writing and how in its magic it transcends borders, walls, distance, and generation to connect people. Writing is a tool that empowers and liberates, it teaches and entertains, and inspires. It’s not about where and how you do this writing, it’s about why you’re not doing this writing. What’s keeping you from sharing your wisdom with the world? Tony encourages the audience to write. He encourages the audience to create. He encourages the audience to understand that they are the experts in whatever it is that they are experiencing in their lives. Your life is your expertise, and there’s a person out there waiting to hear your experience because they feel alone and looking for something to hang onto.
It might sound sad for me to say that no one is going to come save us, yet it means we get to define our freedom and what it means to be free ourselves. We have the ability together. Writing is a way to communicate and claim this liberation. Writing creates community. It archives our stories, our wisdom, and our histories so they don’t go untold. We don’t have to rely on someone else to do this for us. We can do it together. We can do it on our own.
I want to encourage everyone here to do that. I want to see the world flooded with love, flooded with writing and poetry and songwriting. This is a time to create. It is not a time to stay silent. This is a time to hold hands and hold tight. It’s a time for the poets and poem, for the writers to paragraph and essay, it’s a time for the painters to paint, the musicians to music, and for everyone to do the thing that you do out loud.
I hope everyone enjoys this episode, please leave your comments. Please share this episode with someone that you feel needs to hear this. And let’s create together as much as we possibly can. Email your thoughts and questions to writingremixpodcast@gmail.com and I will answer them on a future episode.
Episode 110 Reflective Questions
This week’s Reflective Questions ask us to consider how to make noise in public.
William S. Burroughs said of Jack Kerouac, “Kerouac was a writer because he wrote.” I want you to think about that statement and reflect on what how you would make this statement about yourself, yet you need to be honest about what it is you do, not what you want to do
Now that you’ve answered and write the statement about yourself, I want you to write a statement that says what you do, though now I want you to revise it to state what you’d like it to say instead
Now that you’ve revised that statement about yourself, I want you to write all the things that you feel get in the way of that thing you want to BE.
After you do that writing, I want you to write ONE step you can take to get the ball rolling towards fulfilling your purpose.
Share your thoughts at writingremixpodcast@gmail.com, or post your thoughts on Instagram and tag the podcast @WritingRemixPod #WritingRemix and I’d love to read them on the next episode!
Listen to Episode 110, hit the like, restack, & share!
110. Embracing Authentic Writing w/ Medium’s CEO Tony Stubblebine
Dan Dissinger welcomes Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium.com, to talk about the power of authenticity in writing online and how Medium’s platform helps to create a space where authors of all levels can find and cultivate an audience. Tony dives into how he went from software engineer to the CEO of …