Hey there!
Welcome to the 74th edition of Great Founders Write.
Below you'll find:
One writing lesson
One writing exercise
One quick read to help you become a better writer and founder.
✨ This week's theme: Becoming a better writer by copying the greats
Today's post is a bit longer, but it's one of the most important topics of our time.
Enjoy!
But first...
Pre-order the Strategic Course course
Learn the subtly powerful skills behind great marketing and business communications:
This is an ON-DEMAND course with 8 modules, 3+ hours of video content, along with worksheets and writing exercises.
Level up your writing skills in 2023. Lessons will be released starting Dec. 6.
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💡Lesson: Great Writers... Copy? The Joy of Copywork
You know good writing when you see it. But producing good writing is entirely different.
It’s like watching a nasty no-look pass on the basketball court. You appreciate its greatness, but you can't just recreate it on the first try. You must practice. And practice. And practice until your arms fall off. You won’t be able to make that pass until you develop the right skill and muscle memory.
As a kid in school, you were taught that copying was cheating. I'm here to tell you your teachers were wrong.
It’s called copywork, and it’s one of the best ways to improve your writing.
Copywork is simply the act of rewriting a piece of writing you enjoy. The goal is to reproduce an exact copy of the original work: word for word, comma for comma. This process helps you develop the muscle memory to create great writing yourself.
(I shouldn’t have to say this, but here’s your reminder to not plagiarize other people’s writing by passing it off as your own. This is just a writing exercise.)
Copywork can improve all forms of writing.
Copywriting: rewrite a landing page or sales email that convinced you to buy.
Storytelling: Rewrite a few pages from your favorite book
Audience growth: Rewrite the best Twitter thread you saw last week.
Copywork is not a new idea. As a boy, Ben Franklin did copywork to improve his critical thinking and writing skills.
But Franklin took the exercise to the extreme: he would read an essay and then try to recreate it from memory. Franklin was built different.
Pablo Picasso was right: good artists copy.
That's how you become great.
✏️ Exercise: Copywrite 250 words
Choose a book excerpt, landing page, or Twitter thread that you think is great. Copy it word for word, comma for comma.
Here are a few suggestions:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
This thread on the story of Apple's dominance from Nathan Baugh
Anything from Maria Popova of The Marginalian
📚 Quick Read: Protecting Public Spaces
Tatiana Figueiredo (GFW Cohort #2) wrote a beautiful and important story about public spaces and the need for us to protect them.
I love how she used the Old Penn Station in NYC as an analogy for today's most popular public square: Twitter.
This is a great read for anyone who cares about architecture, public spaces, and the future of tech:
🚀 Update: My 50-Thread Growth Challenge
Status: PAUSED
10 threads published
After writing 10 threads in the last two weeks, I'm pausing my growth challenge for the year.
Unfortunately, the time commitment became too much. Each thread took at least a couple of hours a day, and Damn Gravity has landed a few new clients who need my attention.
What's next? I still hope to publish one thread per week, and of course this newsletter will continue in perpetuity.
I learned a lot in these last two weeks and I'm excited to keep digging deeper into the world of writing. Thanks for following along!
Pre-Order Great Founders Write: Launching December 6!
Due to a hiccup with the last leg of publishing, I had to move the launch date of the book and course back. But that just means you have more time to snag an early bird deal.
Ready to take your writing and business to the next level?
📚 Get the book
⚒️✏️ Join the cohort (January 18, 2023)
Great Founders Write has everything you need to master the most valuable skill in business and life.
BONUS: Pre-order any product today and get the FULL book (pdf) instantly.
Challenge yourself to become a better writer in 2023. Start today:
Cheers,
Ben