Could it be because you are simply not showing up? I think it was Woody Allen who said, “80% of success is in showing up.” Whether concretely or metaphorically, your presence is required in your 
writing.
Other people can research and record the same facts. Other people might even share many of your opinions. But when I am drawn to a source of writing, it is usually because I am drawn to the writer. How are they like me? How are they different? What are their characteristic ways of expressing themselves?
I love to read the Dear Sugar column at TheRumpus.net. (Warning: Language is often strong.) Sugar writes anonymously for now, and has reflected several times on this anonymity. Is she “showing up”? Oh, yes–often virtually naked in her openness and vulnerability. Even though I don’t know her name, I feel I have a profound sense of who she is.
Journalists are taught to write without injecting their personality into their reporting. Some are more successful than others, but by and large, I don’t read news articles because of the byline. If I do read them, it’s for the facts I hope they contain. Does this suit your writing purpose? If so, you can get lots of free education and tips at Poynter. You may want to start with Roy Peter Clarke’s 50 Writing Tools (the link is to a summary version; the whole list is well-worth reading and re-reading).
Malcolm Gladwell is another favorite of mine. In one sense, he is a consummate reporter, sharing his research and insights uncolored by the language of emotion. Yet in his choices oof what to research, what to report, which experts to interview, and how to report their stories, he shows up so clearly I have the sense I can identify his pieces without seeing who wrote them.
How can you show up?
- Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.
- Be consistent; think about integrity, “being of one piece,” and hold yourself to it
- Be reliable. If you are blogging, and commit to one post a week, don’t let your readers down. If you are writing a book, and promise a result in its title, make sure that a way to achieve the result is given to the reader by the last chapter.
- Avoid “cute.”
- Write English (or whatever language you are writing), not SMS/text-speak. (LOL!)
- Care about your reader, and let it show.
Your thoughts? Please comment.
