About a year ago my Twitter feed started blowing up with a bunch of short, interesting essays. I dug in and saw they were all a part of a writing group called #Ship30for30, a community of people dedicated to building a writing habit. For 30 days in a row they committed to writing a short, 250 word “Atomic Essay” and posting as an image on Twitter.
As the month went on I was astounded to see how consistent the “shippers” were at putting their ideas in the world. The practice resonated with me, because early subscribers to my channel will remember that I launched on YouTube with a 30 day challenge in February 2017.
3 Problems Creators Face
What I didn’t have back in 2017 and Ship30for30 does – is a community of people who were going through the challenge supporting each other. Ship30 solved the three biggest problems of building a creative habit.
- Generating ideas to write about
- Helpful constraints to work in
- A community to cheer you on
The community is so important. If you’ve started publishing content on the internet before you know how lonely it can feel to publish a video, newsletter, or podcast and have no one respond. Even for the most dedicated creators it’s a difficult challenge to overcome.
4 Reasons to Build a Writing Habit
I’m going to give you 4 reasons for starting a writing habit, no matter the work you do or stage of life you’re in. Confident, clear writing is a force multiplier for everything else in life.
- Organize your ideas
- Share your ideas
- Establish expertise
- Explore new topics
These problems and opportunities are much of what my brother Mark had faced the past several years trying to write online. “Publishing to the void” was a real challenge and something that had kept him stuck countless times before. Since joining Ship 30 for 30 he’s published over 70 essays and exponentially grown his Twitter and email newsletter lists.
1. Organize Your Ideas
The most important reason for developing a writing habit is to organize ideas and thoughts. We all have them, but most people don’t take the time to thoughtfully curate their own mind.
Let me take a step back, even words like “thoughtful” and “curate” make writing sounds more complicated than it is. To put it simply, a writing habit is an internal call and response of thinking “that’s interesting” and responding with “what do I think about that?”.
Write your first atomic essays with that simple prompt. Gather one thought or topic that interests you and answer the question “what do I think about that?” The number one rule of starting a habit is to start simple and make it interesting. Complicated and boring doesn’t help anyone, and the first person you’re helping is yourself.
2. Share Your Ideas
What comes next is often the scariest part of writing. Publishing, or as many creators, coders, and entrepreneurs call “shipping”. A boat is meant to sail, a rocket to fly, and your words are meant to shared with others. What Ship30 does well is give you constraints to work in.
When used properly, constraints are creative fuel, and the atomic essay constraint is 250 words. This is enough to say something meaningful but not so much “room” that it feels overwhelming. I recommend focusing each essay, each day, on sharing one specific viewpoint, tip, or takeaway.
3. Establish Expertise
30 essays, clearly communicating one idea each day, does more than organize your ideas with a template to share them through. It also allows you to explore interesting new topics or establish expertise in your given field. Many Shippers have found new jobs, the courage to start a new career, or distinguished themselves in their current role as thought leader.
For my Ship30 month I started writing about what I called the “full stack creator” – how people in the creator economy stay productive, profitable, and personally balanced. I used those essays as the starting point for a self-published ebook, video scripts, and email courses.
4. Explore New Topics
My friend Cathryn Lavery (founder of Best Self Co) used Ship30 to share her experience with cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi), and investing. Since then she’s launched a course and helped people find amazing returns on their money (of course this is not investment advice and do your own research).
Andrew Molloy has written over 130 atomic essays the past several months focusing on automation, habits, software design, gamification, and much more. The consistency of his practice allows him to try many different types of essays and topics without feeling like he has to stick to just one niche. He’s able to explore new topics because every day there is an essay to be written.
My Honest Review of Ship 30 for 30
Ship30for30 is the best way to build a writing habit with creative structure and a helpful, engaged community to cheer you on. You’ll learn how to organize your ideas, publish to help others, establish expertise, and explore your interest in new topics.
Dickie and Cole, your Ship30 captains, have developed a wealth of resources, toolkits, templates, and guides to help you get everything set up and stay consistent. Each week they host an office hours call to get help, offer feedback, and often have a special guest!
The best part of Ship30, besides the confidence of becoming a writer, is the community you build. There’s always someone on Twitter liking, commenting, celebrating, and supporting new Ship30for30 essays – so you never feel like you’re shouting into the void. We see you and are so excited you decided to ship.
Go to MattRagland.com/Ship30 and join the next cohort. No matter when you see this I guarantee there’s a new cohort starting in a matter of weeks.
If you want to get a head start on your essays, comment below with your Ship30 topic and I’ll help you come up with a few essays to begin outlining and writing.
You can also get a free training with myself, Dickie, and Cole about how to generate endless ideas for writing, protect your “sacred hours” to write, and use Twitter the way it was meant to be used… as the greatest idea lab ever created.
Thanks for reading this review about my experience with Ship30 for 30, I truly believe it’s one of the best if not the best course, community, and challenge for building a writing habit. I’d love to see you what you ship in the future, tag me on Twitter @mattragland and I’ll be sure to like and follow your essays. See you there!