If you want to have a following, “specialize”
They say specialize if you want followers. I say generalize and write for free until the day I die—caring only about getting better at the craft.
One foot in front of the other, angry at myself and exhausted. I knew I was unprepared, yet I ran the 26.2 miles of the 2025 Miami Marathon anyway because I'd told my son I would. That meant they'd have to carry me out in an ambulance for me not to finish.
During the last grueling miles, I concluded that writing is as natural to me as reading—so I should start writing. And that meant reading a lot more. If I was going to write, I should share it, no matter how bad it might be. Otherwise, how would I hold myself accountable and give myself a chance to get good?
You get better by doing the thing. Want to be a better runner? Run more. Better at reading and comprehension? Read more. Better at writing? Write more, even if it's just a sentence at first. You build habits by doing the thing a little, then increasing it until it becomes a lot.
When I decided to start my blog, the first advice I found online was that if you wanted followers, you should specialize. Apparently, most new writers “make the mistake” of being generalists—writing about too many things. According to these so-called experts, this works against you because people can't trust you if they can't identify your specific area of expertise.
Right then, I decided I would become a generalist and write about whatever I wanted, posting without caring whether people read it or not. This is the ingredient that turns novices into something remarkable. When you do it because you want to—for yourself and for the sake of getting better at the craft—you do the thing for free without ever imagining a single follower or payment.
I've known people who are truly world-class at what they do—among the best on the planet. All of them, without exception, began with no expectation of getting anything in return, driven only by the desire to become better every day. They're still trying to improve their craft. Every single one would do what they do for free if it came to that. Every one was told they couldn't do it, and just like thousands of stories throughout human history tell us about the greats, all of them went against the grain.
So they say specialize. I say generalize. I'll write for free until the day I die and not care who reads it. I only care about getting better at writing—about whatever I want. If someone else finds it interesting or helpful, even better.