What to Write About?
I like writing. Their is something fascinating about being able to an idea in your head and turn it into something. The potential to create intrinsic value. The ability to inform, entertain, and inspire. The challenge to organize your thoughts and ideas into a presentable format.
I used to write a bit more over the years. I’ve blogged off and on since 2008 and you can read the archives over at my website derekcreason.com. I’ve fallen off of the habit due to life just getting busier with 4 kids and two jobs.
I did convert a lot of that time and energy from website blogging into writing and publishing a book in 2022. I’m actually really proud of TwentySomething and shamelessly would ask you to go check it out. You can read the entire backstory and how it came to be here.
I enjoy being creative. Whether it’s writing lyrics, music, recording podcasts, or making videos, I love the creative process and taking something from an idea to a finished product. I enjoy that you have to learn and figure your way through problems and issues that arise. The logistical challenges are a puzzle that you just have to work through one step at a time.
So What to Write About?
I don’t have a niche. I don’t suppose I ever will. For work, I do IT Security. I have a Master’s degree in IT Management and have held 13 certifications in that field and have worked for 16 years. It’s my bread and butter and I’m pretty knowledgeable in certain areas. I don’t really find motivation to create content in that silo of my life.
If you had to describe me as a person this could be a short summary. I’m 40 years old, married for 18 years, have 4 kids (16, 13, 10, & 7), I’ve been in the National Guard for almost 15 years (currently a CW3), I’m a Christian and go to church, I try to stay active and lift weights, and for hobbies I like to play guitar, drums, video games, ham radio, and watch professional wrestling. I have interests in movies, politics, macro-economics, rock and metal music, computers and technology.
If you look at my blogs, my book, my podcasts and my life in general, I don’t have an all-in niche. And that’s absolutely OK. So I will continue to do what I have always done. Be creative and write about whatever inspires me at any given time. Is that a sure-fire way to NOT make money or monetize things? Absolutely. But I don’t mind. I never started doing any of this to make money. Would I like that? Sure. And maybe someday I’ll get there. But I’m in no rush. Being a content creator for a full-time job doesn’t necessarily seem like fun. Writing outlines for podcasts takes time and effort. For every hour of podcast time that gets published is 1-4 hours of prep and research time and 1-4 hours of editing, publishing, and marketing on the back end. And that’s after optimizing workflows and getting the hang of it. Creativity doesn’t always appear from 9-5 on rapid-fire demand. If you don’t have the money to hire a team to help you and you’re doing it all on your own ( a la me) then you just do your best and learn along the way.
So as I try to get back to writing you can expect to read on all kinds of subjects. Like the description of my podcast, a little bit of everything. Variety is the spice of life as they say!
For writing projects I’ve got the following in the works. Hopefully writing about them in public will encourage me to work on them more frequently than just off and on again.
- 2nd book on life advice
- Fiction novel
- More podcasts episodes (currently monthly to bi-monthly ish) and long form deep dive episodes. I recently upgrade the podcast from audio to video format so go check that out over on YouTube, Spotify, or Rumble!
- Writing (creating the ideas) for short-form content whether that’s tweeting (x’ing?) thoughts or videos for Tik-Tok and Instagram.
- Writing Bonus episodes for my insider community from my show.
What do you think I should write about? Let me know your thoughts and I’ll respond to you directly!
All my socials, my podcast, my book, and my insiders community can be found here:
https://linktr.ee/derekcreason
I Wrote a Book!
So after 3 years to write it, 2 years to edit it, 1 year of ignoring it off and on, and now 2 months of learning the publishing side of Amazon, I can finally say it’s here!
I Wrote a Book!
It’s called: TwentySomething: Surviving the Ten Most Important Years of Your Life.
You can get it on kindle or paperback at Amazon. Here’s the highlights from the back cover.
How do I navigate the ups and downs of college? What kind of career do I want? How do I know if I should marry this person? What kind of faith or morals should I have in my twenties? Should I be investing or have a budget? What about the military? How do I deal with death and other negative emotions? Should I already have life and career goals? What kind of mindset and work ethic do I need to be successful? How do I figure all this out on my own?
These are the issues and questions that almost every young adult will have to work through in their twenties. My book offers advice based on my experiences both good and bad regarding the subject matter from a Christian perspective. My goal is to give twentysomethings a framework or friendly advice that they “just couldn’t listen to from their parents” and help them navigate some of life’s difficulties a little easier. Sometimes that involves brutal honesty from an outsider who is willing to challenge you to think deep and hard about life issues. Young adults will enjoy a few laughs as well as the refreshing honesty of another young adult trying to pay it forward and pass along some valuable lessons learned along the way.
Aimed at young adults aged 18-30 TwentySomething offers simple, yet profound advice based on the experiences of my life and passing along that knowledge in the form of “If I knew what I know now at 29 when I was 23, I would have saved myself a lot of grief/heartache/trouble, etc.”
The Backstory:
I got this idea while riding on a plane in 2016. I jotted down chapter ideas in my email and it grew from there. I would work on it occasionally and hammer out a chapter. Sometimes I would take months long breaks from it. Sometimes I forgot about it. I like the process of creativity, however inspiration is not always consistent. Throw in a busy life, and some of the chapters cover hard emotional topics, so it took a while to get it out of my brain and onto paper.
Then comes the practical side of being creative. Do I publish? Do I throw it away? Am I trying to monetize this? Does anyone really care what I have to say? What if people don’t like it? etc, etc.
In the end, it takes a long time to put the doubt and fear away and realize a few things. Being creative is a part of who I am. I must continually learn to not base my self-worth or sense of accomplishment based on what others think of me. Good or Bad. There will always be fans and critics of anything you create and put out into the world, whether it be music, books, podcasts, art, etc. So I’m going to continue to be creative and put my work out there for others as often as I can convince myself to do so. If other people receive joy or learn something from it, then great! If not, I will shrug it off and drive on with my life and continue to be creative.
All that to say, I’m extremely excited and proud to put this out there! I hope this book can help some young kids in their twenties to figure out some of life and help them be more successful. Go pick up a copy and check it out!
TwentySomething: Surviving the Ten Most Important Years of Your Life
Later,
Derek