Breaking Out of Your Fear of Commitment to the Written Word
By: Melinda Crow
Tags: Travel, Writing Prompts, Travel Writing, Writing, Writing Tips

Written words take on a life of their own. Once you let them go, you can no longer control who might see your words or who they might affect.

Even crappy writing requires the strength of character to stand behind what you put out there. It takes nerves of steel to tell the world what you think you know, and it’s even harder to tell them what you feel. Luckily, quality writing acts as a shield against naysayers and trolls.

Build your shield from words backed by authority or from the strongest passions of the heart and the world will stop yelling long enough to listen.

Authority

This is usually an easy commitment to tackle. If you write anything where facts count, the rule is that you must have two authoritative sources — “authoritative” consisting of a source with either first-hand knowledge of the facts or is a qualified and objective expert on the subject at hand.

I write quite a few researched pieces for Cruise Critic. In a recent short piece for them, I explained that the term “GRT” (gross register tonnage) is an outdated means of stating the volume of a ship. I provided a quote from the source document for the maritime convention that changed the way ships are described in the registration process. Because “GRT” is commonly used in cruise line marketing materials, including in press releases, my editor was a bit baffled. The method of calculating GRT produces a slightly larger number than the proper volume stated at GT (Gross Tonnage). It appeared at first glance that the marketing departments might have deliberately chosen the inflated number, even though that number would never be used for registration purposes.

So which sources are most authoritative? Documents from the maritime convention that changed the method of describing the volume? Or a cruise line’s websites, Wikipedia page, and press releases?

Luckily for me, I had two backup sources. I located online copies of the actual registration documents for two cruise ships that stated the volume as GT (the new method). Interestingly, the cruise lines were using the correct GT, simply misnaming it GRT which technically would represent a smaller ship in the eyes of anyone who knows the calculation method. (Algebra lovers, no doubt.)

My second source: Captain Kate. She was happy to vouch for the fact that the designation of “GRT” had not been used in more than two decades. I think she counts as an expert on the subject, don’t you?

Materials generated by cruise lines themselves would appear to be authoritative until you shine the objectivity light on them. And even though in this case they were not misrepresenting the size of their ships to make them seem larger than they were, PR departments are not always the best source for unbiased facts.

Passion

This is where the fly hits the sticky trap. Where do you even begin to find the ability to write from the heart? It takes practice. The hack I have for you here is to try doing what I did when I first started writing for Yahoo Travel — change your name. My first stories fell into the category of tacky tell-all pieces that every last one of us has clicked on at one time or another. You know, the kind with titles like: Hotel Owners Hate You — Want to Know Why? or Restaurant Owners Think You Are Stupid or 13 Reasons Why You Never Want to Stay in a Bed & Breakfast Again.

I wrote them under a pseudonym so that it would be easier to tell truths that nobody really wants to hear — especially coming from a website promoting travel. I have always prided myself on writing about travel from a positive perspective. I view my job, not as a reviewer, but as an encourager. When things go wrong on a trip or I hate something about a place, I tend to live by the rule of “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I honestly did not want my name associated with the words I was assigned to write.

But guess what? When I began to write it felt gooooood. It was liberating to say things and tell stories about the dark side of the industry I have spent my life promoting. And letting all that truth flow tapped into something I had not expected. I found an emotional voice that stirred emotions in other people. (Not always good emotions, unfortunately.)

It gave me the courage to include more emotion in everything I write. I figured if I could withstand the heckling of the Yahoo trolls, I could face anything, right?

Gary and I scuba dive. On more than one occasion we have intentionally jumped into shark-infested waters and gone eyeball to eyeball with thousand-pound animals that could eat us. It is the most liberating thing we have ever done.

When the dive boat stops and you look into the clear waters of the Caribbean and see those ominous dark shapes gliding through the depths, there is a moment when your heart stops. Your chest tightens and your lungs suddenly cannot get enough air. “What in holy Hell am I doing here?” your brain demands. And then you jump in, using the standard giant-stride method of entry.

Mask and air supply in place, you peer beneath the waves and it suddenly seems more like your mask is a virtual reality headset and you are watching a 3-D version of a National Geographic video. It can’t be real because the real you would never participate in such insanity, right?

When it’s all over, the whirlpool of sharks in full-on feeding frenzy no longer encompassing you, no longer bumping you on the head, there is newfound knowledge that there is nothing in the world that can scare you now. And all you can think about is how badly you ache for one more minute in the water.

That’s what writing from the heart feels like.

When you giant stride into emotion-filled words, you are forever changed.

Now it’s your turn. I have some simple assignments to help you get over your fear of commitment.

Assignment 1:

Create a fake name, slap it at the top of the page and write about something you would normally never write about. Ever. As in, you’ll die if someone finds out that YOU wrote it. It’s okay because you are giving full credit to that idiot who’s name is at the top of the page.

Assignment 2:

Think about the one activity you would never participate in because the fear is too great — skydiving, racecar driving, holding a tarantula in your hand, whatever. Create in your mind a set of virtual reality goggles and put them on so that you can “virtually” face your greatest fear then write about the experience.

Assignment 3:

Pick three topics you are interested in and look up their Wikipedia pages. Can you tell how many of the sources are authoritative and how many could be bogus? Dig deep enough and you will find pages that read like every word came from a press release. If you can’t find any, try a travel-related topic, like — um cruise ships.

Melinda Crow has been writing about travel for 30+ years, long before there were “digital nomads” and “influencers.” And while at any given moment, she would rather be on a cruise ship anywhere in the world, she lives in Central Texas (yes, near Waco, and no, she does not know Chip and Joanna Gaines) with her award-winning photographer husband, Gary, 12 peacocks, two horses and one lazy cat. She is the author of Camping Colorado and Camping New Mexico by FalconGuides and blogs at FirstRead.Me and here on Medium at #TravelTruth.