Should You Stay In Your Lane as a Writer?
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Work, Writing

Stay in your lane can mean a couple of things.

Sometimes it means minding your own business. Keeping your head down and just doing your own thing and not worrying about what other people are doing.

Sometimes it means staying within the boundaries of a field of focus — especially if you’re an entrepreneurial type. Being a specialist, instead of a jack-of-all-trades.

It’s one of those platitudes that kind of hits me wrong — but also sort of makes sense.

I mean, if you know what it is you want to do, it makes sense to focus on that and do it really well. Willy nilly branching out can be problematic.

I’ve had friends try so hard to make a go of writing and fail because they couldn’t settle into a groove.

But I kind of hate the idea of someone else telling me that I have to stay in my own lane. Especially with regard to writing.

One of the things I love about blogging is that I can write about any old thing that comes to my mind and there isn’t anyone to tell me I can’t.

And if Neil Gaiman can write everything from picture books to books for adults, why can’t I?

Maybe I won’t have as many readers when I write about certain topics. Maybe I won’t be paid as much. But if I learn something or I enjoy myself or have an interest in establishing myself in that lane (so to speak) then that’s okay.

For writers, I think there’s room for both having a lane — or a niche — and also exploring outside of that lane.

The key is to know where your lane is, so that you can branch out on your own terms.

If you’re a non-fiction writer, your lane is the topic or topics that you write about regularly and with authority.

For instance, my non-fiction writing lanes are writing in general, but especially fiction writing. Also online business, productivity, and the business of writing.

If you’re not sure, or you’re a new writer, ask yourself these questions:

What are you good at?

What could you teach someone else?

What do people come to you for help with?

What do you spend your time learning?

What are you passionate about?

What topic did you read the most about last year?

One way to find your lane is to post this on social media:

What do you think I’m good at?

I get it. It’s going to feel seriously awkward. Like you’re fishing for compliments. But if you can’t figure it out for yourself, you’ll get some interesting responses if you’re brave enough.

If you’ve written blog posts already on a pretty broad array of topics, take a look at the analytics for them. Which are getting the most traffic? Which are getting the most interaction from readers?

Those posts are probably written in your lane.

Did you have fun writing them? This is an important question, because none of this matters if you’re not having fun.

Your lane is the lane where you want to be.

Let me say that one more time.

Your lane is the lane where you want to be.

Even if you are an absolute authority in a specific topic and you could teach the whole world something about it, if you don’t want to write about it, it’s not your lane.

You do not want to get yourself in a situation where you’ve built an audience who is expecting work from you on a specific subject and you’re making money writing on that subject — and you hate the work.

By the way, this goes for fiction writers as well. I’ve known fiction writers who’ve found success writing books they weren’t happy writing and struggled to shift gears.

That’s a trap that’s very difficult to get out of.

So, one more time for the writers in the back. Your lane is the lane where you want to be. Even if that’s not the lane where you are currently an expert.

We’re clear on that, right?

Changing Lanes Out of Impatience

Here’s what I see happen pretty often.

A writer starts writing on a subject they like a lot. They write a few posts. Or maybe they write an ebook. Or they write a novel. And they don’t get the kind of traction they want.

Nothing goes viral. Or they don’t make any money. (Or not as much as they thought they would) Or the book they self-published flops. Or they don’t get an agent.

So, they change lanes.

They start writing on a different topic. And nothing goes viral, etc.

They don’t feel like this lane works for them the way they want it to, either.

So they change lanes. Again.

The problem is that this person is trying to get from point A to point Z and they keep getting off at the first exit and going back to the start, then taking a different route.

They’re moving, and they’re logging miles, but they’re not actually making progress. They aren’t sticking with anything long enough to actually get good at it.

(Their starts might be getting better though, after doing them so many times. So there’s that.)

Here’s the thing about Neil Gaiman and his writing everything from picture books through adult novels. Somewhere in the beginning of his learning how to write, he stuck with something long enough to become a good writer. Then he branched out.

I remember reading that he had the idea for The Graveyard Book (a young adult book) for twenty years and had to wait until he was a good enough writer to actually write it.

Changing Lanes With Intention

What if, instead of changing lanes completely, because you’re impatient with how things are going, you changed lanes with intention.

You start out writing in your lane, about the topic that you’re very sure you want to write about. The lane you love.

Then, sometimes you branch out and add a new lane.

These are sometimes called shoulders, especially if they’re semi-related to the topic you’re already writing about. If I write about marketing, for instance, I’m writing in a shoulder lane to writing.

Writing middle grade is kind of a shoulder of writing young adult. It’s different, but not like crazy different.

But sometimes I write about my eating disorder. Or about taking care of my parents-in-law who both have Alzheimer’s and live with my husband and I. Or about being a soccer mom.

I’m knocking around an idea for a picture book about a spider that lives outside my office window.

Those are topics that are just entirely outside of my lane.

When I write on those topics, it’s because I have something I want to say. I know that those posts will get less traffic than blog posts that I write that are in my lane. But I don’t mind.

There are real benefits to leaving your lane sometimes.

Taking a break from my lane keeps you sharp. You might have to do research when you write about something you’re less familiar with. You’ll have to think in different ways. That’s good for your brain.

And you’ll find connections between the lanes sometimes that you never would have seen otherwise. That’s always very cool.

And it’s fun. It feeds the rebel soul.