Seth Godin does not write Seth Godin’s blog, he admits in an interview. “The person who writes my blog is a character named Seth Godin.” When he’s working on a post, Seth is not trying “to expose some mystical, mythical Seth Godin to the world.” He’s performing a service for his audience, and therefore, he must portray “Seth Godin” the character — the Seth people expect him to be in those posts.
I get that. Writing is thinking. Sure, you can publish a stream-of-consciousness piece, but most writers worth their salt hardly ever do. Published writing is edited thinking, and whatever you leave out forms the shape of the character you’re portraying.
“So if it doesn’t sound like me,” Seth says, “if it’s just me authentically being tired or annoyed, I don’t publish those because that’s not what my character would do.” When I first heard him say that, I thought, “Oh dear. That’s not me, is it? I rant and share my emotions all the time.”
But when I reflected more about it, I realized that, actually, I don’t. My blog posts, too, always come with a layer of structure and distance. Sometimes the layer as thin as a good carpaccio, and sometimes it is very thick — but there’s always some kind of filtering and refinement happening, even when the raw emotions at the source are a chaotic mess.
What’s most important on those days, I believe, is to realize it’s a feelings-first kind of day, and to let the emotions play and peter out before you hit the keys. When you write in a completely emotional state, good things can still happen — but those things usually happen later, and that writing is rarely for the world to see. You can revisit your rant and whip it into shape, or you can shelve it and start with a clean slate. Just think twice before you hit publish.
It’s okay to have a feelings-first kind of day. Like a good blog post, all you have to do is structure it accordingly. Sometimes, the hot chocolate must come before finishing the email. As long as you know who hits send, your words will always carry the right spirit.