Writing Principle: Overcome the Tyranny of the OR to Achieve Your Writing Goals

Your dreaded adversary, the “Tyranny of the OR,” threatens to steal your joy. I’ll share a writing principle you can use overcome your enemy.

As writers, life sends us countless distractions. Each urgent-but-unimportant task thwarts our progress. Tiring of the onslaught, many abandon their goal to write a book readers will love.

Here’s how you and I can overcome our writing enemy.

Understand the Tyranny of the OR

Decades ago, I came across an article titled the Tyranny of the OR.

Later, I read Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. The authors explained how people and organizations often limit their options to A or B. This form of tyranny oppresses creativity, leading to myopic thinking, planning, and execution.

In contrast, replacing the OR with AND liberates your creativity.

Battling the Tyranny of the OR

As a busy writer, you’re aware of the many demands on your time and energy.

For example, how do you balance writing with other aspects of your life? A common writer’s dilemma demands you choose between writing for joy or income. Both are important to you, but the Tyranny of the OR forces you to prioritize one over the other.

With such a dilemma, it may seem like you can’t replace OR with AND.

The Tyranny of the OR Influences Goal Setting

Urgent and valuable topics have the potential to generate writing revenue.

However, that singular focus doesn’t consider the writer’s skills and passions. People who make money while sacrificing their joy hate what they’re doing. If you’ve ever worn those golden handcuffs, you know that money alone doesn’t make up for what you’re missing from life.

I want to set and achieve goals that can deliver both income AND joy.

The Tyranny of the OR Forces You to Choose One Goal Over Another

Here’s what the Tyranny of the OR looks like when you pit income against joy.

Writing Principle: Replace OR with AND

But if you want income AND joy, you’ll take a different approach to discover the riches in unique niches.

Intersect the Marketplace AND Your Creativity

Notice the shared areas where AND replaces OR, especially the niche at the center.

It takes effort to explore the marketplace to see what people feel is both a priority and desirable. Likewise, it takes reflection on what you’re practiced at doing and what you have a zeal to keep doing. Admittedly, it’s difficult to weave together the marketplace with your creativity, but with effort, it’s doable!

The Tyranny of the OR in the Marketplace

Writers ask, “Should I learn how to research the marketplace OR just write what I love?”

The probability of writing something people want to read increases when you know what they’re buying. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this on your own. A tool like Publisher Rocket* and research from K-lytics.com** simplifies exploring the marketplace.

The Creativity Process

Personal reflection offers an opportunity for you to identify essential talents, often earmarked by initial failures followed by ultimate success.

I encourage you to read interviews with writers. Many authors speak of an inexplicable urge to write, setting them on a path to learn the craft. With candor, they often describe several try-and-fail cycles, emphasizing the iterative nature of writing.

Read several interviews and you’ll soon notice that, for some, writing alone provides ample joy, but others want the emotional and monetary rewards that come from publishing and selling their work.

Conclusion

No single path is right for every writer.

For example:

• Most authors want to write a book readers will love AND enjoy commercial success.
• Other writers hardly care if anyone reads their stories or poems, and they just love to write.
• And then there are those who straddle the fence.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with just wanting to write, however, …

The Trellis Method teaches you how structure unstructurables, putting the raw power of your passions and dreams to work planning, outlining, writing, publishing, and promoting your book.

*Dave Chesson and his support team are the real-deal. They’re tireless in their efforts to deliver the best research tool. I’m an affiliate of Publisher Rocket, and if you purchase the app, I may earn a small commission, but you won’t pay a penny more! And for the record, even if I wasn’t an affiliate, I’d still recommend this amazing tool.

**Alex Newton is also the real-deal. Before I bought my first report, I had a question. Even though he’s based in the UK, I got a timely reply. BTW: I’m not an affiliate, and the paid report was top-notch!

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