Matt’s Mix Tape, vol. 99

Hi, I’m Matt Tillotson and this is Matt’s Mix Tape, a weekly Mix of ideas on writing, content strategy, and personal tech for the Creator Age.

This week’s Mix:

• Embrace the detour

• This week’s Ship 30 essays

• How to wake up excited every day

• This week’s Florida photo*

This week’s Mix Tape logo

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a winning a second straight Stanley Cup. (For the non-hockey inclined, the Lightning won the National Hockey League championship. Again.)

“Champa Bay” teams are on an historic run. We’ll see if the Rays and Bucs can keep things going this fall.

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Embrace the detour. It might be the best part of the journey.

The tandem bikes, the attendant said, are only for use on the flat road that traces the island’s coast. 

The interior trails of Mackinac Island’s forest were meant for hikers and trail bikes. 

And that was fine. The tandem bike, with my 13-year-old daughter as co-pilot, handled like the lumbering freighters churning by far offshore. 

We managed the bike well enough through waves of 4th of July week visitors on a brilliant Tuesday afternoon. Until we were stopped. The road was closed about 4 miles into the ride. 

No one said anything about road closures. 

It was decision time: give up and turn back … or take the bike up a trail through the woods, hopefully rejoining the main road later on. 

We took the detour, walking the bike as the trail climbed a steep hill. Then a trail biker rode by, mentioning the biggest incline was behind us, and the main road was about a mile and a half ahead. 

“Screw it,” I thought. ”Let’s ride.” 

So we bumped and thumped our tandem bike freighter down the trail, against the better guidance of the rental company. We navigated tight turns. Avoided stumps (barely). Squished through numerous mud pits. Pedaled hard. And laughed, a lot. 

Eventually, the path opened to the main road, with its sweeping views of Lake Huron. The obstacle forced us to use teamwork, laugh, and be rewarded as the trees gave way to the clear expanse of the coastline. 

The unexpected and unwanted detour was a reminder to embrace the unexpected and go for the ride. Even when we think we’re not equipped. 

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This week’s Ship 30 essays

In the Ship 30 for 30 writing course, we publish short essays every day for 30 days. Here’s what I shared over the past week:

• The no-stress, no-sweat method to write an attention-grabbing headline
  (A simple three-step process to draft a headline)

• To write well, read fiction. But to take it up another level …
  (One book genre combines fiction’s prose with history to make you smarter)

• To surprise your reader, your writing must first surprise you
  (Writing is a bloodhound, not an unruly puppy to be controlled)

• Balance data and intuition for the best writing trajectory
  (Passion is your booster rocket. Data are the Vernier Thrusters)

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How to wake up excited every day

Spenser Warren, my accountability partner in the Ship 30 for 30 writing course, shares solid and simple advice in this essay: have something to look forward to every day.

Spenser Warren 🚢 ⚓️1️⃣2️⃣/3️⃣0️⃣ @spensermwarren

#ship30for30 Day 12 It was a rough start to the morning. I couldn't get out of bed. Tiredness wasn't to blame, more the fact that I didn't want to face the day. What solved this problem? 👇

It might be big. Normally, it’s probably something small. But have something.

And I’d add: journal about it in the morning. I’m adding this to my Morning Pages routine.

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Four steps to writing better stories

Lyle McKeany shares four steps to writing better stories:

1. Write something every day. My advice: publish it, also!

2. Capture your ideas. I use Apple Notes, but there are a million note-taking apps these days. I also hear paper is still available and in use by some writers.

3. Have life changing experiences. Maybe it’s a big thing, like intentionally falling out of an airplane for some reason. But just noticing, extracting meaning from, and writing about small day-to-day things can also be life-changing.

4. Don’t use semi-colons. Lyle says to write two sentences instead. I agree. Mostly.

Good advice. But the magic in Lyle’s piece occurs in step three, where he shows his storywriting chops. Don’t miss his Twitter thread on his life-changing experiences.

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This week’s Florida photo*

Here we are riding the aforementioned Tandem Off-Road Two-Wheeler (T.O.R.T.) on Mackinac Island.

*Note: Florida photo made in Michigan. Again. We’ll get back to Florida soon.

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