✍️ Diary of an Author: How to Find Your Writing Superpowers

Modern Authors have to know their writing superpower in order to wield it effectively. Here's how!

Happy Sunday! In today’s newsletter, you picked the topic!

Thanks for voting on last week’s poll. Based on your feedback, today you’ll learn…

✍️ How to identify your writing superpower

☕️ How finding the perfect medium and work style for you can unlock your own personal writing renaissance

😎 What changed for me when I identified my writing superpowers

📖 3-Minute Story: How to Find Your Writing Superpower

It doesn’t matter if you’re an author or a freelancer (or both!) — you’ve had those days where you sit down at the computer to write and just stared at your screen and wondered —

Why is this so hard?

Maybe you blamed it on the weather, the placement of Mercury, or a disorganized desk (all very valid roadblocks to writing!)

But in reality, you probably weren’t working in a way that aligned with your writing superpowers.

I know this because when I finally accepted and honored my own writing superpowers, I found myself writing better work with more ease.

Let me walk you through the two paradigms I think are key for identifying what your writing superpowers are:

There are two types of writers:

Generators and refiners.

Generators love writing spools of content. They hum along to the type-type-typing of the keys on their computer, enjoying the flow of the process.

Generators don’t love rewriting their work or revisiting past pieces. Generators would rather write four drafts before rewriting one, and love novelty — which is why they often despise making detailed outlines.

Generators have to prioritize assignments and workflows that allow them the time and space to churn out drafts — and they need the ability to try and fail very quickly without judgment or consequence.

Refiners hate the blank page. To offset this, they’ll often lean on doing extensive outlining, research, and pre-writing. They might write their first draft slowly, but their rewrites will be fast and thorough.

Their discovery and creativity comes from brushing back layers as if they’re word archaeologists. Their flow state is in the rewriting and improvement part of the process, but they have to force themselves through a rough draft.

Refiners need to find a way to motivate themselves through that first hurdle of getting something on the page at all costs. Momentum is key. Then, they can take advantage of their flow state on the “downhill” of the rewrite stage.

Short-form vs. long-form writing are completely different mediums.

Are you best in short-form or long-form mediums?

Short-form writers love writing poetry, jokes, aphorisms, short stories, social media copy, web copy, and short essays. They’re able to ponder until they find the right alchemy of words, and then put pen to paper. They do rewrites, but lots of rewriting has to happen before their pen even hits the page. These writers are masters of the set-up/punchline format for more than just jokes.

Long-form writers love writing in-depth newsletters, blogs, novels, and other content that requires a passion for bigger exercises in structure, storylines, and research. They love the significance of a full-blown symphony and get satisfaction from how many parts add up to a whole.

Long-form writers are like architects to short-form writers’ sculptors. Both obsess over details in the creation of something beautiful, but just on different scales.

How leaning into my writing superpowers unlocked a new layer for me.

I’m a long-form generator. This makes sense: my background is as a TV writer, novelist, and wordy newsletter writer (👋 hello! thanks for reading!)

Yet everything changed when I started to shift my freelance writing focus away from copywriting and more toward memoir ghostwriting.

When I honored my superpowers, I entered my own personal “writing renaissance,” seeing benefits such as:

• Happier writing days, feeling more in flow

• Joyful clients who see that I’m working in my area of expertise, and are thrilled with the writing I’m doing for them

• More referrals, more work, more revenue, more opportunities

• More creative juice left over for my personal writing projects

I’ve always been good at copywriting and it was tough to move away from, but there’s a difference between being “good” at something, and feeling like a type of writing sets your soul on fire.

You can only be the best in the world at something you truly love — and this is what the Modern Author should strive for.

✨ 2 Quotes to Inspire You

• “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” — Mark Twain

• “I don't write easily or rapidly. My first draft usually has only a few elements worth keeping. I have to find what those are and build from them and throw out what doesn't work, or what simply is not alive." — Susan Sontag (clearly a refiner type!)

✍️ 1 Journal Prompt

What’s your writing superpower? Are you currently writing from a place of power? Or are you in conflict with your superpower?

Feel free to share your reflections with other Modern Authors in the comments:

💻 New Blog Posts on AmySuto.com

• Working Remotely from Valencia, Spain

• What is a Memoir Ghostwriter and What Do They Do?

• My Top 5 Favorite Memoirs as a Memoir Ghostwriter

🎙 New Diary of an Author Podcast Episodes

• 6 Tips for Setting Writing Resolutions (5 Min)

• 6 Steps for Rewriting Your Work (5 Min)

• A Writer’s Recipe for Great Characters (2 Min)

🎥 Video of the Week: Hello from Milos, Greece!

I spent last weekend exploring the Greek island Milos with fellow digital nomads, and it’s a fun island! I know everyone thinks of Santorini or Mykonos when they visit Greece, but don’t pass up some of these other islands that are gorgeous (and less touristy but still with lots to do!)

Watch more videos on my YouTube or TikTok.

📸 Photo of the Week: Sunsets in Milos, Greece

The Mediterranean has stolen my heart 💕

Follow me on Twitter or Instagram for more!

⚡️ Upcoming Wednesday Edition: 3 Ways to Attract Your Dream Clients as a Freelance Writer

This Wednesday, Diary of an Author subscribers will get an exclusive issue about…

✨ How to sell your services before the discovery call as a freelance writer

🧪 How to understand who your ideal client is and what they’re prioritizing

📚 What it takes to market your freelance writing services to amazing clients — and how to automate this!

Subscribe now so you don’t miss out!

And thank you to my community for supporting this newsletter — it’s been an honor to write for you so far. 🙏

Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,

-Amy