• Born into wealth in the early 1800s, this author took jobs aboard merchant and whaling ships starting at the age of 16. He also spent several years in French Polynesia as a young man. These experiences became the inspiration for his best-known works.
• This author grew up in pre-civil war Missouri, where he grew to despise any form of bigotry and injustice. His strong feelings about race and equality came through in his most famous work.
• A working-class reporter, this author wrote about the things he knew best - the struggles of the poor during the Great Depression. He never gained critical acclaim, but his books were loved (and still are today) by readers at every level.

Can you name these authors? You probably can. They are Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck. Chances are you read (or at least you were assigned to read) some of their works in high school. I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn three or four times when I was 13 or 14 years old.

So what can these dead American authors teach us about blogging? Several things actually.

Write What You Know

All three of these authors spent years of their lives having interesting and diverse experiences that inspired their classic books. Do you see how significant that is? Would Moby Dick have been so compelling if Melville had stayed on his uncle’s farm instead of going through the rigors of a sailor’s life? I don’t think so.

Would The Grapes of Wrath be such a staple of American literature if John Steinbeck hadn’t grown up in an agricultural town where he saw the hardships of farm life first hand? Doubtful. If you’re going to write something of impact, you need to be writing from experience (whether yours or someone else’s, but we’ll talk about that later).

Want to Write Interesting Stuff? Become an Interesting Person

Court Tuttle writes compelling material about internet marketing because he’s devoted years of his life to two things: first, he’s developed quite a few successful and profitable websites. Second, he’s coached literally hundreds of people one-on-one on how they can replicate his success.

Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki have hundreds of thousands of readers because they have been hugely successful as entrepreneurs and marketers. Their experience is what makes their perspective interesting.

Be Bold - It Could Make All the Difference

“The more experience we have, the more knowledge we have, the easier it is to come up with that big…idea.” - Joe Sugarman

Many of you will say “Listen, I’m no Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki. All you’re doing is forcing me into the classic dilemma: Can’t get a job without experience; can’t get experience without a job. Where do I start?”

Well, I’m not Seth Godin either, but it’s not going to slow me down. In the absence of a proven track record, bold action can help you build a name for yourself and make you more interesting to your audience. What do I mean by bold action?

A Lesson in Becoming Interesting from the Early ’80s

Ever heard of Robert Allen? Say what you will about him, there’s one thing he has nailed down - bold action. In the early ’80s he took a challenge from an LA Times reporter and this was his marketing hook:

“Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I will buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money.”

Robert Allen rode this one challenge to tens of millions of dollars in income, multiple best-selling books, and a successful seminar education company. All because he had the guts to take bold, massive action - and talk about it. But what if he had flopped?

Don’t Worry - Failure Is Interesting Too

Think about the potential consequences of trying something new, or taking on a bold challenge. One thing is sure - the decision to be aggressive and unconventional is guaranteed to make you more interesting. Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether you succeed or fail.

Here’s why:

If you fail at your big attempt, you end up with a great story to tell. You could call it: “How I failed massively at (insert big, risky challenge).” You can describe all the steps you took, where you went wrong, and the lessons learned.

Failure has an upside - it makes you more real and relatable to your audience. Only losers will call you a loser for having tried something great and failed. Most people will admire your courage and willingness to talk about your mistakes.

But what if your big challenge is a success? All the better. You’ll still have a great story to tell, and it will have a happier ending.

What’s the bottom line? Failure makes you more genuine and believable. Success makes you more attractive. Succeed or fail, you can’t lose! Or can you?

The Only Real Failure is to Do Nothing

Listen, Seinfeld is the only successful example of a show about nothing. I’m no Seinfeld, and most of you probably aren’t either.

It frustrates me when I find blogs about, well, nothing. Sure, they claim to be about making money online, or “my journey to becoming debt free”, or whatever it might be, but then their writing offers nothing original or insightful because they haven’t done (or tried) anything significant.

Those are not blogs I spend much time on. There’s no flavor, there’s no originality. I’m not criticizing - many of those blogs could have my attention on a daily basis, if they would say something in a different way or share an experience I can really get excited about. These authors just need to makes sure they are working every day to make both their personality and their writing more engaging.

Two Ways to Become an Interesting Writer

Here are two things I think you can do to become a more engaging person, with a more captivating perspective. They aren’t the whole answer, of course, but if you throw yourself into these two activities I guarantee the quality of your writing will improve:

Read - I’m talking fiction, non-fiction, business, politics, religion - anything! Read things that you normally wouldn’t. It will expand your perspective and give you new ideas about how to approach your subject matter. Tony Robbins started his career as a personal development expert by reading hundreds and hundreds of books on communication, influence, spirituality, behavior, psychology…I think you get the point.

Talk to people. LOTS of people - One thing I see in the blogging world is a lot of anonymity. It works for some people, but it keeps readers at a distance and limits social reach. The more people you talk to, the more perspectives you hear, the more interesting you become. It’s kind of an odd thing - when you talk to lots of interesting people you become interesting by association.

Think about Mike Wallace (of 60 Minutes). I would kill for the chance to talk to Mike Wallace. Why? Because he has spent significant time with thousands of political leaders, entrepreneurs,and philosophers. By virtue of his career in journalism, he has one of the most interesting stories you’ll ever hear.

It Will Be Worth the Time and Effort

I’m not trying to discourage anybody here. The fact is the world is always ready for new approaches and opinions on thousands of topics - including yours. You just have to be willing to do what it takes to make your voice heard in the crowd. Persistence pays off.

Court said something interesting to me the other day. “People get too caught up worrying about competing with bloggers like Darren Rowse and Brian Clark. They need to understand the world of blogging is growing exponentially. Three years from now problogger may have 200,000 subscribers, but if I’ve got 50,000, who cares? There is plenty to go around.”

Court couldn’t be more right, so stick with it! Work every day to improve yourself and your voice as a writer. You’ll get there, and the payoff will be bigger and better than you can imagine.