Welcome to Issue 74 of Writing and Other Stuff, a newsletter by me, Kim Scaravelli. I pop into your inbox every second Wednesday with practical advice to help you find your voice, create content that connects, and enjoy playing with words (because it should be fun). Not a subscriber? We can fix that. → subscribe here.

Reminder: Talking AT People Isn't a Conversation

In today's content-obsessed world, we're all creating mountains of STUFF. Websites, emails, social posts, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, books... The pressure to keep generating MORE never stops.

When we get caught on this hamster wheel, we naturally gravitate toward quantity-focused questions: How can I produce more content, faster and easier? And how can I get more 👀eyeballs on it?

But here's the thing... These questions keep us on the wheel. And wheels just go around and around, my friend. They don't move us forward!

Lately, when I feel that relentless pressure building, I've developed a new ritual. I pause and brew a 🫖pot of tea. It takes 10 minutes to properly steep tea and I spend those minutes doing something distracting (Note: This is enough time to unload a dishwasher AND dust a small office space. Just saying.)

Once I've got a cuppa tea in hand, I settle back into work mode and deliberately ponder different questions.

I ask myself: What's the BEST piece of content I've created recently? Why am I proud of it? How did people respond? What sparked their reaction?

This mental reset gently guides me off the wheel by shifting my focus from quantity toward QUALITY. And by "quality" I mean purposeful content that makes me feel good and genuinely helps others.

💥BIG REVEAL TIME...

My FAV piece of recent content was the last issue of this newsletter because it coaxed eight readers into having REAL conversations with me.

And conversation is where all the magic happens! It's how we discover how other people think, challenge opinions, and build community.

For example, one reader (👋hey there, Hannah) mentioned visiting the Canadian-made puzzle website from my "Stuff Worth Sharing" section and noticing a puzzle about "FISHES" of the world. This sparked a delightful back-and-forth about whether the plural of 'fish' is 'fish' or 'fishes.'

I couldn't resist sharing this question on social media, where it ignited a surprisingly passionate debate involving moose, geese, and whether a group of fish formed a 'school' or a 'shoal'. It turned into a whole THING!

Issue #73 was fun to create and it fostered both personal connections and community engagement. How awesome is that?

This is exactly what meaningful content should do in 2025 and beyond. The goal should be sparking genuine connections.

Let's get excited about QUALITY and create moments where we truly talk WITH people, not just AT them!

Cool Quote

"The time you invest in getting to know people, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and building trust - that's not a detour from real work. That is the work."

Margaret Heffernan, Entrepreneur and Author

Something To Try (🎉New Section!)

When you finish reading this issue, how about NOT jumping right into the next email? Instead... maybe you brew that pot of tea. Or coffee. Or make a smoothie. Whatever... you do you!

But take the 10 minute break. Then settle back into your work chair and ponder. Read a piece of content you've created that really fluffs your feathers. Something you enjoyed writing, that sounds like YOU, and sparked a positive reaction in at least one or two other people.

Savour that success. Then go a little deeper. What's SPECIAL about that bit of content? Why do you feel good about it? What made that magical connection happen between you and your audience?

If you did it once, you can do it again. You just need to get off the hamster wheel.

Stuff Worth Sharing

On a TOTALLY unrelated note, I want to spread the word about my fav new app. It's called 🇨🇦Maple Scan.

It lets you scan a product and find out if it truly supports Canadian businesses. (And it was created by a mobile app developer named Sasha Ivanov, who lives in Calgary, Alberta, which is super cool! ❤️Loving that entrepreneurial spirit).

For the Word Nerds

After all our talk about hamster wheels and quality connections, I stumbled upon the perfect word that captures this entire philosophy: ESSENTIALISM.

Coined by Greg McKeown in his 2014 book, essentialism is a way to get off the More-More-More hamster wheel.

This is a truly POWERFUL concept. It's not about more versus less, so much as it's about gaining clarity on what truly matters.

While minimalism says "do/have less stuff," essentialism says "do the right stuff." It's selective rather than sacrificial, deliberate rather than deprived.

I'm all in on essentialism this year! Who's with me?

Thank you for your time. See you again on March 12th. In the meantime: ​ 👉Need a way to make your voice stand out that won't add to your stress? My Free Brand Voice Course is designed to be gentle but effective. No elbows required! ​ 👉Email me your thoughts on this issue. Feedback makes me happy! ​