As a writer, you are in a unique and powerful position to make a difference. You can speak your mind, state your case, and stand up for what you believe via your written words.
If your words get read, you can have an impact. You can become a change agent.
Maybe you passionately want to save the whales, feed the hungry, or protest legislative issues. Or you want more financial support for libraries, stricter food packaging guidelines, or a higher minimum wage.
Awesome! Sit down and start writing.
You can join a march or protest if you like. You can make phone calls, too. But also use your gift—the ability to write—to affect change.
February Writing Challenge: Write for Change.
This month, tale on the personal challenge to write for change. I can think of six ways you can do this.
1. Be a journalist. Study the research. Dig up the facts. Interview the experts. The write an article that supports your point of view or that uncovers information that can help bring about the change you desire. Get it published in a major magazine or newspaper. Then watch the ripple effect.
2. Share your opinion. While you must write newspaper articles in an objective manner, there is a place for opinion. It’s called the Op-Ed page. However, many online and print magazines allow opinionated or slanted pieces. Write for your local or a national newspaper, or send your work to magazines that might be open to publishing an article related to your cause. In this way, you can reach thousands…even millions…of people with your message.
3. Blog about your cause. A blog allows you to become a citizen journalist. You can write posts based facts and studies, or you can blog from your perspective on a topic. If you write often and consistently on this one topic, Google will boost your site in the search engine results pages quite quickly. Before long, your work—your message—could be read by 100, 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 people (or more) per day. That’s a lot of impact from your posts!
4. Write an ebook If you can write an article or blog post, you can write an ebook…especially a short one (4, 500 words or so). Write an ebook that inspires the change you desire. Publish it on Kindle. You can give it away or sell it, but if you promote it well…give it to some journalists, radio show hosts, or podcasters…you might find yourself dubbed an “expert” and a bestselling author. Bestseller status isn’t that important except that it means your book is getting read by a lot of people. And that means you can have a greater impact.
5. Write letters to elected officials. If your agenda is political, use your writing skill to craft persuasive letters to your elected officials. You can share them on social media and ask others to copy and paste your words into their emails to their elected officials. Your finely crafted correspondences could be just the thing everyone needs to influence desired change.
6. Write social media posts. Social media might be one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s toolbox. If you have a way with words, what you post as an update on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+ could go viral. That means what you say gets read by millions of people in little time. There’s tremendous power in a viral social media post, but even if what you write gets seen by only a few hundred people, you can influence them to get involved in your cause.
Ready to take on the challenge? Go!
And don’t forget to share how your are taking on this challenge to write for change.
If you want to learn more about how to write more and publish your work–and make a positive and meaningful difference with your words, join the Nonfiction Writers’ University (NFWU). Take advantage of the current $1 trial period; check out the NFWU for 30 days before getting charged the current monthly membership fee of $29.99. To find out more about or join the NFWU, click here.
And don’t wait! The monthly investment will increase at the end of February. Join now and get grandfathered in at the current rate…forever.
The NFWU contains a wealth of information about achieving your nonfiction writing and publishing goals 
As a member, you receive 36 months of NFWU challenges, assignments, coaching, and educational-event recordings with a variety of experts in the field. You also get introductory gifts worth more than $150 and all the 2016 Write Nonfiction in November Challenge interviews and coaching-call recordings. Plus, each month you’ll have access to new live coaching and events! Members also get additional bonuses during the year. Click here to learn more and join.
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I love the idea of writing for change – it’s behind almost all my writings. Change that makes for a better world for ourselves and all we share the planet with.
I am a writer of sorts. I have been published by local papers. I have tried several times to be write op-eds for major newspapers but have never succeeded in getting an article published. I am an attorney and some of the things I wrote are good. I can send you one if you like. I am frustrated for not being allowed to break in to the mainstream media. I can be better than at least half the syndicated columnists but how do you get a chance? And how can I get paid for articles if I should decide to undertake the work? Its a lot of work, and if you fail to get published its like working for nothing. And nobody sees it. I dont like blogging because I don’t see the money in it and I am old fashioned and skeptical about the web as an effective medium. Any advice please?
In the last 4 years I’ve written a bucket-load of non-fiction books and I just now created a hand-written list of the above suggestions to stick to the cabinet next to my computer. After I finish my current book, on properly re-homing Moluccan Cockatoos, I’m going to do every one of these suggestions. I’ve been poor during those 4 years; it’s not fun – but at least in England it’s possible to survive. In the States, you’ll need to prepare to be poor. Save all that dough you’re making now! Stash it, grow it, buy a small place where it’s simple and cheap to live AND THEN do what you love. My life has been richer for my writing and illustrating 🙂 You can do it!
Thaks for your inspiring note!