example of an article about yourself

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How to Write a Short Essay About Yourself: Step-By-Step

Updated 06/4/2022

Published 06/19/2020

Yvonne Bertovich

Contributing writer

Learn how to write about yourself with confidence, including step-by-step instructions and examples of things to write about yourself.

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Writing or even talking about yourself may not come easily to you. However, for professional or educational reasons, it’s often a necessity. There are other instances when writing about yourself may make more sense, as you can provide the rawest and most honest perspective.

Jump ahead to these sections:

Steps for writing about yourself, tips for writing about yourself creatively or confidently.

Examples of Things to Write About Yourself

You should feel empowered—not intimidated—in taking on a writing project about yourself. Use it as a way to challenge how you view your own experiences, talents, and more. We’ll discuss some steps for writing about yourself as well as provide a few examples.

Writing isn’t for everyone, especially when it’s required. As much as you may dislike it, following the steps below can help the process go that much more smoothly.

If you find that following a different order than what we’ve recommended for you works better for your process, feel free to adjust accordingly.

Step 1: Determine your purpose

What’s causing you to write this “thing” about yourself? What exactly are you writing? It may surprise you that people write all kinds of pieces for themselves—even writing your own obituary isn’t out of the question anymore.

The more specific you can get with yourself about your purpose will help the rest of the process. If it’s something stressful, like a college admission essay or a cover letter, try to frame the project in a different light.

For example, “I’m writing this essay to show people my heart and how passionate I am about removing disparities and barriers in healthcare. I believe in my abilities, and I want to further my education, so I can help heal people.”

Step 2: Ask yourself some questions

For any good piece of writing, there has to be fact behind it (if even these facts are abstract in narrative or fiction). The best way to gather facts about any subject is to ask a variety of questions, both soft- and hard-hitting.

You may ask these questions internally, during research, or directly and literally. Treat this question step as a self-interview.

Here are some questions to ask yourself . You may also ask yourself:

What is my goal of writing this piece?
What themes or ideas do I want to focus on?
What are my strengths and weaknesses?
What are some important lessons I’ve learned?
What do I want others to know or understand about me?

Step 3: Organize your answers

After asking yourself the example questions above as well as others, you should be sure to write down your answers and begin organizing them if you haven’t already.

It may be tempting to just answer your own questions in your head as you go—but don’t. This will just make the writing step more difficult. You may think that you’ll remember every good point or profound thought you come up with, but memory is a tricky thing.

If you’re working through your questions during a time when you’re not ready or able to sit down and type or scribble them out, at least make some notes in your phone or in a journal so you can have some descriptive hints for later. No matter how big of an epiphany you may have, it’s possible you’ll forget it.

Step 4: Write a draft

If your ideas are already fairly organized, writing your draft should come fairly easily to you. The draft process, however, is when you can start spicing things up with anecdotes, your own personal voice, themes, metaphors—all that fun stuff. The point in you writing something about yourself for yourself is for the very reason that you can make it unquestionably you .

Dull, watered-down words or even over-hyped language from a thesaurus plug-in isn’t going to impress anyone. Writing something about yourself (unless the assignment is creative or unorthodox) isn’t the time to act like something you’re not.

All of this being said, don’t stress yourself out too much. Letting your ideas flow freely and then editing or revising them later is how you should approach the process anyway. You don’t want to put too many restrictions on your ideas from the get-go. Warring with yourself about your ideas while writing is only going to tire you out sooner.

Think about it—you may spend hours trying to write a piece while overthinking that’s no better than a draft you could have written in 30 minutes on the fly. Not being totally in love with your first draft is normal. It just allows you that much more room to improve.

Step 5: Put your progress aside

Much like during the draft process, it’s very possible to overthink your work after it’s mostly done. If you constantly keep re-reading it or rehashing your ideas in your head, they may start to sound odd, or you may try to add where you need to trim.

For example, the same concept applies to repeating the same word over and over aloud — it’ll likely start to sound strange or even wrong the more you hear it. This also applies to music — ever play a song you love over and over till you hate it?

You need to give your words and your brain some time to rest away from each other until you try to make any drastic edits or changes. That being said, you may love what you’ve written already and decide you don’t need to change a thing—that’s great!

Step 6: Review and edit

After your break, you can pick up your writing once again. Read it with a critical eye. Go back and think deeply about your purpose and any provided prompts. Have you answered everything you intended to or are required to?

It’s not uncommon—though devastating—to write an entire piece only to realize you wrote from the wrong frame of reference or focused on the wrong issue. For example, if you were asked to write about a challenge you overcame in your life by following an important virtue, but you only wrote about winning a basketball championship and not the struggle behind it, this may miss the mark.

If you find a good number of issues in your work, don’t feel tempted to scrap the entire thing. What may work instead is to copy and paste your writing line-by-line into a new document. This way, you can save as much as possible while being sure to resolve even small discrepancies.

Step 7: Finalize your work

After you’ve undergone the brutal process of self-editing (or enlisting help from someone else you trust) you can prepare yourself for the home stretch. Finalizing your work shouldn’t take very long.

Y our process may differ; however, it’ll likely come down to reading over your work a few more times just to make sure you haven’t missed words, punctuation, or proper grammar.

It’s OK to use this step to feel proud of yourself, too. You may not take a lot of time to reflect on your life and everything you’ve been through—it’s important to practice self-love in this way and celebrate your accomplishments.

Talking or writing about yourself may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For example, did you need to provide a fun fact recently but draw a blank? You’re not alone. In fact, many people have a false assumption that they’re boring.

On the flip side, perhaps you’re used to talking about yourself, or, at least you’ve got the “fake it till you make it” type of confidence down-pat. However, you too can only benefit from adding a bit more razzle-dazzle to your spiels and writing assignments. Here are a few tips for writing about yourself creatively or confidently.

Allow yourself space

If you have an upcoming project or writing assignment that has you on edge, consider stepping away. Even if you don’t consider yourself an outdoorsy person, a walk around the block may help you breathe and get your creativity flowing. Naturally, the more sound your idea or angle, the more confident you’ll feel about your upcoming performance.

Keep that ego in check

An underinflated ego is just as bad as an overinflated one. Pay close attention to your internal dialogue when approaching new projects or writing tasks (or, honestly anything that comes up during your day). How much of what swirls around in your mind is fact? How much of it is just fleeting thoughts or opinions? You are not your thoughts, and you always have choices. Make good ones and be kind to yourself.

Try this: Instead of thinking to yourself, “Wow, this is a really complex writing assignment. I can’t do this.” Or, “How am I ever going to get into my dream school with this essay? I’m not a strong writer.”

Change your internal dialogue to, “I have good ideas. I may not have my plan figured out right now, but I’ll get it done,” or, “I have so many great skills to bring to the table and I am very passionate about what’s brought me here. I will convey this the best I can.”

Crowdsource

Sometimes an outside opinion can give us much-needed perspective. Ask your friends, family, loved ones, or coworkers to describe you in a few words or even in abstract ways. Don’t view this as you’re fishing for compliments. Ask your loved ones for honesty, as this insight can only help you when writing about yourself.

Build up a fuel bank

Pulling inspiration out of thin air may not always be possible. However, if you build up a few reliable sources of inspiration, the next time a project hits, you’ll be prepared. You can fuel your creativity and confidence in a variety of ways.

For example, you can create certain playlists for different moods, save favorite art or graphics in a digital folder or keep printed versions in your home or office, write down affirmations or notes-to-self in a journal or app, and so on.

Reflect on past accomplishments and setbacks

Even if you aren’t a fan of journaling, writing about yourself is far easier if you take the time to reflect, if only mentally. If you know you have a deadline to write about yourself in the near future, you may want to physically or mentally jot down a few real-life examples or experiences that come to mind.

But how do you get in the right headspace to reflect? What if you only witness recurring thoughts about past events while trying to fall asleep? Be sure to practice the first tip in this section: Give yourself some space to think. For once, limit the distractions, keep all other screens put away or turn on your "do not disturb" feature.

Now, think about some past accomplishments or setbacks that may not even seem relevant to the topic of the assignment. You may have an epiphany about unrelated things or discover something about how you operate. For example, you might realize that you feel less nervous in social and professional settings if you call out your anxiety as being excited.

Examples of Writing About Yourself

Even if you feel super confident about writing about yourself now, we wanted to provide a few short examples to help you get started. Your tone, word choice, and more may differ depending on which piece you’re working on.

Here are some tips for writing or publishing your life story you may also find helpful.

In a memoir or essay

Those were probably the best and the worst days of my life. I had never felt more happy and never felt more sad. I felt as though I were so close to having everything I had ever wanted, yet it seemed with every step forward, I had to take two steps back. It was exhausting. How did I get through it? To be quite honest, I have no damn idea.

Perspective helped. I knew I could have had it way worse; I knew that my struggle wasn’t unique. I knew, too, that even when the small wins would come they’d have yet another loss right on their tails. I paid dearly for having too much heart and optimism, so I regularly had to hose myself down with logic and pessimism.

On your blog or website

If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Just kidding! That’s just a really good Drake album. I wanted to take some time to talk about what’s been going on in my life lately for those of you who are nosey enough to care. Again, kidding, I know some of you really care. I’m so grateful to have even this small following that I have. It’s wild, really. Who would have thought that people want to know what’s going on in my head at any given time? Joke’s on you guys, though, because I don’t fully know all the time.

I guess I’ll start off by saying that work has been a whirlwind. As you all know, it isn’t an easy time for anyone, so please don’t take this declaration as a complaint. I’m thrilled to still have a job despite everything going on. However, leaving this reflection at just that would be doing both myself and you all a disservice. It’s weak. It doesn’t really describe what’s been going on. Allow me to continue.

In a college essay

When I was young, my grandmother told me I couldn’t please everyone — that some people just wouldn’t like me for no reason at all. This was very hard for me to swallow at times. What does this have to do with who I am today and why I plan to attend your university?

Well, this early lesson demonstrates that in order for this world to keep spinning, we all have to be unwavering in our own pursuits. We are ourselves. We can’t be anyone else. In that, we all have the responsibility to bring our unique talents, wisdom, and heart to the table — even when we’re seated across from people who may not like us.

Sometimes Only You Can Do It

Writing about yourself may always be challenging for you, but who better to do so than who knows you best? If you work through the process in every situation and give yourself some patience, there’s no question that you can’t craft something amazing. You may also be interested in this article about how to write family stories .

Your written words mean more than you think. This becomes a part of your legacy when you're gone, and it's one of the ways you'll be remembered. While many families choose custom urns from Foreverence or even to craft memorial diamonds from Eterneva , your words are something that live after you're gone.

While it might not seem natural at first, learning to write about yourself, your perspective, and your experiences carries a lot of significance. Who knows who might read these words when you're gone?

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87 Self-Reflective Prompts To Help You Write About Yourself

Having trouble deciding what to write about yourself ?

Whether you’re writing for your journal, your memoir, or a class assignment, you have plenty of topics about yourself to choose from.

You’re more interesting than you might think.

So are the people you live with, work with, and meet — if only for a moment.

Once you look through the prompts listed below, the real challenge will be choosing which one to write about first.

What Is a Unique Way to Write about Yourself?

The point of writing about yourself is to grow in self-knowledge and understanding of where you are and where you want to be.

With that in mind, it makes sense to write about what you’ve learned so far and how you learned it.

It also helps to explore what you’re good at as well as what areas need work.

Consider the following categories of self-knowledge:

Mistakes you’ve learned from
Changes to your beliefs and the catalysts behind them
Painful experiences and what you’ve learned from them
Favorite things and why you love them
Things that make you angry or that motivate you to fight for change

Things to Write about Yourself: 87 Writing Prompts

Enjoy these all about me writing prompts . Start with one that leads your mind to a specific, vivid memory. Then free-write to your heart’s content.

1. Describe something you’re good at.

2. What do you want to be when you grow up and why?

3. How do you want people to remember you?

4. What personal beliefs of yours have changed over the years?

5. What would you like to invent and why?

6. If you won $1 million, what would you do with it?

7. If you had all the money you needed to create a nonprofit organization, what would its mission be?

8. What would you change about school or your country’s education system if you could?

9. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go first and why?

10. Where do you want to live, and what kind of lifestyle would you like to afford easily?

11. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever learned from?

12. Would you rather get paid well for a job you can tolerate or paid little for work you love?

13. What is your favorite food and why? Do you make it yourself, or do you prefer paying others to do so?

14. What superstitions do you believe in or have you believed in, and why?

15. Do you believe in luck (good or bad)? If so, do you think a higher power is pulling strings on your behalf — or working against you? How much control do you have over your life?

16. Describe your first job, what you learned from it, and whether (and why) you’d recommend it to anyone?

17. What do you love about yourself? And who in your life sees that in you? Who doesn’t?

18. Describe your best friend and how you met. What keeps your friendship going?

19. Write about an animal with whom you’ve felt a close kinship and describe the relationship between you.

20. If you could design your own home, what would be its most important features?

21. What’s your favorite outfit (including footwear and accessories) and why?

22. What’s your biggest dream for the future, and what are you doing to get closer to it?

23. What makes you angry? When was the last time something made you so mad you took action to change it?

24. What’s your favorite holiday and why? What do you do to celebrate it?

25. If you have a romantic partner, what do you love most about them and your relationship? What would you change if you could?

26. What do you most want to accomplish in your life and why?

27. Have you ever gotten something you wanted, only to realize it wasn’t what you really wanted after all?

28. Do you want to be more like one of your parents or grandparents? Why or why not?

29. Describe one of your earliest childhood memories.

30. Write about the benefits and challenges of having siblings — or of being an only child.

31. How much of your body are you comfortable with people seeing? Has that changed?

32. What do you find gross that other people don’t — or vice-versa?

33. Are you interested in marriage, or would you prefer a romantic partnership without marriage? What are your reasons?

34. If you could design your own end, what manner of death would you choose and why?

35. How do you want your body dealt with after you die? Do you want your remains buried or scattered, and why?

36. Describe a favorite game from your young childhood (aged 0 to 10).

37. Write about something you succeeded at because you did NOT GIVE UP.

38. Write about a favorite elementary school classmate and what you liked about them.

39. Write about an interesting high school classmate and what you liked about them.

40. Write about the best coworker you’ve ever had and why you loved working with them.

41. Write about the best job you’ve ever had and what you loved about it.

42. How would you build the perfect sandwich (with or without bread)?

43. Write about a death in your family and how it impacted you.

44. Write about a birth in your family and how it affected you.

45. Write about a marriage or divorce in your family and how it impacted you.

46. Write about your intimate social circle, how it was formed, and how it influences you.

47. Write about your chosen family — the people in your life who have become family to you — and how they have become so important.

How to Write About Yourself (Without Undermining Your Professional Image)

by Henneke | 63 enchanting opinions, add yours? :)

And when you read your draft, do you wonder …

What will people think of me? Am I making a fool of myself? Is this too embarrassing? Is this too needy? Am I undermining my professional image?

I ask myself all those questions, too.

I find it easier to write about blogging techniques than share personal stories. Sharing personal stories guzzles up twice as much energy, perhaps even more. It doesn’t come natural to me and makes me worry more.

But I’ve learned, we can’t hide ourselves as bloggers.

When we share only “technical” tips, we become commodities. We become easily interchangeable with other bloggers sharing similar tips, and our voices get drowned out in a sea of me-too content.

To truly engage readers, we have to show them who we are. How else can we differentiate ourselves from the hundreds of providers competing for the same clients? How else can we get our readers to appreciate us as a person so they can’t wait to hire us?

As Lane Schneider commented earlier this month:

I’m planning to start my year off by unsubscribing to many blogs and newsletters, but I will never leave YOU. Because you are REAL.

How a best-selling neurologist writes about himself

Oliver Sacks is a neurologist, best known for his case studies about patients like “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “Awakenings.”

In his memoir “On the Move,” he writes about his professional life but shares more personal stories, too—about his motorcycle vacations, drug-taking in his younger years, and finding the love of his life in his seventies.

This intertwining of the professional and personal shows us how we can write about ourselves while maintaining a professional image.

Want to know the three key lessons?

1. Share the small moments

Sacks’ enthusiasm for his work shines through in the small moments:

I fell in love with his face, his body, his mind, his poetry, everything about him. He would often bring me just-written poems, and I would give him some of my physiology essays in return.

Sacks is a shy person, but sometimes his enthusiasm overtakes, like here:

I almost never speak to people in the street. But some years ago, there was a lunar eclipse, and I went outside to view it with my little 20x telescope. Everyone else on the busy sidewalk seemed oblivious to the extraordinary celestial happening above them, so I stopped people, saying, “Look! Look what’s happening to the moon!” and pressing my telescope into their hands. People were taken aback at being approached in this way, but, intrigued by my manifestly innocent enthusiasm, they raised the telescope to their eyes, “wowed,” and handed it back. “Hey, man, thanks for letting me look at that,” or “Gee, thanks for showing me.”

When you write about yourself in a blog post or on your About page, think about the small moments showing who you are. At which moments do you feel most alive? When do you feel happiest? What work excites you?

When you write about what excites you, your readers sense your enthusiasm—it’s contagious.

2. Be honest, but set your own boundaries

Sacks writes with integrity, sharing both successes and failures.

He shares several blunders from his early career in academic research. For instance, he loses all his notes of 9 months of experiments as he fails to fasten his notebook with the elastic bands on his bike rack. His bosses recommend a clinical career:

A meeting was convened: no one denied my talents, but no one could gainsay my defects. In a kindly but firm way, my bosses said to me, “Sacks, you are a menace in the lab. Why don’t you go and see patients—you’ll do less harm.” Such was the ignoble beginning of a clinical career.

Sacks is also honest about his own insecurities:

I was excited—and amazed—to find myself a doctor, to have made it finally (I never thought I would, and sometimes even now, in my dreams, I am still stuck in an eternal studenthood). I was excited, but I was terrified too. I felt sure I would do everything wrong, make a fool of myself, be seen as an incurable, even dangerous bungler.

Sacks is open about many aspects of his life— his shyness, his insecurities, his guilty feelings, but that doesn’t mean he shares everything. He doesn’t, for instance, explain why he remains celibate for 35 years and that’s fine with me—I don’t need to know everything:

After that sweet birthday fling, I was to have no sex for the next 35 years.

A business blog is not a tell-all personal memoir but it’s not a dry textbook either. You can break taboos if you like but you certainly don’t have to. It’s okay to only tiptoe outside your comfort zone.

Set your own boundaries for what you want and don’t want to share. And find your own balance between professional tips and personal anecdotes.

3. Observe your own life

When you write about yourself, you need to step back sometimes: What did you learn from this experience? Why did you behave in a certain way? Which feelings were guiding you?

For instance, Sacks comments on his weight lifting:

I sometimes wonder why I pushed myself so relentlessly in weight lifting. My motive, I think, was not an uncommon one; I was not the ninety-eight-pound weakling of bodybuilding advertisements, but I was timid, diffident, insecure, submissive. I became strong—very strong—with all my weight lifting but found that this did nothing for my character, which remained exactly the same.

And he writes about the challenges of starting a relationship after a lifetime of solitude:

Deep, almost geological changes had to occur; in my case, the habits of a lifetime’s solitude, and a sort of implicit selfishness and self-absorption, had to change. New needs, new fears, enter one’s life—the need for another, the fear of abandonment. There have to be deep, mutual adaptations. For Billy and me, these were made easier by shared interests and activities; we are both writers, and this, indeed, is how we met.

The lessons in our lives are often universal; it’s how we bond with each other as human beings.

The process of writing about yourself

Sacks is open about his struggles to write. For instance, a book about an accident in which he tears a quadriceps tendon and muscle takes 9 years to write and is edited heavily by the publisher, Colin Haycraft:

I struggled with the Leg book for several more years and finally sent the completed manuscript off to Colin in January of 1983, nearly nine years after beginning it. Each section of the book, neatly typed, was on paper of a different color, though the whole manuscript was now over 300,000 words. Colin was infuriated by the sheer size of the manuscript, and its editing took virtually the whole of 1983. The final version was reduced to less than a fifth of the original size, a mere 58,000 words.

While he finds joy in writing, he also admits it’s tough:

I seem to be in one of those dry, dead depressed phases where one can only do nothing or blunder round in circles. The damn thing is that it needs only three days good work to finish the book, but I don’t know whether I am capable of this at the moment.

Sound familiar?

Everyone’s writing process is different

And you may even find that different pieces of content require different writing strategies .

I write a post with writing advice differently from a more personal post. The majority of my posts are mostly “technical:”

I have a clear idea what question a post should answer (or what problem it should solve)
Outlining and structuring the content is relatively easy, so my first draft is decent
Editing focuses on adding examples (if required) and adjusting my tone so it’s engaging and not just authoritative

Personal posts (like this one about nurturing my creative courage or this one about learning to be me ) take more time to write:

My post idea is usually vague which makes outlining difficult, so I write a “discovery” draft to find out what I really want to say
I revise to shape the narrative; often I delete the first few paragraphs (which were like a “warming-up”)
To adjust the tone, I pay attention to engaging readers as well as eliminating any sense of self-pity
If necessary, I add quotes or comments to add context to my personal experience

Everyone’s writing process is different. Experiment to find out what works for you.

Authenticity is not the same as your personal brand

A personal brand is what makes you recognizable, and it’s based on consistency.

For instance, the quality of my writing tips, my writing voice, my color scheme, and my cartoon character Henrietta—these all help you recognize my content as mine.

A personal brand is a carefully polished image. Authenticity is where the polish wears off to show the real “you” underneath.

This doesn’t undermine your brand, but turns you into a human being. Someone who’s approachable and real. Someone who your favorite kind of clients would love to hire.

Authenticity brings readers closer to you.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment and join the conversation cancel reply.

October 4, 2022 at 11:38 am

Thanks, Henneke! I miss your influence. You make a big difference in how I process and visualize. In what I believe I can create.

October 4, 2022 at 11:54 am

Such lovely feedback. Thank you, Joan. My blog is always here when you need a creative injection 🙂

October 16, 2019 at 10:26 pm

This resonated with me effectively. I feel inspired to grow my own personal brand and let out my authenticity.

October 17, 2019 at 1:59 pm

Great! Thank you for stopping by, Simi.

October 2, 2019 at 2:09 pm

So many things I wouldn’t even consider. Thanks for the tips. They are timely, since I am just going through a total rebrand!

October 2, 2019 at 7:37 pm

Glad the tips are useful, Rahul. Happy writing!

March 8, 2018 at 9:57 am

Super post Henneke once again! I’m a fiction writer as well as a fledgling business writer so I found this topic really interesting and I think you’ve nailed it! I’m not surprised at all that so many people have left comments. I’m creating my THIRD website at the moment in ten years and this time I think I’ve got the balance right between “personal brand ” and “authenticity” but the hilarious thing is I didn’t even have the terms to describe what I am trying to achieve! Thanks for giving them to me .

March 8, 2018 at 9:35 pm

I find the terms “authenticity” and “personal branding” confusing, too!

I’m glad you enjoyed this post, and even happier that you’re finding the right balance for your website. That’s fab!

Thank you for stopping by.

February 20, 2018 at 3:22 pm

Wow! I thought I’m already occupied and don’t have much time; but now, I’m stuck in this truth about writing and blogging. Hooray!

February 20, 2018 at 9:23 pm

Great to see you getting around the blog, Susan. I appreciate all your comments. Happy writing!

January 29, 2018 at 5:25 pm

This is exactly what I struggle with as a counselor. If I share too much of myself, then the clients feel that the session is about me. If I share nothing of myself, the clients feel that I do not understand. It is walking a fine line. The same is in writing. Knowing how much to share is scary.

January 29, 2018 at 9:59 pm

Yes, it’s very tricky. I’d probably be more inclined to share personal stories on a blog than in client sessions. Perhaps you can use your blog to show your expertise, build trust and allow your audience to get to know you; and then your client sessions can be more focused on clients?

Thank you for stopping by, Shirley. I appreciate it! 🙂

January 24, 2018 at 2:22 am

Henneke, Your articles are always so timely for me! Again, this one arrives in the nick of time as I’ve started sprinkling more personal stuff into my blog posts. My goal, hopefully, is to make the topics more engaging and fun. Mind you, this has been quite a leap, as I would prefer to stay balled up in my nice little cocoon. Keep pressing on! 🙂

January 24, 2018 at 8:41 pm

I’m the same—I’d rather hide myself in a little corner, too. I’ts not easy but it’s definitely been worthwhile to come out of my shell and interact more personally with readers.

Happy writing, Penelope!

January 23, 2018 at 7:37 pm

Terrific post on a subject that baffles many writers – which personal stories to include, and how many of them. Your point about authenticity is great. The best writing forms moments of connection between writer and reader. Creating those moments is both frightening and inherently worthwhile.

January 24, 2018 at 8:39 pm

“The best writing forms moments of connection between writer and reader. Creating those moments is both frightening and inherently worthwhile.”

I love how you’ve put that, Anne. It’s so true!

January 22, 2018 at 7:38 am

Hi Henneke, There are only a handful of newsletters I look forward to. And yours is one among them. Your blog posts are informative as well as engaging. I love your writing style. I can see, you know what you are talking about. Like many, even I suffer from fear of writing about myself and my life. But it is inspiring to know about how others tackle it. A good post.

January 22, 2018 at 3:09 pm

Thank you for your lovely compliment, Waheeda. You put a smile on my face because it makes me happy when people look forward to my emails.

Happy writing!

January 21, 2018 at 11:48 pm

Hello Henneke, You are cooking up a storm. Thank you for sharing a perfectly seasoned post. Love the power-packed 3 lessons. Especially the subtle insights how to strike a balance between over-sharing and emotionally constipated (ha!); honesty with boundaries. It is tricky to speak human ? My favourite Brainpoke is this morsel “Authenticity is not the same as your personal brand” – a subtle yet powerful difference. Need to mull that over some more and act on it. Cheers and here’s to a cracking 2018!

January 22, 2018 at 3:06 pm

“It is tricky to speak human”

That is so true! I find it one of the biggest challenges in blogging.

I do think a personal brand is based on who you are, but we’re all complex human beings and we can’t always communicate “on brand.” That’s how I see it, but an HR perspective on personal branding might be different?

January 22, 2018 at 3:57 pm

I agree a personal brand is (should be) based on who you are as an individual!! The traditional HR perspective often focuses on the professional piece of you as a persona separate but vaguely related to who you are as a ‘whole’ person. Silo thinking – even here! The good news is that change is happening. As more leaders and individuals insist on putting the ‘human’ before the ‘resources’ – authenticity in the work space becomes a thing to be celebrated.

January 20, 2018 at 5:06 pm

Hi Henneke,

I enjoyed reading it. It reminded me of one of the entrepreneurial things I did when I was perhaps 10, and I mentioned it on my “About Me” page on the blog.

I respect how you discussed the nuances of a personal brand and authenticity. There are numerous things that I liked in the blog post, for instance, the way you hinted that it’s okay if you don’t want to share everything about yourself and still be on the pedestal.

So I want to say that I’m in love with your blog posts.

Thank you for what you’re doing.

January 21, 2018 at 4:45 pm

Yes, I really think everyone needs to decide for themselves where to draw the line between what to share and what not to share. It’s different for everyone.

Thank you for your lovely compliment, Hassaan. I appreciate it 🙂

January 20, 2018 at 4:12 pm

Henneke, Simply brilliant, Thank you

January 20, 2018 at 7:00 pm

Thank you so much, Shirley! 🙂

January 18, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Brilliant! Sacks’ writing style is amazing. You always mesmerize me with your writing style.

January 18, 2018 at 6:19 pm

I like Sacks’ books, too. I’d love to see how his original draft compares to the final versions.

And thank you for your lovely compliment, Sonia. Happy writing!

January 17, 2018 at 9:13 am

“A personal brand is a carefully polished image. Authenticity is where the polish wears off to show the real “you” underneath.

This doesn’t undermine your brand, but turns you into a human being. Someone who’s approachable and real. Someone who your favorite kind of clients would love to hire.”

A powerful takeaway!

This comes as I roll out from a pinchy procrastination rut to pen an About Me page for my copywriting service website. I knew I wanted to show out an impeccable brand image while sprinkling a good dose of authenticity fun.

But, clearly, it’s been tough to pen my own–despite scribing them for several clients now.

Thanks Henneke. As a bubbling copywriter myself, I’ve discovered you offer incredible insights. Looking forward to your course!

Secondly, the best piecemeal of writing advice I ever got was from you.

It came in that in-depth post “99 Strong Verbs to Make your Content Pop, Fizz and Sparkle”. I have it clipped to my browser as a quick bookmark. It’s a sort of scripture I refer to whenever I feel and think my draft needs a dash of visual and engaging copy.

That has since (seriously) boost my writing flair.

January 17, 2018 at 1:36 pm

“the best piecemeal of writing advice I ever got was from you”

Wow, that’s a big compliment. Thank you so much, Dennis. I’m so glad you find my advice helpful and, even better, that you’re applying it to your writing 🙂

If you’re stuck with your About Me page, you may want to check out this post: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/how-to-write-an-about-page/

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate it! 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 11:49 pm

I was so glad to receive your email with this post link this morning. I’ve been thinking a lot about authenticity and transparency for the New Year and my direction in 2018 as a writer. My father was actually one of the ‘subjects’ of Oliver Sacks’ book: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, so it’s fascinating to read here of the writer’s own struggles. By the way, I really value your posts!

January 17, 2018 at 1:33 pm

So far, I’ve only read the three books I mentioned in this post, but the book about Musicophilia sounds interesting, too. I might read it later this year!

There were more snippets in “On the Move” about Sacks’ writing process. One of my other favorite quotes (about going on a writers’ retreat for 30 days) which didn’t end up in this post was this: “When people asked me if my stay at Blue Mountain had been a “productive” one, I was not sure how to answer: I had one supremely productive day and twenty-nine blocked or sterile ones.”

January 16, 2018 at 11:32 pm

Thank you for another great, informative post!

Because of the nature of my current blog—helping families recover from the loss of a child in childbirth—I’ve had to tell my story. It hasn’t always been easy, and I’ve sometimes struggled with how much (or little) to reveal. Some events I have only chosen to elude to, and some readers have asked for more details, which I find too messy and unnecessary. I think some things just need to be left to the imagination. Other readers have thanked me for my transparency in areas where I’ve divulged some behaviors I now find horrifying (to think I acted that way); but they understand the setting, grief, and emotional triggers. And they’re sympathetic and appreciative for my honesty.

January 17, 2018 at 1:25 pm

I agree with you that some thing just need to be left to the imagination; we can’t always explain every detail, and we don’t want to do it either.

Grief is a difficult topic to address with sensitivity; it sounds like your readers appreciate your writing!

January 25, 2018 at 11:35 pm

Thanks for the tips on how much personal information to be revealed online. I plan to write an article to help laid-off professionals to overcome their emotional distress that I myself had to endure. I was afraid, however, of baring my soul online.

January 26, 2018 at 4:59 pm

Sharing your own emotional distress and how you’ve overcome it, can help you bond with your audience who are in a similar situation. Plus it can also help readers overcome their own distress.

January 16, 2018 at 9:47 pm

A super post, Henneke, Loved every bit of it, that took some work. I don’t normally appreciate long blogs, but of course with you this is simply not the case. Thank you so much for the entertainment plus education. It certainly is not easy to write about oneself, writing books can create an easy way to say what’s on your mind. 🙂 <3 🙂 A.

January 17, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Yes, this post was a bit longer than usual and I had cut it down quite a lot before publishing it! It was difficult to choose which quotes to use from the book.

I’m glad you enjoyed this post despite its length. Thank you for stopping by, Annamarie. I always appreciate it 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 9:44 pm

This is off topic, but since you mentioned Henrietta, I’ve been wondering how you capture your drawings because I’ve thought about doing something to give my brand more …. character or identity.

January 17, 2018 at 1:20 pm

Hi Jeff – Do you mean how I’m creating and uploading my drawings? I draw on paper, initially with 2H pencil (which I later erase), then with nib & ink plus colored pencils (Derwent Coloursoft). I scan the drawing, and I often have to retouch a little bit as the colored pencils leave smudges. I add the text using Corel Draw (as I happen to have this program), but many other programs exist to do this.

January 17, 2018 at 2:06 pm

Yes, that’s what I meant. Sorry about that. It was at the end of the day when I wrote that and my brain may have already clocked out. 🙂

All makes sense. I used to be a landscape architect but have long since tossed all my rendering tools so I’ll have to pick up some new ones.

I don’t know much about Corel Draw but I’m sure I can search for a substitute.

January 17, 2018 at 3:20 pm

I wouldn’t recommend Corel Draw (it’s overkill for what I need); you can probably do the same with some free tools, too.

If you want to go for colored pencils, I’m not sure how easy it is to get Derwent pencils in the US. I have also been recommended Caran d’Ache Luminance and Prismacolor Premier. I’ve not tried the latter two, but I believe they’re more popular in the US. It’s useful to buy a brand where it’s easy to replace single pencils.

And my brain likes to clock out far too early 😉

Happy drawing!

January 18, 2018 at 12:56 am

I Googled Derwent and they are available. But thanks for the reminder about Prismacolor. That’s the standard here and what I used. 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 8:03 pm

I weep and wail and gnash my teeth every time I have to write about myself. I’m writing my bio page of my new web site, and it feels like a bloodletting.

And … I’m about to sign a contract to write a BOOK, which means lots of stories about me, mixed in with research and tips and so on.

I have no idea how I’m going to survive this.

But your work, as always, is helpful, Henneke. Thanks!

January 17, 2018 at 1:12 pm

Is it too early to congratulate you on the contract to write a book? What wonderful news! I’m delighted and feeling excited for you.

And of course, you’ll survive it, taking it step by step, chapter by chapter, page by page, or even paragraph by paragraph. I know we’re all different, but what helps me most when writing about myself is to write the first draft just for myself and view it as a rough draft or discovery draft. Then the next day (or a couple of days later), I try to read my draft “from a distance” as if it’s not about me but about someone else. Creating this distance helps me revise and edit my story.

Happy writing, Marcella!

January 17, 2018 at 11:59 pm

Thank you! Contract signed yesterday. Whoo hoo!!

I like the idea of writing for myself first, then reading from a distance later. Thank you for that.

I’m walking like an elephant: one foot in front of the other.

January 18, 2018 at 1:02 pm

Yay! Congratulations!

Keep the elephant moving. If he stops, it’s hard to get moving again, but when he keeps moving, he’ll get there step by step. 🙂

January 19, 2018 at 8:26 am

Awesome. I’ll definitely keep moving, non-stop. Thank you.

January 20, 2018 at 1:27 pm

Great! Happy writing 🙂

June 27, 2022 at 11:47 am

Am writing about my exprecience as a disabled person, i have began with flowing thoughts but now am kind of suck am experiencing problems in adding and changing stories and how must i better this story by adding in features, facts, And what can do to make this story enjoyable.

June 27, 2022 at 12:52 pm

Hi Jayanthree — I hear you. Writing personal stories is challenging. You may find it useful to leave your work for a brief time, and then revisit. Editing is always easier when you create some distance from a first draft. Also, what helps is reading memoirs to see how others share their stories and how they move from one story to the next.

For a personal story, you don’t need to have features. What to focus on is “show, don’t tell” so your writing becomes concrete and people can picture what you’re writing. Here are some examples that you may find useful: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/show-dont-tell-storytelling/

January 16, 2018 at 7:34 pm

I enjoy reading your posts too. I’m trying to improve my writing and reading your articles is really helpful.

January 16, 2018 at 7:36 pm

Thank you, Ali. That makes me happy!

January 16, 2018 at 4:56 pm

Oh yes. Inserting personality is like adding salt. We don’t want our readers to remember a post for the mere fact that the verbal meal we presented was far too salty.

January 16, 2018 at 7:09 pm

I like that analogy. No salt, and an article becomes tasteless. But too salty is even worse!

A good meal is balanced 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 3:09 pm

I love your posts! They’re the first thing I click on in my inbox if I see your name!

I find your writing style incredibly engaging, and I love the format. With a 2-year-old, it’s hard to focus on anything, but your posts are just so easy to read!

Thank you for your fantastic content!

January 16, 2018 at 7:08 pm

Oh wow. Thank you so much, Brylee. That’s a big compliment! 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 1:48 pm

“I was excited—and amazed—to find myself a doctor, to have made it finally (I never thought I would, and sometimes even now, in my dreams, I am still stuck in an eternal studenthood). I was excited, but I was terrified too. I felt sure I would do everything wrong, make a fool of myself, be seen as an incurable, even dangerous bungler.”

This is exactly how I felt after graduating from med school. I think it’s a common feeling in my profession but yes it helps me connect.

It’s always in the back of most people’s mind I think to write that nice autobiography, but it’s eventually linking all those interesting anecdotes or experiences that makes good reading. The methods to make it concise and easy readable is excellent as usual. Thank you Henneke.

January 16, 2018 at 2:24 pm

I think it’s a common feeling beyond med school. I’ve not been to med school but recognize a similar feeling from when I graduated. I didn’t feel prepared for working in a business.

Sacks and his editors do a good job of stringing different anecdotes together. It’s an interesting read!

Thanks Henneke. Another very tasty accompaniment to my lunch. And perfectly timed as I start to think about creating a blog of my own… are you peeping at me through my webcam? 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm

No webcam, just telepathy 😉

Good luck with starting your blog! Let me know if you have any specific questions?

January 16, 2018 at 3:58 pm

Thank you 🙂

January 16, 2018 at 12:46 pm

Brilliant post. Being courageous enormously go to go deeper, and growing that courage, yet knowing when to stop from a professional perspective, is such a difficult part of writing. You do a beautiful job of explaining it. Thank you!

Thank you so much, Kathy. I wasn’t sure whether I was explaining it well. It’s quite a tough topic as there are no rules and everyone is different in what they like and don’t like to share about themselves. I find writing about myself one of the toughest challenges in blogging!

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COMMENTS

How to Write a Short Essay About Yourself: Step-By-Step
For example, you might realize that you feel less nervous in social and professional settings if you call out your anxiety as being excited. Examples of Writing About Yourself. Even if you feel super confident about writing about yourself now, we wanted to provide a few short examples to help you get started.
87 Prompts To Write About Yourself
58. Write about what you wish more people knew about your chosen job/career. 59. Write about an external struggle that’s been wearing on you lately. 60. Write about an internal struggle that’s been distracting you and wearing you down. 61. Describe something you love — or don’t love — about the people in your country.
How to Write About Yourself: 3 Lessons & Examples from a
1. Share the small moments. Sacks’ enthusiasm for his work shines through in the small moments: I fell in love with his face, his body, his mind, his poetry, everything about him. He would often bring me just-written poems, and I would give him some of my physiology essays in return.