My ex-girlfriend gave me the best present...


Hey Reader,

I didn't know it yet, but around this time of year in 2015, my life as I knew it was about to implode.

My then-girlfriend was about to go on a trip to India, meet and fall for someone else, and return three weeks later to end our three-year relationship.

Looking back, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. But at the time, it felt like I'd never find love again.

"I'm almost 30, and my life is overrr." 😅

Here's my wife and beautiful 13-month-old twins opening presents yesterday, so everything worked out (as it often does).

So, why am I telling you this?

Because...

This event empowered me to chase a dream I never thought would become a reality: writing.

Growing up, I loved writing but had no clue how to make money from it. So, I zig-zagged my way from job to job, picking up valuable skills but feeling zero passion.

Well, now my heart was shattered, and I was at rock bottom, so I had a f*ck it moment.

I left my cushy startup job in Boston and bought a ticket to Thailand to teach English.

I had to re-learn English grammar basics to teach them to 5-10-year-olds. The process was oddly fun.

Checking my students’ work reignited my love for words (and, more importantly) wordplay.

I also dyed my hair blonde and broke my foot in a motorbike accident, but those are stories for another day.

So, when I stopped teaching in 2017, I immediately started writing and editing. I applied to 50+ jobs daily on Upwork and accepted whatever I could get.

But the second I started getting feedback, I realized I had a problem.

For articles, social posts, you name it, I didn’t know how to write for people reading online.

My sentences averaged 25 words. My transitions were messy. I wrote in passive voice. I overused adverbs. I leaned into clichés.

Luckily, an Upwork client taught me how to do it right. He was nice, unlike a horde of other editors I've had along the way.

I quickly improved, which helped me deliver better work and raise my prices.

I also learned an important lesson: Editing is a skill anyone can learn, but unfortunately, most people don’t have access to great editors.

If you’re a content creator or entrepreneur going it alone, you’ve got a .01% chance a professional editor will ever review your work.

And, finding decent editing resources online is nearly impossible. I've looked far and wide and they just aren't there.

This sucks because I know that most people want to edit their content but don’t know what to do.

​This is why I built Content Editing 101.​

I've gotten hundreds of messages from people who want to learn how to make their writing better, but don't know where to start.

I built this course to give you a roadmap of what to remove, when to add more, and why.

So the course is both self-directed and interactive.

And you walk away knowing the principles of editing but also having a set of automated editing tools (built by Rob Lennon) to apply those principles more quickly.

So, thanks, ex-girlfriend, for breaking the dam on my life wide open in 2016. You forced me to reconnect with my inner writer and editor, and now, I get to help others do the same.

We're running a presale this week so if you buy before 2024 you:

  • Save $50
  • Get a bonus live editing workshop in January

<<<Take me to Content Editing 101>>>

Cheers to your editing success,

Erica

P.S. Happy holidays!

P.P.S. If you have any questions about this course, hit reply and ask away.

Cut the Fluff

Learn to edit words like a pro. I've edited 3M+ words and each week, I share a lesson to teach you what to cut, how to add value, and how to finally feel confident when editing. Every subscriber gets access to my Editing Library, a database of 62 edits broken down by the problem, my take on how to improve it, and my edited version.

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