For readers: Create a “column ritual.” Pick one or two regular writers. Read them every Sunday morning with tea, or on your commute. You’ll start to see patterns—what they care about, how they think. It’s like having a living textbook on human nature.
For aspiring writers: Start a “column journal.” Write 300 words every day on one specific thing you noticed. A broken elevator. A weird interaction at a cafe. Do this for a month. You’ll be shocked at how quickly you develop a voice.
Fun fact: The world’s shortest column? In 1903, the New York Sun published a piece from “The Observer” that just read: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” That single column became one of the most reprinted editorials in history. All it needed was a child’s question and a writer’s soul.
