Yesterday, I used a phrase that some might say is politically incorrect. I said, “They may love you like a brother.”
Did you notice? Did you wonder why I didn’t add “or sister”? Did you wonder why I didn’t include the 71Â gender identification options available on Facebook?
Am I sexist or just sloppy? Was it a slip or did I do it on purpose, poking a finger in the collective eye of the social justice warriors who have kidnapped our language and are holding it for ransom?
I wasn’t making a political statement. I did it because “Love you like a brother” is a term of art and makes the writing better.
But I admit that in today’s hyper-sensitive social climate it also makes the writing edgier.
And that’s a good thing.
Edgier writing is better writing. It makes people slow down and think about what they just read. A thinking reader is a reader who is likely to keep reading and come back for more.
You should go for the same thing in your writing.
I’m not advocating anything radical. You don’t need to immolate yourself in public. Just take a stroll off the well-worn path in the middle of the road and wave a little flag. Get people to notice that you said something unexpected and maybe a bit controversial, instead of the same bland and boring things everyone else says.
Yes, that means you have to take some chances. Go out on some limbs. And yes, that means you might get labeled by people who don’t “get” you or that have no sense of humor. You might lose some followers. Even a client or two. But the people who stick with you will bring others who also like the cut of your jib.
Some might even love you like a brother.
Go write something that will bring in some new clients
