How I came up with my writing niche after 3 years

Check it out now!

Yes Yes yes, my new Maintaining Joy Newsletter is out and officially printed out and off into my senior’s hands as of Thursday May 2nd! It took me 3 years to come up with a writing niche. I dibbled and dabbled into EVERYTHING!

My mother told me to write December 2020 because as a child I’ve always had a talent for writing (according to my elementary teacher) and a few years prior to this (2003, 2007) but I’m like, “what the heck do I write about”? I’ve joined American Writers & (A.W.A.I) February 2021 and started learning what it means to make a living from writing.

I’ve studied B.2.B copy writing with legendary Steve Slaunwhite ,direct response with legendary Carline-Anglade Cole, emails, ghostwriting, product descriptions, service descriptions and my last program that I’ve purchased was oh wait guess? A NEWSLETTER program put together by legendary Pam Foster! I didn’t know what the heck I wanted. Just all over the place. You ever felt like that?

I really fell in love with the newsletter program the most. I even asked one of the directors at my senior center if she could show me how to create a newsletter. I knew if I could at least create that I’m doing something right. January 3, 2024 my wish came true after a few weeks of waiting for the busy holiday season to end. I received an half hour of training on Microsoft word. I took off from there.

I’ve copied/created multiple senior center newsletters and I even asked if they needed someone. But the centers usually do it themselves but it was fun copying them to get my skills up. I knew I were on to something but still pretty confused on WHAT to write.

January 11, 2024 I decided to join Write Your way to Freedom, an online writing course for people who want to be freelance writers and want a career in that field. That’s where I met the copy editor and (now my mentor) where I submitted my writing for a TRUE review. “Is it good or nah”? I was tired of thinking it were good and I found out otherwise. I knew something was off.

My copy needed work and I challenged myself to keep working hard until my writing was right. My editor gave me her writing e.book and notes on how to really find your TARGET audience just by learning who the client is. So what I did was pretend that my client was a senior center director and I broke down his whole life story (non-fiction). After all, I did copy the newsletters from the senior centers and I just pretended that I wanted a job in creating newsletters.

When I sent that over to the copy-editor she was AMAZED! And that’s when she told me that I could write for the ‘Geriatric industry’, to create senior profiles. I made the copy editor my MENTOR after that because I needed more guidance and we’ve been working together for about a month (April).

Boom

I have my focus. I finally have a road map that I’ve been seeking for so long. A.W.A.I did talk about that, but it went in one ear and out the other. It didn’t stick to my brain.I don’t know why I haven’t thought of writing senior memoirs. After all, I do drive for the seniors. We talk. We’ve had a great relationship for almost 3 years why not ask them about what makes them happy and keeps them going at their ages (70’s 80’s 90’s).

So my Maintaining Joy newsletter purpose is about what gives seniors joy to keep smiling everyday, includes a activity page (coloring, word puzzles, etc), an article on what I’ve written about the importance of newsletters for the older community and an about the writer, which is me.

I am having a ball with this project using the newsletter program Canva and Microsoft Word. Canva have awesome newsletter design templates. My seniors love Canva better than the Microsoft word version of my creation. But hey at least I can create monthly calendars and text boxes right quick!

Every month a new newsletter with a different senior will be on the cover talking about their joy. My target audience is seniors ages 55 and older. The focus /purpose is maintaining joy. The content elements is senior profiles. My content approach is original/episodic,story (from me) and the article is curated because I had to dig on some senior newsletter community information.

It feels nice to NOT be lost on what to write about and create. There is a lot of competition out here and you have to find what makes you STAND OUT.

My advice? If you feel lost, get a mentor. I was lost for 3 years!!! Ring ring around the Rosie, “get paid to write about something you love”…ring ring around the Rosie." Think of something you’d love to write about everyday”. Try this and try that…what a nightmare feeling stuck in the quicksand.

I hope you enjoy my article. Let me know your thoughts!