Have you always had a penchant or desire to write from an early age? Or has your literary skill developed in later life?
I've always really enjoyed writing, outside of school. In school, my spelling and grammar were horrible. English was my worst subject in school. So I got off to a rough start but have been writing most days for 30 years.
Your current blog is a veritable library of concise and profound posts. What motivates you to churn out such reading matter?
I've always learned best by reading then writing. So it's a way for me to reinforce what I'm working on in my life. I have a tendency to churn out a lot of volume but, these days, I find it better to focus on fewer ideas. It’s easy to spew thousands of words, for little benefit to anyone.
Do you ever plan ahead and catalogue future posts or is your current writing borne more out of impulse and your current thought process?
Sometimes I plan ahead. However, the stuff that most interests me (ethics, tax policy, asset valuation, ancient philosophy) doesn't interest my readers. So those topics make up more of my private work than what’s published.
While on the subject of your blog, your posts are fairly short-form as far as word count goes. Any particular reason for this?
Reader feedback! I don't expect people to have more than 90 seconds per article. I like to stick with a single theme, 2-3 ideas around the theme and less than 300 words.
Looking back at your athletic career, you chronicled your journey prolifically via a previous blog. Given that you were spending many hours training at the time, what motivated you back then to put what seemed to be your life and times in long-form pen?
Back then, I didn't have much going on outside of sport. So I'd dream up ideas on the bike and write them out on my easy days. Just like today, I'd focus mainly on sharing what I was working on. I also wrote articles for my coached athletes so I could avoid saying the same thing over and over. Finally, it was excellent marketing, and filtering, for clients. My marketing philosophy was “give good information for free.” When the work connects with people, they will seek you out and have you tailor the same content to their personal situation.
How has your writing style evolved over the years?
Shorter and shorter, with a shift towards universal topics. That said, blog writing is very different than book writing. I’ve yet to put together a really compelling long form read. Those require interesting stories that are tied to a theme. Quite difficult to do well. Michael Lewis is a master — others stick with shorter chapter structuring, kind of like a long blog post wrapped around an interesting story.
Talk about the therapeutic effects of putting your thoughts to pen. Is there a sort of "yin/yang" connection or balance that you experience?
Publishing, done well, is cathartic and feeds our desire to connect with others. Once I write something it leaves my mind. For whatever reason, I don’t get the same release from speaking about ideas.
Any particular time of day that you feel is when you do your best writing work?
Far and away first thing in the morning, ideally after about an hour of light cardio. However, with young kids, I rarely have ideal conditions. The kids are more important, so I’ve accepted a lower quality and quantity of writing
You've published a few books, including "Going Long." Any advice for budding athletic writers who are thinking of getting a book out there?
Writing books is surprisingly difficult. Athletic writing is a lot like business writing, so I was well suited to the task. As for advice, I’ve always done well working with established players. I write a lot for the partners in my firm and Going Long was written in partnership with bestselling author Joe Friel. Joe provided the framework, the credibility and the publishing deal. All key areas, which would have been very tough for me to handle on my own — especially as my athletic approach was built on Joe’s prior works (The Training Bible series).
Another tip is to know why you are bothering to write. Having your name on the front of a well-written, thick book is a way to instantly establish your expert credentials. I made a far more money from becoming seen as an expert, than I ever did on book royalties. That said, riding along on Joe’s brand meant that Going Long ended up paying very well on an hourly basis.
Given your shift in life and health focus, any inclination to publishing a sequel entitled 'Going Long Term?'
One of the neat things about having written so much is a feeling that I’ve “said what needs to be said.”
I’m grateful to have had more success than I expected.
Read more of Gordo's musings over at his excellent 'Fitness, Family and Finances' blog.
*Note: Header image courtesy of Gordo Byrn.
