This interview is with Phillip Mandel, Owner, Mandel Marketing.
Phillip, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming an expert in writing?
Although I have 20+ years of experience in marketing, and I run an ad agency, I have been writing fiction and poetry since I was a kid. I was an English major in college and got a Master’s in Literature before pausing my marketing career for a couple of years to pursue an MFA in Fiction. For the past few decades, I’ve been reading and studying the art of literature and writing with intent and focus. So, while my passion is writing novels and short stories, I use my writing skills in business all day, every day.
What are some of the pivotal moments in your career that have shaped your perspective on writing?
When I first graduated from college, I was rejected by an MFA program—which made me realize 1) that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, and 2) writing well is hard. Like, really, really hard. I knew I had to work hard to improve. Years later, when I eventually got into an MFA program, I knew I couldn’t squander that opportunity, and I made sure to study and learn all there is to know about writing—creatively, persuasively, and effectively.
In my career, I’ve worked in advertising and in sales. Writing an ad or a sales pitch is different from writing a novel, of course, but many of the principles remain the same: be concise, engaging, and don’t bore the reader.
You mentioned reading your work aloud as an editing tip. What other practices have you found helpful in honing your craft and ensuring your writing resonates with readers?
Reading aloud helps with awkward phrasing and maintaining the right tone, but that’s just one of a million things to consider when trying to write well. Perhaps my number-one tip for writing better is to eliminate clichés. This is because a cliché is a lazy, boring, and ineffective way of communicating information. People see clichés, and their eyes automatically skip over them. They don’t mean anything, which means you’ll often have to repeat yourself later to say what you originally intended to say. Clichés are easy to write, though, so they often sneak in on first drafts without you realizing it. You have to go back, with intention, and rewrite them. It’s not easy, unfortunately.
In your experience, what are some common misconceptions people have about writing, and how do you address them?
Perhaps one misconception is that writing is easy. In fact, it is typing that is easy. The first draft of a written piece can be created quickly, but going back and doing the revision—that’s the hard part, and that’s the real writing part of it. Most of the time, great writing doesn’t come out fully formed, but instead, it’s worked over by the writer and edited at length before anyone else ever sees it.
You’ve spoken about the importance of embracing failure in creative work. Can you elaborate on a specific instance where a setback in your writing career ultimately led to valuable growth or a new opportunity?
When I first started sending out my work for publication, I was rejected soundly and at every turn. I still get rejected a lot, in fact—everyone does. But this failure taught me two valuable lessons.
One, I needed to grow a thicker skin. If every rejection hurt so badly, then nobody would ever try to be a professional writer. If you got stung by every email you sent out that got ignored, then you’d quit work altogether.
Two, I needed to work harder. It’s not fun knowing that your work could be better, that it isn’t ‘good enough.’ But it’s important to accept and to try to write better, and to not be satisfied with first-draft material.
As an editor, how do you balance respecting a writer’s unique voice while also providing constructive feedback and ensuring the piece aligns with its intended purpose and audience?
At Abandon Journal, we publish authors from all over the world, from all walks of life, in all ages, and from all perspectives. This means that any editorial feedback I provide must be about the work itself, rather than what the work is trying to say or who it’s for. My goal as an editor is to improve someone’s piece, not to change it.
With the rise of digital platforms and ever-evolving content consumption habits, how do you see the role of writing adapting and what skills do aspiring writers need to thrive in this landscape?
Technology is making a lot more content available to more people at every moment of their lives; this means your writing is competing with more and more stuff constantly. It was different back in the 1800s, when someone had a handful of books and nothing but time on their hands to read them. These days, we’re competing with millions of hilarious short-form videos that have been algorithmically chosen to pique our interest. Everyone’s attention spans are shortening as well.
What this means is that the phrase ‘don’t be boring’ is more important than ever. I don’t care how many videos are created; people will not stop reading. But the way they read will change, and writers need to make sure they respond to it. Be concise and be interesting.
What final piece of advice would you offer to someone aspiring to make a mark in the world of writing, whether it’s through books, articles, or any other form of written expression?
I have an entire chapter of ‘An MFA for Your MBA’ called ‘Show Up Every Day.’ Outside of ‘don’t use clichés,’ this is the most important piece of writing advice I can give anyone who wants to make a living from writing or wants to improve their craft for any reason. What it means is that you have to, like a basketball player on the court or a pianist at the piano bench, show up to practice every single damn day. It means writing something, with intention, or editing and revising it, every day. (Yes, you can skip a day once in a while.)
The truth is that writing is like any other skill, in that it needs to be practiced. You get better at writing by writing a lot. Perhaps a million or more words before any of them are good. It’s daunting, perhaps, but it’s not impossible.