Member Spotlight: Sam Bentley

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? As someone who focuses on creating content for social media, I think writing is more important than ever. When producing content for social, my work is reaching loads of people but people who are in a ‘disposable’ headspace, where you have seconds to win their attention and then constantly have to fight to retain it, only for them to move on to the next item on the newsfeed. With writing, you are reaching less people but people who are in a focused headspace, who can sit down and read or listen to your words without the competitive nature of the newsfeed.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I got incredibly frustrated when I had writer’s block. Something seemingly as simple as putting words into a document just seemed impossible. I honestly can’t say I found a remedy for it during the time writing my first book, but I think if I collaborated with more people during the creation of it, and had someone to bounce ideas off it could have helped substantially.

What is your favorite time to write? I didn’t find a set time in the day that was my favourite, I would just get into a headspace where I felt like it was time to let the words flow. I think developing a rigid structure of when you feel like you should be writing can actually be a setback in writing, so giving freedom to write when you’re inspired to seemed to work the best.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Remember what you’re doing this for. I got a lot of advise before taking on the book and the main takeaway was to remember your purpose whilst writing the book. You can’t control the sales or how people are going to react to it, but you can know for sure why you’ve put this book together. In my instance, it was to inspire people and help people feel more confident learning about sustainability and how we can all play our part in the climate movement. If this book changes the trajectory of one person’s life in a positive way, then it’s been a success.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The accessibility. I never dreamed of writing a book, and I think that was partly because I never felt myself worthy or smart enough to. Through my work on social media, that opened the door to a writing opportunity that I never would have got 20 or even 10 years ago, so it’s a really exciting age we’re in to be able to create a book efficiently with a team halfway across the world.

Sam Bentley’s Good News, Planet Earth: What’s Being Done to Save Our World, and What You Can Do Too! is out now with DK.