Guidelines for Submitting Posts to On Solid Ground

On Solid Ground (OSG) is a community blog for sharing ideas and recommendations for thinking clearly, living fully, and advancing liberty.

If you’d like to write for the blog, this guide will help you craft posts that align with OSG’s purpose.

Writing Style 

  • Tone: Please use a simple, clear, and conversational style. A good yardstick is to imagine that you’re explaining your idea to a friend over coffee. 
  • Approach: The ideal OSG piece shares ideas in a manner that meets readers at their values and then shows them how your ideas may help them achieve those values (this is what we call a “value-up” approach). To start at readers’ values, consider writing sentences with a structure similar to “Do you want to reduce your stress levels?” or “Many of us are looking to get a higher-paying job,” then explain how your ideas can help them achieve those goals. Also, consider sharing your ideas with a “learn-out-loud” attitude. This means writing in an exploratory, rather than a definitive or matter-of-fact manner. Consider using phrases such as “In my view…,”  “My thinking on this is…,” or “Given what facts I have so far…” to achieve this.

Example Posts

Here is a partial list of the kinds of posts you could write for OSG.

  • How-to: Cut right to the chase by giving readers a step-by-step process to achieve a particular value. (Example 1, Example 2)
  • Role Model: Show how one of your favorite authors, speakers, or heroes embodies ideas or mindsets that help readers achieve a certain value. (Example)
  • Review: Share the most important takeaway(s) of a book, video, or podcast you’ve recently consumed and how these may help readers achieve related values. (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3)
  • Celebration: Talk about a song, movie, TV show, or video game you admire and the life-serving values it has given you. (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3) 
  • Coming-of-Age Story: Tell a story of how you’ve matured or come to understand an idea deeper than before and what lessons others can pull from it. (Example)
  • Personal Advice: Tell a story of how you learned or developed an idea, how you have been using it to improve your life, and how readers can use it too.
  • Continue the Conversation: Describe an interesting conversation you’ve recently had and invite the reader to contemplate the value of a particular idea from it.
  • Course or Conference Takeaways: Share with readers the most important points you learned from a course or event you took part in and their value to readers.

Submission Guidelines

  • Format: So our editors have an easy time reading and editing your piece, please submit your writing in a Google Doc in 14pt. Times New Roman font. Name the Google Doc using the file naming convention “initials-osg-subject.” At the top of the doc, please include a single-sentence summary of your theme (the main point your piece is making).
  • What to Submit: If you want to save time and/or you’re new to working with us, please either submit a preliminary theme or an outline of your piece before writing a rough draft. This will give editors a chance to identify any theme or structure-related issues early on.
  • Sources: Directly link to mentioned sources (e.g. a book or video). As needed, leave a footnote(s) including page numbers or timestamps if you’re referring to a particular part of the source.
  • Word Count: Ideal posts are between 500 and 1000 words. 
  • Submission: Please send your piece to [email protected] or submit a post here. Allow at least two working days before following up.

If you have any questions, please send them to Maddox at [email protected].