> and connected with people also interested in the subject
...is something I never learned to do. How did this come about for you? Personally, whenever I'm learning something new, I always think "why would anybody want to discuss my completely amateur take on this topic?" and just end up doing things on my own.
For me, it was helpful to use Seth Godin's advice[1]. I used email to reach out to people I admire, to pull ideas from their mind, and eventually I found others reaching out to me to do the same. Like all good things: connections take time.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/how-to-send-...
One other thing I struggle with is topic. Everyone says niche but I'm not niche - I learn and am interested in a huge range of topics. How could I make progress in this way? I can't stick with a single topic in my own life, it'd be difficult to reflect that into my writing.
I know I'd subscribe to someone dedicating time to research and write about identifying interesting subjects, diving into them, and the results.