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Wow, the response to my post last week was incredible! There were more than 100 comments, with dozens of you sharing what you create and why, and even engaging with each other. This is why I do the work I do — to celebrate why we write and how the written word connects us as human beings.

I often end my posts with this, but I want to start with it today: thank you for being here with me.

I don’t take it for granted, and as I’ve gotten older, I have really appreciated how meaningful it is to give someone your attention, share space together, and simply recognize each other’s voices.

Recently I was a guest on two podcasts:

• On the #AmWriting podcast, I talked about “How to Create a Substack that Delivers (for you and your readers)” with KJ Dell’Antonia and Jennie Nash. It was a great conversation because KJ asked the hard questions about Substack, which ensured that we dove deep. I have mentioned Jennie Nash many times in this newsletter — she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. As expected, she brought so much to frame this conversation around the goals that writers have.
• On the Edit Your Life podcast, I discussed “Finding Connection and Community through Creativity” with Christine Koh. I met Christine years ago and had her as a guest on my podcast. She was so generous in this episode, and talked about how much I have influenced her way of thinking. This was such a heart-filled conversation.

While I have helped many writers successfully launch their paid tiers here on Substack, I only opened up my own a few months ago. I’ve been pretty low key about promoting it, but have LOVED sharing weekly videos for my paid subscribers. I try to truly show up and provide big mindset shifts and manageable strategies in each edition. Here is what I have been sharing over the past several weeks:

• Creativity, productivity, and momentum: The simple tool I use to turn big goals into manageable steps.
• Lessons from a snow day: Finding clarity and calm in sharing your work.
• Find joy in writing and sharing: Strategies for getting unstuck and focusing on craft.
• No one knows what works: How to find momentum and meaning in how you create and share.

In these videos, I welcome you into my studio. It means a lot that some of you join me here! If you want to try out becoming a paid subscriber, you can do by clicking one of the links above.

Recently, I have seen a lot of discussion online bemoaning that writers nowadays have to focus so much on “self-promotion.” One well-researched article started the conversation, and then I saw many reactions from different corners of the writing community, with each person making interesting points from their perspective.

This topic comes up again and again, almost like clockwork. It will come up again in the future as well, under different guises and contexts. One simple way to frame it is this: “I’m a writer, can’t I just write?”

The answer, in short: of course. You can just write, and be satisfied that you are engaging in this amazing and essential human endeavor — to express something meaningful to you, and to develop that craft of expression.

Having grown up as an artist, I have boxes of art and writing sitting up in my dusty 100+ year old attic. For some of these projects, I dreamed of others engaging with them and failed to do the work to make that happen. For others, their only purpose was the act of creation itself.

Earlier this week I read about this new book that showcases the work of Frank Johnson. Who was he? A shipping clerk who died in 1979. The book description tells the story well:

“When Frank Johnson, an itinerant musician and shipping clerk, died in 1979, he left behind a startling discovery: more than 2,300 notebook pages of comics and 131 unbound drawings, among them a massive, continuous story line beginning in the earliest surviving notebook dated 1928 ― before the existence of comic books! ― and following the exploits of his own cast of characters across 50 years until Johnson passed away. During this lifelong project, Johnson invented in private many of the conventions and tropes that define comics storytelling, effectively enacting an alternative secret history of the comics medium.”

Below to the left are the composition books he used to create the comics, numbering each in the series; to the right is a sample of one page in the comic:

His family didn’t know about this work, and he never tried to share or publish any of it. From what anyone can tell, he created just to create. Running a single storyline for decades!

You do not need to publish. You do not need to share your work. You do not need to “self-promote,” or worry about marketing or establishing a platform. There is beauty in the act of creating. Period.

I’ve known Jennifer Louden for years, and read in a recent post from her that she was doing another big house cleaning, ridding her life of items that are just taking up space. What did she include in the “recycle” pile? Decades of diaries and journals:

She was gracious enough to pull these out of recycling to take a photo for me. Why would she dispose of her writing, when so much of her life and career revolves around writing? After trashing the easy objects to get rid of, she explains what happened next:

“Here I [was] perched in my cold basement, scanning through the boxes of remaining journals. It took about ten minutes to be exhausted by reading my berating efforts to change and be someone other than I was…”

“But then something else took shape on those pages… how often I wrote something along the lines of, ‘This time will be different, I will make writing fiction a priority.’”

“I sat there, grimy from cleaning, stunned. I had forgotten how badly and over how many years I had tried to write novels. How much work I had done. And how many times I had faltered. Quit. The last time I tried writing fiction? 12 years ago.”

“I could have dug a deep cesspool of regret and drowned myself there after reading those decades of trying and not succeeding, of stopping and starting. But instead, I sat up straighter and thought, ‘Damn girl you spent a lot of time thinking about writing, learning about writing, working it, you have been devoted. And you are primed to do this now!’”

“Also, I did write 9 other books during that time. I did support my family. I did help a lot of women. And I won’t discount that.”

“I dragged those dented old banker boxes, sans a few journals about my kid’s early years, out to the recycling bin, and went back in the warm kitchen without a backward glance. My work now is to relax, write the rest of this first draft…”

All those years of writing, Jen concluded, served the purpose of preparing her for this very moment. Disposing of her journals seems to be part of a takeoff sequence, shedding the fuel she needed to launch the next phase of her work.

This week I began working with two new writers (new to me, each have been writing for years), and each described their goals and challenges. I love how one of them framed investing in themselves this year through our work:

“I feel this intense need to make a pivot. I do not want to wake up next year and still be saying the same thing: I wish I had a writing career. I feel like it’s my turn and time to throw everything at my writing to see what can really come of it. I don’t want to even go down that journey without at least being able to say that I really worked hard to make a writing career happen.”

I love the energy here, and the reminder that this work is intentional. How you share is a craft. I have developed a curriculum that I use for helping people learn to share their work. I have never shared this publicly before — but it contains more than 100 items, all in an ordered progression. I know, that sounds overwhelming, which is probably why I don’t talk much about it! But I created it to double down on my belief that when we share what we create, meaningful connections happen. And we just have to take one small step at a time.

This is different from how many people consider sharing. They view it exclusively as “I’m putting on my marketing hat,” or “I suppose it’s required that I do self-promotion.” I am reminded of this with some junk mail I received recently:

This is just some mass printed promotion, but they try to make it look hand written. Why? They know that authenticity sells — to make this seem like someone worked hard to offer this by writing it out by hand, so you should reciprocate by replying.

Another piece of mail arrived recently:

Why include two dollar bills? Shock value, I mean, how often do you unexpectedly receive cash in the mail? But also — again — to encourage reciprocation. If they gave me this money, don’t I owe it to them to respond?

As a student of communication and marketing, I love seeing these tactics at work. But… as a writer or creator, you don’t have to employ them.

When you create, you do so because you feel called to from something deep inside of you. If you choose to share, this is not “self-promotion,” but you sharing that work knowing that it may resonate deeply with someone. And in that moment, you can change their life. You can give them a brief respite in an otherwise difficult time. You can help them see the world differently, or even themselves differently.

How we share is a craft. It’s why I show up every day to work with writers. It’s why being present here matters so much to me:

To truly see each other. To listen. To celebrate what we create. To share what matters deeply.

I would love to know, how do you see the pros and cons of sharing your writing or creative work? Is it a positive feeling, or do you worry that you will be seen as “self-promoting?” Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

I’ve sent out this newsletter every week for the past 18 years. Close to a year ago, I moved it over to Substack, and since then have seen it grown way faster than I expected. I’m reminded that each person who finds me comes in at a different time. So today, I want to reintroduce myself, talk about why I believe so passionately in helping writers share their work, and ask that you introduce yourself as well!

Okay, so let’s start with the basics: My name is Dan Blank and I live in New Jersey with my wife (who is an amazing artist, see her work here), and our two kids, who are 13 and 6.

Fourteen years ago I started my company, WeGrowMedia. That’s really just a fancy name for me working directly with writers and running workshops for writers. I work out of a private studio:

I spend my days helping writers:

• Develop and execute marketing plans for their books.
• Understand who their ideal readers are, where to find them, and how to engage them.
• Establish and grow their platforms, which may include developing their websites, social media, podcasts, newsletters, in-person events, and so much more.
• Find clarity in their work, knowing how to talk about their writing and managing it all with a sense of joy and meaning.

Over the years, I have worked with thousands of writers, including those who write memoir, nonfiction, fiction, children’s books, poetry, and seemingly every niche category. These writers have pursued all available publishing paths, including traditional, hybrid, and indie.

My days are spent in conversation with writers, which makes me the luckiest person in the world. Here are some of the lovely people I have had the pleasure of working with:

I do this work because I believe:

• Everyone can be creative, and that your unique creative voice should be heard.
• When we share what we create, the world becomes a better place.
• How we share is a craft, one that can be filled with joy and deep purpose.

That is what I try to share here in The Creative Shift every week. You may notice that I often share examples from a wide range of creative fields, including film, music, illustration, and performing arts. I believe there is so much to learn from other creators about the opportunities and challenges of what it means to share your voice and connect with your ideal audience.

Along the way, I have authored a book — Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience — as well as shared 1,000+ essays, run hundreds of workshops and courses, been a part of many podcasts, and shared 35,000+ social media posts.

Every writer has their own journey and creative vision. It is truly an honor to be the tiniest part of helping to share what they create.

Before this, I worked for a decade at a large publisher of trade magazines. There, too, my days were spent with writers, including journalists, reporters, editors, and the many other roles in magazines such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Variety, Interior Design, and dozens of others.

I worked here during the huge transition that publishers were making from print to digital. I ended up helping to launch the company’s blog initiative, training 300 bloggers, as well as helping to establish the social media strategies for dozens of brands. Of course, I assisted in newsletter strategies too.

This is where my own newsletter began. It started with me needing to ask permission. I told my boss I wanted to share a small weekly newsletter that helped the writers and business leaders in our company embrace how to connect with readers online. Thankfully, she gave me permission. Communications in the company were tightly controlled, and she was in charge of the formal company newsletter. It felt like a big step that she would approve a (dramatically) smaller one, run entirely by me.

I walked around to the desks of 9 people I knew and asked if I could send them the first issue.

What happened next was unexpected, and a little harrowing. This is the moment that everything changed for me, when it became possible for me to work full-time on my own, spending my days doing creative work that I love. (Though that wouldn’t happen until years later.)

One of the 9 people I emailed was a lawyer for our company. He replied back that he thought I should send it to our CEO, and that he would appreciate it. I resisted. Emailing the CEO seemed like the type of thing that a guy sitting in a gray cubical didn’t do. Too often, in corporate culture, you don’t raise your hand in order to stand out. You simply try to fit in.

My colleague gave me an ultimatum: if I didn’t email it to the CEO, he would. My cube was near all of the executive offices, and this was the chain of events:

1. I asked my boss permission to forward the newsletter to the CEO. She approved.
2. I forwarded the first newsletter to the CEO saying that it was suggested I forward it to him, and that he may appreciate it.
3. A few minutes later, I saw the CEO walk out of his office, past my cube, and into my boss’s office. He shut the door. Welcome to the longest 5 minutes of my life.
4. Five minutes later he went back to his office.
5. Thirty seconds later, my phone rang and my boss called me into her office.
6. When I arrived, she asked me to close the door and sit down.

At this point, I was 100% convinced that I was about to be fired. Why? Not only because I had spoken up within a corporation, but because the topic I was writing about (how digital media will affect writers, readers, and impact our revenue with print media) represented a huge threat to the company’s core business model, and to many of its employees.

Then she said something unexpected: “The CEO would like to forward your email to the entire company, suggesting that everyone subscribe.”

That instantly boosted my subscriber base to well more than 9 people. Within the company, I became well-known. I had advocates, but I’m also well aware that I had detractors — those who did not like what I had to say, and were not supportive of my ability to share so easily within the company.

This experience taught me so much about the power of sharing your voice, but also about the importance of advocating for others. When my colleague gave me the ultimatum, “I think you should share this with the CEO. If you don’t, I will,” he became a staunch advocate for me and what I believed in. His involvement was not passive — a simple “like” on a social media post. He focused on amplifying my voice.

Through what he did, what my boss allowed, and what the CEO insisted on, a chain of events happened that has lead me to where I am today. In many ways, I got lucky. In other ways, what I did with that luck shaped what was to come next. If I had just sent 10 newsletters and then stopped, nothing would have changed. But I kept going, sending newsletters week after week, and in the process I learned more about who I was and who my readers were. This journey continues today with this very newsletter, and you reading these words. (Thank you!!!)

In 2010, that company was eventually sold and split up. I stayed until the very end. I never looked for another job, and instead started WeGrowMedia. Below is a photo of me signing my severance agreement. To the right is the stack of invitations for the baby shower for our first child. It was a huge risk for me to try to earn a living on my own while we are just starting a family. But I knew then that if I didn’t do it in that moment, I never would:

Before all of this, in the late 1990s I worked at a series of startups in New York City during what was known as the Dot Com 1.0 Bubble. I did writing, design, and marketing. These were the first online companies who were riding the wave of internet success.

The startups I worked for didn’t make it. At one company, I remember the eerie feeling of walking into work one day and everyone whispering that the Chief Financial Officer just quit because there was no more money, signaling dire straights for the rest of us. Soon after, in a moment of company desperation, we were all asked to literally walk out into the streets and go to Washington Square Park to stop anyone we could and tell them about our company. Our product hadn’t yet shipped. It was a very odd feeling.

So often I write about connecting with your audience early in your process of sharing what you create. This story is why. I think back to that moment as the experience we all want to avoid: vying for any attention when it is already too late.

In college I studied communications — everything from the media and mass communication to interpersonal and nonverbal communication. My professors had us run experiments to observe human behavior. One day, we were asked to go to a random building on campus, get on a crowded elevator and simply face the opposite way as everyone else to see how others reacted.

Another assignment was to go to the student center and observe the patterns and exchanges between students — from friends to strangers. All of this study certainly shaped my own process of research and observation that I share in case studies on how writers can best connect with readers.

I had another focus in college, which is publishing my own music zine with a friend. I loved Britpop and what was called “alternative music” back then. So I began cold calling record companies, and eventually developed contacts at all of the major labels. The result was hundreds advance copies of new albums, free access to concerts, and interviews with some of my favorite bands at the time, including: Oasis, They Might Be Giants, Blur, and Weezer. This is me laying out an issue in the early 1990s:

The cost of printing these issues all went on my credit card, and it took me years of working minimum wage jobs to pay off that debt. But, it was worth it.

Growing up, I was the art kid. At age 5, my mom enrolled me in art classes in Mrs. Flannigan’s basement. Her walls featured these huge 20-foot-long murals, with art supplies spilling over on the shelves. It was magical.

In the years that followed, I explored illustration, painting, sculpture, photography, paper engineering, and so much else. Then, of course, came the writing. At first this was in service of the visual stories I was telling. But soon my life as a teenager was filled with writing poetry and prose.

It’s weird to write all this out. Living it, every milestone and era felt kind of random. But looking back, I see such a clear thread between the different phases of my life, and the work I do with writers now.

Now it is your turn! Let me know in the comments, what do you create, why does it matter to you, and what was the journey that lead you here?

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

In the past year, I have worked with author Mary Carroll Moore to help her release two novels within six months of each other. There is so much to learn from this experience, I wanted to share it in a mega case study today.

Mary and I worked together twice in the past year (with a small break in-between):

1. First, for the launch of her novel A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, in October 2023. We also did planning for the period between the two novels.
2. Then we worked on the strategy for the launch of her next novel, Last Bets, which will be released this coming April.

Throughout this experience, there have been many highlights for her, including:

• Overwhelmingly positive trade reviews.
• Becoming an Amazon bestseller and landing in their Hot New Release category.
• Recruiting a launch team that truly loves her writing and supports her books.
• Appearing on many podcasts feeling 100% prepared and truly enjoying it.
• A huge turnout for her in-person book launch party, as well as her virtual gatherings with readers.
• Great reviews from readers on Amazon, social media, and elsewhere.

In the Acknowledgements of Last Bets, Mary generously wrote: “Thanks to Dan Blank for more than I can say; ground-level inspiration as well as much-needed education about effectively sharing my story with readers today. Working with you was one of my best decisions ever.”

I was shaken when I read that. Mary has been a successful writer for a long time, and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. And what she had been planning for 2023 and 2024 was huge. She framed it this way:

“I’m going to be 70 in April, when Last Bets is published.  It will be my 15th published book.  For most of my writing career, I let my publishers handle all the publicity and promotion.  Sometimes it worked well, sometimes it was very half-hearted.  The books usually sold well anyway, but I always wondered if there was more that could be done, even when I worked with in-house publicists or did a book tour.  I mostly wanted to reach readers in a more intimate way for these two novels, which I have worked on a long time and love very much.”

“So I decided I’d give these two books my all—to do everything I wish the publishers had done for my books in the past, and more.  I wanted to learn as much as I could while I could still do it.  I had saved the money from my years of teaching and coaching writers. I also made a wish list last April of what I would most want to experience through this process.  Every single thing on that list came true.”

“I mostly wanted people/readers to be very affected by the stories, very involved with the characters, and let me know this in their feedback and reviews.  To love the books as much as I do. That also happened.”

Isn’t that every author’s dream?

While Mary has a rich history with publishing books (she started in the late 1980s), A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue was her first book in over a decade, and her first novel since 2009. What that means is that this was her first time publishing into today’s marketplace, which is quite different from how books were marketed years ago.

Reminder! My next workshop is next Friday: Build a Better Book Launch: Essential Steps to Take Way Before Publication Day. It’s packed with huge mindset shifts, specific strategies, and real-world examples. Everything I share will be helpful even if your next book launch is years away. Join me for the live event on Friday, February 16, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. All who register will receive a recording, so if you can’t make it live, pease consider registering anyway. There will of course be a full Q&A where I answer your questions. All this for $49. More info and registration can be found here.

Everything with Mary’s books is happening because of her intentions and hard work. For planning the launch of A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, we used my system as the foundation. When I work with a writer on a book launch, I have a 25-tab spreadsheet that we use to map out a clear plan, and to track progress as we take action. This includes:

1. Messaging to talk about the book
2. A detailed launch timeline
3. Specific marketing tasks
4. An outreach plan
5. Marketplace research
6. Audience identification
7. And so much else!

Mary and I identified the strategies that felt right for her book, and what we planned was developed months in advance. You don’t have to do it this way, but one thing I think we were optimizing for was balancing mental health with book promotion. Launching a book can be a very emotional endeavor. Things you are certain will work won’t, and surprise opportunities will pop up when you least expect it. Being prepared and leaving some margin allows you to navigate it smoothly.

Working with Mary on A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, our process culminated in one of the oddest ideas I’ve ever encouraged a writer to do for the sake of book marketing. That book features women pilots, and Mary’s mother was a pilot, so I suggested: “You should take flying lessons, then use experience, photos, and videos from that to promote the book.”

A few weeks later, Mary was in a plane taking flying lessons! Here she is in her first lesson inside of a Cessna airplane:

When working with a writer, making plans isn’t enough. We focus on taking action early and often, because building a sense of momentum is critical.

After the launch of that book, Mary and I met to discuss if she should delay the launch of her next book. Without question, releasing two books within six months of each other is a lot. We went through a list of pros and cons, and in the end decided that leveraging the momentum she created was important, so she was going to release it as planned in early 2024.

So much of this experience is not about doing work out of obligation. Instead, it is about choosing the experiences that matter to you. For her, now is the right time to share these books with readers.

An important aspect of this intense duo of book launches is Mary taking time for herself. Before the release of her next book, she is traveling across the country in her camper, and will be spending weeks painting!

For the release of Last Bets, we focused on doing less, but what really mattered most to Mary. Of course, we had the experience of launching A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue to pull from. Recently, I wrote about the importance of setting limits, and that is exactly what we have done here.

For Last Bets, Mary was able to recruit a new launch team and be clear about which efforts she wanted to replicate, and which she was letting go.

I asked Mary about the most useful processes she established. She said:

“Learning how to talk about my books from the perspective of meaning in my own life. This is what resonated most with readers and interviewers.”

This one is huge, and I think many writers overlook this. They come up with catchphrases to describe their book too quickly, and land on vague-sounding descriptions of the themes in their stories. Mary and I dove deep here, and consistently came back to this again and again. To hear an author talk effortlessly about their books in nuanced ways that really resonates with readers — it is such a beautiful thing to witness!

Another that Mary described was to do heavy-duty podcast preparation. This included tech, her “set,” and of course being prepared with answers: “Getting the right equipment and a good background setup for podcasts, as well as having sample questions and scripted answers to let me practice ahead of time.  I didn’t have to re-invent this for each interview, since most of the interviews were very similar in their questions and approach.”

As with many authors I work with now, we focused quite a bit on her Substack newsletter. This is what she said of the experience: “Getting set up on Substack changed my entire experience with writing my weekly newsletter.  I’d been doing it since 2008 and it felt somewhat stale to me.  The Substack community changed that.  All the new subscribers!”

Writers ask me all the time about how early they should start promoting their book, and the value of pre-orders. This is what Mary found: “Pre-orders turned out to be very successful for me, in terms of getting higher ranking on the online bookseller sites.  It takes being very organized to do this, but it was a success I repeated for the second book.”

I often talk about the value of infusing how you share about your writing with people, and human-centered connections. Mary found that recruiting a launch team made a big shift in the success of her book launches, saying: “Having a launch team of volunteers who received the ebook about two months before pre-orders began and posted reviews on Goodreads and BookBub, then later on Amazon.”

It isn’t easy to launch a book, and as I mentioned, it can be a very emotional process. Don’t just focus on the logical plans around the tactics, but prepare to go deep. Invariably, sharing what we create can touch upon deeper fears we have of being seen, of showing up, of connecting with others, being rejected, or even fear of success.

I do this work because I feel it is meaningful to create and share stories, connect with readers, and grow as individuals in the process.

As I write this, Mary is in the moment in-between. — close enough to her book launch where she has done a ton of work, but far enough away that she has no idea how it will be received, and what surprises are in store.

This is why I wanted to write about this now, because I think as writers, we always feel in-between. It is that moment of anticipation where your greatest hopes and fears all seem equally likely to happen. And that is when we do the work to share what matters to us, and connect what we create with others in a way that feels meaningful to you — and to them.

Please join me for my workshop on Friday, February 16th at 12:30pm ET: Build a Better Book Launch: Essential Steps to Take Way Before Publication Day. I will help you understand the nuances of how to be public as an author, develop your platform, and prepare for your book launch, even if that is far in the future. Find more information and registration here.

Thanks!
-Dan

This year, I’m focusing on doing less. My days are spent talking with writers and creators, which is part of the work I do, but also a part of who I have always been. I grew up as an artist, and have had the pleasure of being surrounded by those who create my entire life.

Nowadays, so many writers express to me that they feel stretched too thin, frustrated at their lack of progress, and like time is running out. They work to resolve this, but the result is to pack even more expectations and obligations into their already busy lives. In the process, guilt and shame creeps in. They worry that they should be doing more, that they aren’t achieving what they hope, and that there must be something wrong with them.

As someone who writes and creates, and is surrounded by those who do as well, this is my hope:

• To feel great about who you are. Not who you hope to be, or how you imagine others see you, but to feel great about who you are right now. A couple of years ago, my youngest son watched every episode of Mister Rogers — twice. That is around 1,800 episodes in a row. Echoing throughout our home during that time was the ceaselessly repeated words from Fred Rogers: “I like you exactly as you are.” Sometimes I think this is the most powerful phrase in the world, especially when said to oneself.
• To devote yourself to a craft. Whether that is the craft of writing, art, connection with others, or however you define it. And in the process, to let go of feeling stretched too thin, out of sync with the world around you, and doing 1,000 things… poorly.
• To feel a sense of connection with others. Especially with those who resonate with your craft. So often as adults, we lose the ability to form new relationships or deepen those we have. We tend to create bonds when society makes it easy: classmates at school, colleagues at work, parents in your kid’s classes, neighbors, and fellow members of a religious community. But we lose our ability to seek out and strengthen relationships with those around other themes that light you up inside, especially around your craft. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel you have a thriving network of people who you would love to talk with about ideas and inspiration?

I want you to pursue a life filled with creativity, celebrating who you are, and connecting with people in a meaningful way. That may require you to make some changes. While some people do that in big dramatic ways, I tend to take an opposite approach: to calmly and quietly focus more energy on a couple things that matter most, and less energy on that which doesn’t serve me or others anymore.

I will summarize my advice as:

Do less.

And for the things you are left doing, pursue them as a craft, embracing and exploring the nuances with a sense of wonder and respect.

Before we get started, I’m excited to announce my new workshop:

Join me February 16th for my next workshop: Build a Better Book Launch: Essential Steps to Take Way Before Publication Day. Register Here

Okay, let’s dig in to how you can do less, and create more of what matters…

Give Yourself Permission to Do Less

This is worth repeating: give yourself permission to do less. Inherently, this is about giving yourself permission to do what matters most to you. That isn’t always easy. So much of what we do is based on our own sense of responsibility, living up to the expectations of others, or based on perceptions of how others view us. Let me explain:

I’ll bet you are super busy, and you feel that everything you do is important to you or someone you love. Yet… you may feel stretched beyond your means. And you feel like you aren’t doing important things well.

Giving yourself permission is difficult because we don’t want to let others down. For instance, it’s easy to say, “I deserve a weekend writing retreat! That novel inside me needs to get out!” But it becomes difficult when we realize the effects: “That means I have to miss my daughter’s soccer game, I also can’t contribute my assistance at the bake sale, laundry is piling up, emailing is piling up, and I really should visit my sister.” Every single thing listed here is an important responsibility to you or others. To help out at the bake sale is to help with the cause it is raising money for, it is to be a contributing member to a community, it is to gain social capital of being the one who showed up when there was a need. Getting the laundry done is not some flippant thing, it is about clothing your family, establishing standards of personal care and cleanliness, and living with a sense of order. Don’t even get me started on my love of doing dishes.

In these situations, to do less can feel like you are letting others down. Or that you are being selfish. Or you are ignoring standards you set for yourself and your family.

So how do you do less when everything feels important? Get clarity on what responsibilities are not negotiable and which are. This is not easy, and it tends to go deep. We often build narratives in our heads to support our habits and perceived obligations. We avoid communicating our boundaries and preferences to others out of fear of social shame.

Try my Clarity Card process to get started here. It’s 100% free, simple, and incredibly powerful. Hundreds and hundreds of people have told me how much it has changed their lives.

Say “Yes” to What Deeply Matters

Giving yourself permission to do less is not about saying, “no” to those you love and admire. It is about emphatically saying “yes!” to things that deeply matter.

Again, this isn’t easy. You are a good person. You want to help others. I can’t even tell you how many times people have said to me, “Oh, I hate saying ‘no’ to people.” Why? Because they want to lean into being helpful, and avoid the perception that they aren’t.

But if you are always reacting to the perceived expectations and needs of others, how can you ever live your life with intention?

Saying “yes” to what matters deeply to you means letting go of some of the narratives, identities, and expectations others place on you. So much of this is about remembering:

• You are a good person even when you say ‘no’ to something.
• You are not responsible for how others feel.
• Boundaries are incredibly healthy to have.
• It is your job to communicate your boundaries to others.

Find things that are easy to say “no” to and be ridiculously honest about them when it comes up. Let me give you an example:

I’m afraid of flying. For years, I didn’t want to say that out loud. When I first started WeGrowMedia, I did quite a bit of speaking and worked with some publishers and organizations that help writers. I’ve spoken so many times in and around New York City and loved it. When I was asked to speak somewhere far away, I would demure. For awhile I would give excuses about my schedule, and of course, sometimes that was 100% true. Beyond my fear of flying, I also hate being away from my family. So even a one-day trip messes up my family routine for three days.

After awhile, I finally got honest: “Sorry, I can’t speak at your conference, I don’t fly. But I’m happy to do a virtual event for your community via Zoom during this event or separately.” That ended up leading to some amazing opportunities.

This affected my career in profound ways because it meant I couldn’t take larger consulting opportunities with companies headquartered away from New Jersey. I couldn’t build out a paid speaking career either.

Instead, I doubled down on what fully aligned with the experiences that mattered most to me. That limit of not flying meant that I had to do other things really well, notably newsletters (I’ve sent one every week for more than 18 years), online workshops (I’ve run hundreds of them), and working directly with writers all over the world via phone and Zoom (I’ve collaborated with thousands of writers.) 13 years later, I still do these things.

Is it silly to be afraid of flying. Sure. Is it silly to not want to be away from my family. Sure. Yet, this is who I am. And I’m fine with that. I’m the dope who is missing out on opportunities to travel, but so excited to do dishes after dinner with my family, and spend my days talking to writers.

Related: the time I said no to a free trip to Hawaii.

Doing Less is About Embracing Depth and Craft

Doing less is not about being lazy. To me, it opens up the opportunity to embrace craft and consider how to do even better in the things that matter most to me.

I think about this constantly and am inspired by creators who do things well. While I work primarily with writers, I spend so much time learning about artists, illustrators, filmmakers, musicians, performers, and others in creative fields. I love exploring these questions: How can I do the basics really well? How can I do this 1% better?

I remember reading the memoir by the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard. (I can’t find my copy of the book, so forgive me if the numbers here are slightly off.) Yvon shared how his company seeks to create products in a manner that is as ethical to the environment as possible. At one point in the book he says something like, “We are 92% efficient in this goal.” Then he addresses the obvious question, “Why aren’t we 100% efficient?” He explains how there is diminishing returns in how resources are used. To go from 92% efficient to 93% efficient could take DOUBLE the amount of resources. Yet, they still pursue new avenues to do this, especially as material and manufacturing technologies improve.

This is why I encourage you to devote yourself to your craft. And you get to define what that is. In my own work, I often say that sharing is a craft. I have developed nuanced models around Human-Centered Marketing and The Creative Success Pyramid to explore these details and empower writers.

I recently watched episodes of a video series on YouTube that are created by one of the last video stores in Paris. They have more than 50,000 movies on DVD in this tiny storefront. They invite in famous filmmakers to talk about the movies that inspired them. The other day, I watched Wes Anderson talk about films for 20 minutes, and Christopher Nolan for another 20 minutes. I was blown away by their depth of knowledge.

They discussed films from the past 100 years, from all over the world, and made every single one sound interesting. It made me consider how even the act of watching movies can become a craft. While many people may say, “Oh, I’m a film aficionado,” they likely haven’t seen 1% of the films that Wes or Christopher have.

Why does it matter that Wes or Christopher watched more movies than others? It gives them a bigger palette to work from creatively. Wes is known for using imagery from older films in his own work. Even doing this interview, he held up an older movie and said that he basically lifted the entire credit scene — a moving train — for his latest film. His narrow focus helps him do his art even better.

Craft is about showing up. It’s about putting the time and attention into the nuances that matter.

Embrace Your Limits

Doing less helps prevent burnout. To me, it is about respecting our limits and defining limits before we blow past them, which can result in a mental or physical health crisis. Instead of always maxing ourselves out, where a catastrophe is created at the slightest hiccup in life, doing less is inherently about sustainability.

I am reminded of this all the time. Multiple writers I know are having surgery this week, and others talk to me about burnout, or serious mental health struggles. Without leaving margin in your life, managing these things is even more complex.

Sometimes boundaries and limits lead to creating art and experiences that are truly transcendent. I’m from New Jersey, so let me give you a local example:

Years ago I bought this special edition of Bruce Springsteen’s album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. It includes a replica of the notebook he uses to write more than 60 songs for the album.

Page after page, you see the writing process of someone incredibly focused:

At the time, he couldn’t record because he was trapped in a legal battle with his former manager. There was a real risk that he would lose the rights to his music.

The album itself was a stark change from his previous work which was often uplifting and hopeful about possibility and escaping from that which holds us back. For the Darkness album, Bruce focused on the theme of limits. In previous albums, he would opine about the adventure that awaits on the horizon. But now, the darkness on the edge of town represents the limits that keep us tied to where we are — where we live, our jobs, our families, our obligations, etc.

As they whittle down the songs, the band votes on which songs should make the album:

Bruce explores the possible running order for each side of the record. It’s hard to express this to someone who didn’t grow up with records or tapes, but the running order of each side was pivotal. How a side began and ended, and the songs in between would create a transcendent experience, and were critical for the storytelling of the album. Flipping the record or tape was part of the experience, almost like an intermission in a movie:

This notebook is Bruce focusing on one thing. For sharing his art, he is well-known for having long concerts that overdeliver, sometimes 3-4 hours long. In other words, he does less, but does the art that matters really well.

This can apply to how you create and how you share. For instance, picking one way of sharing and really doubling-down on it. What if, instead of trying to be vaguely be present in three places online (Instagram, Substack, and Facebook), you put 100% of that energy into truly showing up in your Substack? That could look like many things: from engaging more with ideal readers, to more time writing newsletters, to growing your network with colleagues, etc.

Bruce easily could have written just 10 songs for that album, or gotten away with 45 minute concerts. Instead, he did less, but did it incredibly well.

This didn’t only help him create great art, but a dedicated following of fans. I have spent 10 hours waiting before a concert so that I could get right up front at his concerts. Here is a photo I took at one of them, with Bruce right in front of me, holding the mic out in my direction:

Celebrate Doing Less

Doing less is inherently about showing up fully for that which matters to you. This should be celebrated. In the work I do with writers, they are often hoping others will embrace what they create. This could be their book, newsletter, event, podcast, or so much else. When you do less — and do only what matters deeply — that encourages you to share about these efforts and celebrate them. This makes others aware of what you do and why, and join you in the process.

Let me know in the comments: what is one thing you can do less of? Or, to flip the question: what craft would you like to devote yourself to?

One more thing before we end, I’m so excited to announce my next workshop! Join me on Friday February 16th at 12:30pm ET for Build a Better Book Launch: Essential Steps to Take Way Before Publication Day. This workshop will help you understand how to be public as an writer, develop your platform, and prepare for your book launch, even if that is far in the future. You can find full information and registration here.

Thanks!
-Dan

I am so excited to share this case study with you today! It dives into a tool that I use with writers all the time to help them:

• Get clarity on what to share with readers.
• Plan what to write.
• Be consistent in how to share.
• Find calm in how sharing (a simple process, instead of overwhelming expectations.)

An editorial calendar is in many ways a very simple tool. It is often just a basic spreadsheet, text document, calendar on your wall, or a planner on your desk. The key components tend to include days of the year, and what you may want to share and publish throughout the year. You may use an editorial calendar to manage your email newsletter, but it can apply to everything you share, including social media, in-person events you are a part of, and so much else.

Today’s case study will dive into the mechanics of it, but that isn’t the only reason I am sharing it. You share because you have a specific creative vision, and because sharing your ideas and stories with readers matters deeply. Today’s case study focuses on the passion and meaning that embodies what you write and why you share.

Okay, this is where I introduce an unexpected twist: today’s case study focuses on the editorial calendar of a LEGO collector who has a YouTube channel called DuckBricks, with more than 139,000 subscribers. Meet Christopher Lee! You can see a small part of the 8,000 LEGO sets in his personal collection behind him:

Earlier this month, Chris shared a video where he reviewed the editorial calendar for all of his upcoming videos. I was blown away by how specific it was, and how much passion was infused in it. I felt it was an amazing case study to help writers consider the value of an editorial calendar for how you share.

I recently talked about how to manage your complete editorial system on Substack in this workshop, and you can purchase replays of all of my workshops here. This is infused in the work I do everyday with writers, helping them develop their platforms, connect with readers, and launch their books. The editorial calendar is a key piece in the methodology I use with writers, which I call the Creative Success Pyramid. It’s there on the bottom row as “Editorial Management”:

Okay, let’s dig in to this amazing editorial calendar case study! I break this up by specific tips to help you get started.

Write Things Down

When I work with writers, I have an editorial calendar template I use, along with several other templates that work up to this stage. For Chris, he keeps his editorial calendar as simple as can be, which is soooooo smart. He includes just enough information to plan effectively, but not so much that it overwhelms. This is it:

It includes these columns:

1. Date
2. Description
3. Recorded? (yes or no)
4. Thumbnail Made (yes or no)
5. Uploaded? (yes or no)
6. Additional Content (any additional things to mention in the video, such as an anniversary, etc.)

He started using this spreadsheet in January 2021. Simple systems last! Note the color-coding he uses as well, making it even easier to see where to focus his efforts.

For later in the year, he has videos scheduled that are complete or partially done, and he just leaves gaps in the calendar for days in between:

Do you need to use a spreadsheet? No! The point here is to begin writing down your ideas. Consider what it will take to complete ideas, and the possible order you want to publish them. It’s worth noting that Chris does seem to have others who assist him with some of the elements here, though I’m not exactly sure what that looks like.

Plan Ahead

On January 16th, Chris said that basically every video from then through the end of March is done and already scheduled in YouTube. What goes into that? So much!

• Filming
• Editing
• Thumbnail creation
• Title
• Description (and metadata)
• Upload/schedule

For each of these items, there may be multiple steps. For instance, perhaps he has to film in multiple locations. Or if he is creating a video about a trip, he may have recorded video from that trip, but then may need to record additional footage in his studio as an intro.

What is amazing is that he has many videos complete and planned well beyond March. Do you have to be this diligent? Of course not. But it encourages the question of, “What could next month look like for your newsletter?” This, as opposed to just waiting until the day before each issue, and having to write it all from scratch in a panic.

Frequency Matters

For a long time, Chris was uploading a new video every other day. Then in Nov 2022 he moved to a video every day. Is he doing this because he has determined that that YouTube algorithms demand it? No! This is how he described why daily works for him:

“What DuckBricks has been doing for the past few years and what I plan to do for the foreseeable future is upload one new LEGO related video every single day. This honestly isn’t to hit some sort of an arbitrary upload criteria. It is literally the only possible posting rate that I can maintain to get out all of the ideas that I have for videos as quickly as possible. I have so many ideas for DuckBrick’s videos every single day.”

Do you need to publish daily? Nope. But frequency is an important way to be present in the lives of your readers.

So many writers tell me “Oh, people don’t want to hear from me that often,” or ‘I don’t want to bug people by publishing that often.” So instead, they show up once a quarter, or at most, once a month. The result? They don’t show up in the lives of their readers. They don’t develop the ability to talk about their creative vision in an authentic way. They don’t find the growth and engagement that they desire.

Remove the Pressure to Share ‘In the Moment’

I talk to writers about this all the time who say they don’t want to constantly be distracted by sharing. I want to encourage you to detach yourself from the pressure you feel of sharing in the moment. the expectation of time. In other words: if you go to a beautiful bookstore and feel that you want to share with your followers on Instagram about it, you do not need to share it in that moment, on that day, or even during that week. You can take the photo to capture it, but then share about it another time. This could even be weeks or months later.

As Chris moved through his scheduled posts in the editorial calendar, he showed many upcoming videos that he has been working on for months. “This is from my trip back in October.” “This is one we filmed back in June.” That was months and months ago! He even showed an upcoming video that was filmed back in 2020, 4 years ago.

I encourage you to remove yourself from that pressure of sharing constantly, in the moment something happens. Instead, focus on clarity of your message and creative vision, and give each item you share the room it needs to develop. There is no reason you couldn’t visit a wonderful bookstore 6 months ago, and then this week share:

“Recently, I visited this amazing bookstore in…”
Or
“Not long ago, I had the chance to visit…”
Or
“Thinking about this amazing bookstore I visited recently…”
Or
“Has anyone else been here! Look at this amazing bookstore I discovered!”

Can you mention your visit was months ago? Sure. Do you have to? Nope. Either way: it doesn’t matter! What matters is your creative vision, your passion, your connection with readers.

Here is a screenshot of videos that Chris filmed and edited back in 2021 and 2022, which are already scheduled to go live on YouTube in September and October of this year — months from now!

Chris took a trip to LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and has videos about it coming out for months and months. Perhaps you go on a writer’s retreat in March. You do not need to immediately post about the experience in your very next newsletter, or immediately on social media. You could slowly develop several posts about it that you share weeks — or months — later. To me, that releases so much pressure to have to do too much all at once.

Pre-Plan Series

Chris showed some series that he is planning, including one that will feature a monthly video for the next two years! In some ways, he is methodical in this. But in others, he is simply balancing all of his ideas, the time each needs, and even viewer interest.

For one series, he is reviewing every set from an older LEGO theme, which he is calling, “Exo-Force: The Ultimate Review Series.” This begins around March 22, 2024, and he will put out a new video every week on this theme through August 1, 2025. I mean, that is planning! Here it is in his calendar:

What I love about this is that he can have a big vision for what he can create and give himself the time he needs to complete it, without feeling so much pressure to do it all right now.

Creative Energy is Your Most Precious Resource

I often say that your most precious resource is not time or money, but your creative energy. What comes ooooozing out of Chris’s video here is his passion and focus. He spends quite a long time in the video reviewing upcoming videos that are already scheduled:

He is just so excited about each video, and that passion comes through. Does Chris clearly spend a lot of time and money on this? Of course. However, his creative energy allows him to do what others in his position aren’t doing.

Chris’ LEGO channel is not his full-time job. He works at Microsoft, and has also mentioned something about multiple startup projects he is developing with friends, or on his own. He recently mentioned that nearly every weekend through the end of summer will be spent at one LEGO-related event or another.

I work with writers because I am endlessly inspired by their belief in the stories they tell, and the ideas they share. Perhaps you worry that you could not sustain a weekly email newsletter? One thing I would as is this: is there one small thing you can share each week that talks about the themes you love writing about? Or one moment of inspiration, perhaps from a book you read, some research you did, or a reflection you had? If so, why not share that with your ideal readers? Why not open up the potential that it may inspire them as well?

Using a Schedule Doesn’t Have to Sap Your Passion

Chris’s videos range in length. Here are some upcoming videos (one is 36 minutes, and another is 1 hour and 22 minutes that focuses on how he brought home a ton of LEGO sets he bought in Denmark, back to the US):

What is fascinating about what Chris does is how his systems seem to be focused on passion, not obligation. I’ve heard many top creators on YouTube talk about how a regular upload schedule can stress them out. Some big channels have even experienced big issues because of the pressure to keep posting, or they have quit entirely. Can a rigid schedule be a negative, sapping your creative energy, and forcing you to take on too much of a workload? Of course. The key point here is: you get to choose. And as you develop this, I encourage you to find tools such as an editorial calendar to help support the process.

If you want to take a deep dive into how to use an editorial calendar to manage your email newsletter, consider checking out this workshop of mine.

Before I end, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the behind-the-scenes videos I have been sharing with my paid subscribers.

• How to never run out of ideas for what to write and share
• Navigating Creative Burnout
• Studio Tour! Behind-the-Scenes of My Creative Space

I’d love to know, what has worked for you in managing how you share online, whether that is a newsletter, social media, or something else? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan