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Today I want to share a case study of exactly how I helped one writer develop her author platform. We just finished working together for three months, and in our last call, were reflecting on the transformation that happened for her. She said:

“Our work has helped me think about what I want to say, and to whom. I feel positioned to write very differently than I did before. The fact that it happened during the pandemic is miraculous! This is one of the smartest things I ever did, it has changed the way I think about a lot of things, and it’s been fun.”

The experience has indeed been a joyful one for many reasons. Today I want to discuss exactly what we did to develop her platform as a writer, and the impact it has had already.

What did we do in three months? We setup various aspects of her author platform, got radically clear on her messaging, identified who she hoped to reach, who her colleagues in the writing space are, and established some rock solid habits to get her writing, sharing, and connecting. Oh, and she now has nearly 200 brand new subscribers to her newsletter and got three essays published in that time.

Let me first introduce you to Judith Fetterley. She spent more than 30 years as a professor, teaching American literature, feminist theory, and expository writing at the University at Albany/State University of New York. There, she also developed a doctoral program focused on writing studies.

She published her first book in 1978, The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction, followed by an anthology in the 1980s, and another book in 2003: Writing out of Place: Regionalism, Women and American Literary Culture. She has also published essays in various literary journals.

15 years ago she began a second career to become a Master Gardener, and created her own garden design business. Her writing today is at the intersection of all of these things: she writes about gardening to tell stories about being human.

So what were our goals at the start? Well, it all started with a cancellation. She had a long-planned overseas trip that was cancelled due to the pandemic. She made the decision to invest in her writing goals by working with me instead, spending the spring focused on how she can better share what she creates. She described it as, “I decided to take a different kind of journey.”

At the time, she was submitting a lot of essays to literary journals, and facing a lot of rejections. That is common for most anyone who tries to get published in journals that have very limited space, and a staff that can only review and edit so many essays a year.

The rejection didn’t necessarily bug her, but knowing that she wasn’t connecting her creative vision to other real people did.

Below are details on some of how we worked to solve that:

Getting Radical Clarity on her Messaging Plus a Website Redesign

One challenge Judith came to me with was how to effectively communicate what she writes, which is at the intersection of practical gardening advice with deeper reflections on what gardening teaches us about living.

So we rebuilt her website from scratch. A brand new template, design, images, and we rewrote nearly every page.

We crafted a new bio, connecting her past to her present in a way that highlights what she writes and why. We defined the messaging that always seemed to elude her, a clear narrative that frames her creative vision, while also honoring her past achievements.

Her previous website was outdated in terms of how it looked and the content. We landed on a website that accurately expresses who she is and where she is going.

Finding Readers

In a few short weeks, she has nearly 200 subscribers to her newsletter list (more on that below). This is way more than the nine people I started my newsletter with 15 years ago! What’s more, she said:

“I have some ideas for how to increase that number. Even more important, I have absorbed the concept of human-centered marketing and the idea of actually thinking hard about who my readers might be and what their lives might involve.  I think specifically about readers now, and in ways that I did not before our time together. And I have a clear sense of the central questions: who are my readers and where do I find them? ”

She and I went deep here, doing a full marketplace research to identify who her ideal readers may be, where to find them, and what resonates. This work happened across channels, from online retailers, to social media, to events, industry organizations, comparable author websites, and more.

The result addressed a key issue she had at the start, of feeling like she didn’t exactly know where her people were online and off. Now she has a clear sense of who they are, and where to find them. Plus, she has actual readers of her weekly newsletter to experience her writing and connect with!

Three Essays Were Published in Online Publications

Judith was very generous here, but said this of placing her essays in online publications this past quarter:

“During our time together I have gotten three pieces accepted for publication. One of them would have happened anyway, I think.  But the other two owe a definite debt to our project.  You have helped me to think differently about what I send out and where I send it.  You have helped me rearrange my thinking about the whole publishing situation.”

“I am prepared to be a lot more out there in my writing.  Your steady emphasis on identifying who I am as a writer, what I have to offer, what I want to share, my beliefs and my mission have inspired me to be more dynamic and more clear.  But I think I am also prepared to take a lot more risks.”

I can’t tell you how much that inspires me. How much this opens up her writing and its connection to others. So many of my clients tell me that they wished they worked with me while they were writing their books, because our work helped them hone their message and understanding of the reader — they feel they would have benefited if their books reflected this more.

I talk a lot about the value of having Radical Clarity in one’s creative work, and this is what I mean by it. It’s that place that allows you to create with greater conviction and ensure it reaches more people. Okay, I also love that she said she wants to take more risks!

Weekly Email Newsletter to Connect with Her Biggest Supporters

Like many writers, Judith had always dabbled in how she used email to share her writing, but never had a formal way of doing this. Together we created a weekly email newsletter. This included the technical aspects of learning Mailchimp and integrating it into her website.

We also developed an editorial calendar, a newsletter template, and she invited her colleagues to subscribe. She crafted the first few issues and sent them, honing her own process to do so. She now has a system in place to keep this going.

Finding the Fun and Usefulness of Social Media

Judith was not really a stranger to social media when we began working together, but it felt distant to her. Through our work she say she now has a familiarity and comfort on social media, is a fan of Instagram, and uses Facebook regularly.

In some ways, there is nothing unusual about that, people join social media every day. But when I see a transformation like this, someone feeling comfortable in a place they weren’t before, it feels like it opens up new channels to connect with readers. It’s like gaining an entirely new kind of literacy, how to show up and engage in social settings that once felt unwelcoming.

A 20-Page Newsletter Opt-In Incentive to Introduce New Readers to Her and Her Work

As a bonus to new subscribers, we created a 20-page PDF that shares an essay on her gardening life, as well as her best tips for gardeners. It’s honestly like a mini-book.

It is meant to take you deeper into who she is, and what she offers in terms of her perspectives on the intersection of gardening and life. So much of platform is strengthening that connection between writer and reader, and this 20-page PDF is just one step in that process.

Why is this PDF so long? I encouraged her to be “ridiculously helpful” to readers, and this is what came out. Not just some flippant single page, but a resources that was 100% unique to who she is and how she helps people.

Conclusion

Before we began, Judith had reservations. Not only was the pandemic starting to take hold, introducing incredible uncertainty to the world and her life, but we were also moving into her busiest season for gardening, the spring.

But she said, “I’m proud of myself for throwing aside my usual cautions. I’m so glad I did — it has helped me think about what I want to write and who I want to reach.”

For me, it has been a total joy and honor to work with Judith.

If you want to explore how you and I could work together on your goals, you can learn more about my consulting process here.

Thank you!
– Dan

PS: You can find Judith at perennialwisdom.net​ and on Instagram at @judithfetterley​.

I asked on Twitter earlier this week: “Do you find writing or sharing your writing to be more challenging?” Nearly every reply said that sharing was the greater challenge.

If you have read my work for awhile, you may know that I focus on the idea of human-centered marketing to help writers connect with readers. A writer recently asked me what that is, half-joking if there was an alternative: non-human-centered marketing.

I replied back to her via Twitter (hence the brevity):

“That’s a great question. I’ve seen a lot of marketing strategy that treats people as cogs in a machine. As if they are an inanimate object within a larger marketing funnel. So human-centered, to me, is about seeing people holistically, including within marketing.”

So today I simply want to explain the concept of human-centered marketing. Not just what it means in theory, but how it becomes a practical way for you to consider how to reach more people, and truly have an impact with your writing.

The first way to consider this is to view other people — readers — holistically. They are each a complex and unique person. If you are a thriller writer, your readers are not just “thriller book buyers” — a special kind of zombie that walks around all day seeking out thriller books and nothing else.

To find and engage them with your writing, you need to seem them as more than just a buyer of your book. Because as a writer, we ask so much more of them. Not just to buy the book, but ideally they read the book. Which, let’s not forget, takes maybe 5 or 8 or 10 hours of their time amidst their otherwise busy lives. That isn’t all in one day either, it is often spread out over weeks or months.

We also hope they are moved by the book, perhaps even changed by it. That their affection for it leads them to post a review for it online, and to recommend it to others. That is a key aspect of word of mouth marketing, when readers and book advocates talk about books.

Too many writers only focus on the sale of the book. And this is what they get wrong about the concept of the marketing funnel. If you are unfamiliar, this is a concept of an inverted pyramid, where a wide range of potential readers may learn about your writing at the top of the funnel, and then as they go down it, there is a process to identify readers who will love your writing, and then take meaningful actions to engage with it.

Too many writers assume that the goal of the marketing funnel — the very bottom of it — is the point of sale; someone forking over $15 to buy the book.

But that is actually in the middle of the funnel. Buying a book is a wonderfully important milestone to find success as a writer, but isn’t the goal. The goal is that they read it. That this person then goes on to become a loyal advocate of your work. Someone who supports and recommends your work. The ultimate goal is a deep connection, not a brief moment where a few dollars changes hands and shows up in your royalty check as pennies.
To think of your readers in a human-centered manner, you are considering them in the context of their actual lives: busy, distracted, perhaps filled with worry about all they are responsible for. Why see them this way? Because it allows you to reframe how you share your work with them, and how you develop your author platform and the strategy for your book marketing.

Seeing readers as busy and complex individuals reminds you to consider how they will even hear about your book. Where does that person show up online and off? What themes and messages resonate with them? What else are they reading?

The answers to these questions helps you reconsider whether you should indeed have an email newsletter, or join a certain community, or become more active on social media.

It can also have you reframe what “success” looks like on those platforms because it allows you to take into account their experience. That if you send an email newsletter, a subscriber is seeing it amidst dozens of others they are scrolling through. Emails from colleagues, friends, family, other newsletters, promotions, and spam.

This begs the question: how can you truly engage this person in a manner that feels meaningful to them in this moment? That gets them to stop scrolling, to pause, to read. Perhaps even to engage with you and your work.

This connection is an incredible opportunity for you to learn. Why? Because the basis of human-centered marketing is empathy. It helps you understand readers, where to find them and what engages them. And the more you do this, the more you understand the marketplace that your writing will be trying to succeed within.

These interactions give you more opportunities to discuss the themes of your writing, without it sounding promotional. Why? Because why you write and why they read share something in common: an appreciation and love for certain types of stories.

You can also look at human-centered marketing from the perspective of psychology. What are the triggers that get people to notice things and to take action? You know, like becoming aware of and buying your book. Or posting a review for it online. Or telling a friend about it. As you learn more about what motivates readers to take action, you can infuse them in your strategies for a book launch or platform building.

If all of this sounds like work, that’s because it is. I talk to writers all the time who say that they are finally done with waiting for their book to somehow magically land in the hands of readers. They are ready to do the work to understand who their readers may be, where to find them, and take steps to reach them.

They are ready to engage.

This doesn’t have to mean that they are putting on their “self promotion hat.” Instead, it can mean that they are engaging with like-minded people around a shared love of stories and themes and books.

If you want readers to actively engage with you, then that may just require you to take the first step. As I said earlier, this doesn’t begin with you promoting to them, but with empathy. With you caring to consider who these people are as individual human beings, and what is their drive to read stories like those you write.

My days are spent talking to writers, where we discuss the many ways that this happens in real life. This is why I have my weekly podcast, because I find that the example of how others navigate this helps me to understand it in context of our otherwise busy lives.

In my podcast this week, I interviewed author Kalynn Bayron. One thing we discussed was the role of collaborators and a support system in her career. When she was young, her parents supported her pursuit of music, dance, and opera. But when she worked with others, she found some people were not so supportive. They gave her bad advice that limited her potential in each field.

Years later, when she decided to query agents with her first novel, she received some similar feedback. People telling her that her book didn’t have a place in the market. That only a very limited group of people would ever want to read her book.

But then, after more than 70 queries, she met her agent who said to her: “This story has to be out there. People need to read this.”

It made Kalynn feel that someone else shared her vision. This is how she described feeling in that moment: “This story can be told. People will want to read this. There are people out there waiting for this. That was like somebody flipped a switch. That’s how I feel, now somebody else feels that way, now we are on a team, let’s go!”

Finding momentum in her writing career is about connecting with people who are like-minded, who share her enthusiasm and worldview. It is about actively engaging with them, not just waiting for vague likes on social media.

This requires risk, because it is inherently about outreach, putting yourself out there. When I asked Kalynn about her 70 queries, and 70 people passing, she noted that this was a low number compared to many writers she speaks with.

Think about that. When you are reaching out to the 70th agent pitching your book, that means that you are far beyond your initial A-list of agents. It means that you are in a process of discovering that there are many other agents you never knew about. And that you must constantly research to not only find them, but to try to establish a connection to them.

The way Kalynn described her collaboration with her agent and editor is inspiring. These people didn’t just magically appear at the slightest effort. Kalynn had to put herself out there again and again and again (repeat this 70 more times…) before she found her agent who became such an important part of her writing life.

Then it took months and months longer, and many submissions, before they found her editor and publisher.

This is why I focus so much on the human-centered aspects of sharing and marketing. Because it is about that magical moment when you and your work connects with another human being.

It is looking beyond the idea people as cogs in a machine.

The magic of writing and art is not just in its creation, but in that moment when it connects to another person. When the intention of the creator mixes with the life experience of the reader or viewer. In that moment, something new is created. Something magical.

That is not just a key part of the creative process, but the marketing process as well.
That is why I resonate so much with the phrase human-centered marketing.

What are the most challenging aspects of marketing for you?
Thanks.
-Dan

What can one of the nation’s leading creative writing centers teach us about resilience and showing up to create? A lot.

So many writers I speak to are trying hard to create amidst incredible disruption to their lives. They are short on resources like time and energy. They aren’t sure what the landscape of their writing life will look like because so much seems to be constantly changing.

Today I want to share some wisdom from writer Sonya Larson. She has worked at GrubStreet in Boston — an amazing writing center — for nearly 15 years, and writes short fiction, essays, and is currently working on her first novel. She and I were discussing how sometimes writers resist the hard work of writing because it can be isolating and challenging. They struggle to sit down at home and just write.

Instead, they may embrace situations that make them feel the rush of what it means to be a writer — attend readings, visit bookstores, go to writing conferences, or writing retreats. You know, these beautiful places, filled with literary people.

To be in these places is to wrap yourself in a warm hug of books, writing, and all we can aspire to as writers.

Which is different from sitting at your kitchen table, dishes piled up, kids arguing in the next room, and trying to write your novel.

But Sonya said something that I have been thinking about all week:

“I’ve been to two writing residencies in my life, and they were beautiful and wonderful. I loved them, they were so immersive and a great experience. But if I’m really being honest, what I produced during that time was not as significant as what I had to produce when I was forced to write on the city bus, because I had a deadline and I was freaking out.”

I have heard similar experiences from so many writers. The way we hope to be able to create rarely matches up to our reality. The work of writing happens between those two things. Amidst compromise. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Sonya explained how sometimes deadlines and a sense of excitement actually helps her writing. They are motivators that help her get the work done.

As a writer, each of us has to discover and hone our own creative process. But this also applies to how we share our work. To not only create alone, but to share your voice and allow others to discover it.

That’s something that she and her co-workers at GrubStreet are in the midst of solving as well. You see, GrubStreet runs 600 workshops a year, have 1,000 people attend their conference, and are moving to a brand new 15,000 square foot facility. Much of what they do is about creating, sharing, and in-person collaboration is a core way they do it. Of course, they have had to reinvent, now offering a wide array of classes for writers remotely.

Last week I talked about being in transition, and that feels like a word that describes some of what Sonya shared about her work as well.

I asked her how they are keeping GrubStreet’s community of writers energized and motivated through the pandemic. She replied:

“It boils down to the simple creative process of working within constraints. The conversation now is: How do we play to the strengths of this format, given the fact that we can’t meet in person for a large gathering for some time? How can we make the most use of our analog lives, our virtual lives, to deliver to writers what they are needing and wanting right now?”

“It reminds me of the task we all have as writers: there will inevitably be something in our way. We can get mad and stew at it, but ultimately the best artists pick up what’s left, if anything, and generate something new and exciting that we never would have been prompted to otherwise. It creates all of these new opportunities.”

I love Sonya’s perspective on this.

She and I talked quite a bit about how does one grow while also staying focused on your core mission. For an individual writer, this can have them frozen, unable to make the choice between ideas for different books, different paths to publication, or how to best share their work.

For GrubStreet, we can see their growth in a physical way, and I was trying to imagine how they keep the core of their community while also expanding their offices.

They are moving into a 15,000 square foot space later this year, that includes more classrooms, a literary stage, cafe, and bookstore. I was looking at these photos on their website of the new space in construction:

That looks amazing, right? But amidst this is also a risk the must navigate: to not lose the delicate thing that makes GrubStreet so special. I asked Sonya about how they are navigating change without losing themselves within it:

“I think our success has always hinged on the idea that community comes first. Our programs are based on what the community is asking for. We always follow the lead of the people serve.”

“I’ve been with GrubStreet for almost 15 years now. When I first began, the staff size was 1.5, a tiny little thing. We ran 80 workshops a year. Now there are between 20-30 staffers, and we run 600 workshops a year. It has been so fun to see it expand, and I have had a gazillion different roles in that time.”

To ensure their programming served the widest range of people in Boston, she said: “We had to stop using this model of building something amazing and waiting to see who would come. We realized that you have to go out and meet people in the communities where they live. We have to ask ourselves: are we listening to people?”

You can listen to my entire conversation with Sonya on my podcast, The Creative Shift.

Last year I spoke to GrubStreet Founder and Executive Director Eve Bridburg about how they began in 1997 with 8 students, and now serve more than 6,000 writers per year. You can listen to my conversation with Eve here.

What Sonya and Eve share has me considering how I grow as a writer and creator. How I can live up to my creative vision in a manner that feels true to who I am, but can also be expansive and reach more people.

Thank you to Sonya, Eve, and the entire GrubStreet community for the inspiration.
-Dan

So this is going to be a very personal post. This week I am celebrating the 10 year anniversary of my business, WeGrowMedia. A decade of working with thousands of writers and creators. Of learning how to support my family through this company. Of writing and publishing hundreds newsletters and podcasts. Of so many little successes, failures, and an unending process of learning.

I have been fortunate to have a decade of success, and my business has been doing well. I am working with so many writers every single week, and I’m grateful for every moment of it.

Starting my company was a big risk. Ten years ago, my job of nearly a decade was ending and my wife and I were about to have our first child a month later. The safe thing to do would have been to look for another corporate job in publishing, and for my wife to have gone back to work as an art teacher after the baby was born. But that’s not what we did.

Instead, I learned how to work from home, helping writers to grow their author platforms, launch their books, and make creativity central to their lives. My wife briefly returned to her job to finish out the school year, but then quit her tenured teaching position at the bottom of the recession.

We weren’t trying to embrace risk. Rather, we were embracing our vision for the life we wanted to lead.

It is bizarre to look back on that 10 years later and know what happened, as if I skipped to the middle of a book.

Since that time, I have had the immense honor to work with writers each day. My life is filled with those who create.

A decade ago I recorded a video where I shared my feelings of what the moment felt like, of leaving a corporate job to go out on my own. After spending years in a gray cubicle, I said:

“It feels like I can take chances again. I can be bolder, I think. I’ll have failures and will just start again.”

It’s amazing to consider this person who was not yet a father. This photo sums up the moment of transition perfectly. In front of me are the papers I am signing that formalize the ending of my employment. To the right are the stacks of thank you cards from my wife’s baby shower:

While I am celebrating the success of this venture, I’m also considering the journey. How my path as a creator is like everyone else’s: filled with impostor’s syndrome, comparisonitis, confusion, and anxiety.

Today the work I do feels so closely aligned to who I am. Every year of the last decade has been full of change, but it has all led me to a place of greater clarity.

When I recently interviewed Jarrett Lerner, he shared this quote from Walter Dean Myers that I have been thinking a lot about:

“In Walter Dean Myers’ memoir, Bad Boy, he talks about the best writing advice he ever got. An older author told him to look at his career and stop worry about this paragraph of this book, this page of this book, and stop worrying about this one book. Step back every now and again and think about your career.”

I’ve talked about my Clarity Card process recently , and I’m going through that process, considering this: “What do I want to create in the next 10 years?” I’m not thinking about products I want to create or milestones I hope to reach, but rather as experiences and moments I want to be a part of. The people I hope to engage with, and the conversations that will fill my life. I’m thinking of how I spend my days, and the transformation that is possible.

But I do realize that milestones are important. Just this week a couple of writers I know release books. One of my clients, Leigh Stein saw the publication of her new novel, Self Care: A Novel. She and I have recorded a couple of podcasts on her launch process here and here .

I was emailing with Leigh this week after she shared that an essay she wrote went viral, with more than 145,000 views and a lot of engagement. Amazing, right? But behind the scenes, it felt the opposite to Leigh. This is how she described the feeling of writing the essay:

“You would think that writing five books would inoculate me against conscious incompetence, but to be honest, the practice of actually sitting in my chair and writing the thing I’m supposed to write doesn’t get any easier just because I have the external validation of the publishing industry. I’ve been working on an essay all weekend that’s due tomorrow and the thought that keeps going through my head is, I don’t know how to write!!! It’s imposter syndrome. It’s the nightmare where you’re back in high school and you have to give a presentation but you haven’t prepared anything. I’m giving myself the same advice I’d give another writer. Just write a bad draft and fix it later. Just write something. ”

Once she submitted the essay, her fears only grew:

“When my editor didn’t get back to me for a few days, it seemed to my anxious mind like further proof my fears were true: it really was badly written, it wasn’t what she wanted, she was just trying to find a nice way to tell me. I checked my contract to see what the kill fee was.”

Can you imagine that? Here she is writing an essay that will go viral, that thousands of people will love. That her editor loved. But even after all of Leigh’s experience writing and publishing, it still wasn’t easy, and she didn’t know that this was the piece that would go viral.

That resonates with me so much as I think about the thousands of decisions I’ve made in the past decade. We don’t know what will lead to success, but we know that intentional effort and risk is required.

I talk to so many writers who are trying to find a way to break into various aspects of publishing. Leigh has an incredible network in media and has written so many essays in notable publications. Yet this is how she described the process of pitching:

“Pitching essays related to your book is a big part of the book promotion machine. Between April and June, I pitched 20 stories. Ideas about Coronavirus that seemed timely and relevant in April were completely irrelevant by May. Two of my pitches were accepted—then one of those two was killed.”

I share this here to illustrate that this is work that one needs to show up for day in and day out. Leigh is amazing. She is successful and will continue to be successful. Because she shows up to do the work.

This week I shared my interview with Marcus Whitney. He has a new book out called Create and Orchestrate, and he said something to me has been bouncing around my mind all week: “You have to shift from consuming to creating.” In our chat, Marcus talked about how he has been going through a major health reset in the past year and half. This too was another reminder that no matter how much you create, how much you accomplish, you always need to work on the foundations. You always need to go back to the well and find your clarity and source of inspiration.

What he shared is a reminder that we are always in transition, and with that comes incredible opportunity to feel clarity in who you are, and what you can create.

As I considered the last 10 years, I wanted to be reminded of the place I was in July of 2010. The company I had worked for was closing down, and I was one of the last employees left. In the final days, I went back into the office to take photos of the place I had spent nearly a decade working with writers and publishers.

I worked with people from across 40+ magazine brands, including the amazing staffs of Library Journal, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.

This is what transition looks like:

Row after row that look exactly the same, but was someone’s professional home for years. In each of these tiny gray cubicles, someone spent 8 to 12 hours a day for years and years:

This was someone’s work:

This was my office for a period of time:

And this is the library of back issues of Variety, one of the magazines we published:

Here is a random page I opened to as I reflected on leaving the company. Looks like it was from sometime in the 1950s or 60s — famous names promoting themselves, and news of deals:

On that page is an ad for the legendary Cab Calloway promoting his show in New York. An ad for Bill Haley and His Comets available to play shows. An article about Harry Belafonte, and another focusing on Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lionel Hampton playing a show in Atlantic City. I mean, can you imagine this?

That was a moment of time which is now gone. Just like those gray cubicles, which likely many people have moved in and out of in the past decade.

This cartoon was posted in the kitchen in the office, and it perfectly encapsulates so much of my decade at that company:

It is a barnyard full of animals talking to each other, and one says, “That’s not what I heard. I heard they’re keeping the pig and getting rid of five chickens.”

It is meant to show how when working at the company, there were constant rumors of layoffs. Even in this “safe corporate job” we were always in transition. Always on the cusp of not being allowed back into the building. Always working towards one transition, or reorienting ourselves after another.

And this is the place that I look back on 10 years, and look ahead 10 years. This is me now, earlier this week in my studio:

I am in transition. We are always in transition. And with that comes responsibility and opportunity. To wake up each day and create.

Thank you for your incredible support this past decade.
-Dan

I’ve been in a writing slump. Today I want to share the process I’m going through to get out of it.

My days are spent helping writers and creators better share their work. That, of course, begins with the work itself: writing. So many people I speak with have difficulty finding the time and energy to create amidst important responsibilities of life. What’s more, this doesn’t always get easier with success. A writer may need to constantly recommit to — and reinvent — their creative process.

Today I want to talk about the specific actions I’m taking to get out of my writing slump, to honor my creative vision, and to ensure creativity is central in my daily life. Let’s dig in…

Use Inertia to Your Advantage

For the past 6 months or so I’ve been trying to finish writing my next book. I’ve failed at that, missing deadline after deadline.

Even as I have struggled to complete it, I have managed to consistently work on it at least on the weekends. Now, a fair amount of that effort has been pathetic, writing for 10 minutes at a time. It will take many years to finish writing a book with only 20 minutes per week of effort.

But I do want to recognize and celebrate what I have been doing. I have been showing up to this book every week for quite awhile now. I’ve kept my writing on life support even during the slump. I write in a program called Scrivener, and it actually tracks my writing history:

Many weeks I wrote very few words. Even some of the higher numbers of new words can be attributed to me copying and pasting things I wrote awhile back. But I consistently worked on the book, and that feels great.

Why does that matter? Because as I try to get out of the writing slump, inertia is helping me. It has me not trying to restart something that has failed, but optimize something that is already happening in my writing habits. Because of inertia, I’m not questioning what to work on, I’m not scared to open the manuscript, I’m not unfamiliar with the writing and editing process.

If you are in a writing slump, invest in inertia. Show up to your craft even if it is a tiny bit. This is how I fit inertia into my life when I was in a slump:

1. I reserved the morning of the weekends for creative time. I’m an early riser, which helps, so all of this gets done before my family is even awake.
2. I scheduled it on my calendar. I made an appointment with my book.
3. I committed to accountability (more on that below.)
4. I never questioned the goal, even if I struggled with the process. There was never a point where I considered giving up on the book. That’s due to consistent reflection on my creative clarity (more on that below as well.)

To get out of my writing slump, I am using inertia to my advantage by expanding how long the weekend writing sessions are. So I will have more quality time with the book. I’m considering how I can write more frequently as well. To start I may add one more day per week to the writing schedule. That alone would be a 50% increase in how I show up to my writing.

I’m also considering setting a short-term goal that could kickstart my efforts even more. For instance: could I take two days off work so that I can do a “mini writing retreat” to make bigger progress on the book. Or do a 20 day writing challenge.

Find the Space to Create

Since mid-March I have been working from my home office instead of the private studio space that I rent on the other side of town. As everyone else has been experiencing too, my entire life has been compressed into the same small space of home.

The other day, I went back to my studio for the first time in 10 weeks. It felt like an odd step into the past, but also filled me with a hopefulness for what can be created.

Staring back at me were the faces of inspiring creators I hung on the wall. They remind me that creative work requires commitment and risk.

I spent a couple hours cleaning all the dust that had accumulated, and then opened up my book. I worked on a single sentence, then closed it. Boom. A new writing habit has started. This is me back at my studio for the first time in months:

I’ve decided to use the studio as a single-use location. This will be my private place to write. I’m not bringing my big computer back there, I’m not checking email while there, and I’m going with one intention: write.

In the months I didn’t show up to the studio, I kept sending in the rent checks as a commitment to myself and my creative vision. Because I believe in what this creative space symbolizes.

While I am going back, I’m not going all the way. I’m being very cautious, which means I will only spend a a couple hours there per day. By making it a single-use space, it becomes a space dedicated to long-term creative goals.

Revisit Your Creative Clarity

To get out of a creative slump, it can be useful to go back to the well — the source of your inspiration. To revisit your creative clarity of what you create and why.

I wrote about this in-depth last week, sharing my Clarity Card process. I’ve been working on mine, this is what they look like (well, the backs of them anyway):

This helps me consider ways to invest in my writing and long-term creative goals. Clarity Cards help me find more time and energy to write.

Hold Yourself Accountable to Your Creative Vision

I believe in the power of accountability, having others know about your creative goals and hold you to them.

I’ve often mentioned that I have had a weekly mastermind call with Jennie Nash for about six years. (I talk about how amazing Jennie is, and the history of our weekly mastermind here.)

Likewise, I have a weekly call with author and illustrator Lori Richmond. (If you like illustration, cat photos, books, cat photos, running, cat photos, Brooklyn, and cat photos, you should go follow her.)

In my conversations with Jennie and Lori, we discuss creative and business goals. But for my book I wanted even more specific accountability. So I asked my friend Diane Krause if she would hold me accountable to my writing goals.

The process is simple: every weekend I have to email her an update about how the book is going. Here is a sampling of the weekly emails I have sent to Diane, giving her an update on the book. My favorite subject line: “My Book (plus: excuses!)”

When we began this accountability, my weekly goals were ambitious. Slowly I asked if we could make them less so to the point at which my writing was just a trickle each week. But, I still emailed her each week. She still showed up to support and encourage me. That has been a huge help.

Diane has helped me stay committed to my writing. If you don’t have anyone in your life holding you accountable to your creative goals, I would encourage you to find someone. The commitment they make does not have to be a big one.

For instance, I have a personal trainer who coaches me virtually. While he gives me training programs to follow and custom videos, that isn’t why justify paying him. I hire him for accountability. Because after every time I workout, I text him “Workout done.” That alone is worth all the money I pay him, and likely much more. Because I know he is expecting that text from me, it keeps me working out.

Invest in Inspiration

I find that I work better when surrounded by inspiration. That is why I have a beautiful studio space, and why I hang photos of inspiring creators on the wall.

I also find that I’m inspired by books, art supplies, and well, typewriters. It’s silly, I know. But I’m going to use what works.

So, to kick off this new writing habit, I bought a new typewriter to display in my studio, an Olivetti Valentine from around 1970:

I’m buying more typewriters, more books about creativity, and more art supplies. Because doing so encourages me to create. It reminds me that this is work that I need to show up for. I look around my studio and feel inspired.

What helps you get out of a writing slump?
Thanks.
-Dan