Confessions of a Good Writer With a Sucky System

I confess:  Despite my love for fiction, I end up reading more nonfiction in a year than fiction. Often times I read books about writing, marketing and the like. Last week I finished “Your First 1000 Copies” by Tim Grahl. I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond tips on developing an e-mail distribution list and the power of marketing. I found that the book is filled with useful information on growing your platform, building your audience and understanding how to connect with your fans. So it’s funny that the thing that resonated was actually a statement about process.

 

Grahl noted that creating newsletters, blog posts, social media, guest articles and the like can be a daunting task. I nodded my head in agreement, pointing to my personal struggles with keeping my own outreach methods going on a continuous basis. Grahl went on to discuss the fact that some writers have a flawed system of execution that prevents them from producing results, or at least producing them with ease. Then, he did it. With these words, he pounced on each of my little piggies as they hid in the darkened toe box of my metallic patent leather pumps:

 

“Unfortunately, some writers do fall victim to this idea due to poor execution. Such writers often come from a journalism, academic or other traditional writing background. To them, their system involves identifying something to write (via an article assignment, book deal, etc.) and then putting their head down to research and write it. That approach is terribly inefficient and, frankly, boring because it’s very isolating and lonely.”

 

Ouch! This little piggy cried wee, wee, wee, wee alllll the way home. Okay, I didn’t really cry, but it was a wake-up call.  I realized that I am that writer—the one with the journalistic and traditional writing background; the one with degrees in Print Journalism and Technical Communication; the one who worked as a technical writer for seven years; the one with experience in corporate writing; the one who has written freelance biographies, articles and more. I’ve been programmed to plan, research, write and edit. When it comes to anything but fiction, I often find myself mulling over the details so much that by the time I finish brainstorming, it’s midnight, I’ve written nothing and I have to go to work the next morning. Either that or I end up writing a dissertation that takes four hours to write and is too long for people to actually read.

 

Point taken, Mr. Grahl. Thanks for being that fire under my bum. Excuse me while I review my highlights in “Your First 1000 Copies.”

 

In Search of a New System….

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Shellie

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