Faff Free Friday #9 - The Constant Writing Struggle Issue

I've a million ideas for this issue - and none!

I sit at my desk in a Zoom Room, in a co-writing session. Full of fellow travellers putting words onto paper, with the sun streaming into my room and, quite beautifully, across the sea of faces on my screen.

I reflect that writing, like most creative arts, has its moments.

Literally (pun intended!)

Even when time is set aside and the setting is lovely and well organised, writing is a constant struggle.

I never seem to be able to just force the flow of words from my pen.

Or I should say my late father's gold Shaeffer fountain pen with a gorgeously messy and analogue refillable squishy ink cartridge - a little like a straw, drinking up the ink with a glug.

And as I handwrite this, judging by the intermittent deposits on my page, it requires attention.

(A little later I am back, with an ominously blackening index finger at the point it joins with the barrel of the pen, picking up residues of permanent ink from where it dipped in the elderly, funnel shaped bottle - emulating the old inkwells which were on our great grandparents' school desks.)

Words are formed in the brain - or so we think (punday!)

But what about the mind-gut connection?

We talk about it all the time - having a gut feeling, getting butterflies in our tummy. These and other sayings are all about allowing intuition to fill our souls and spread from our middle - like ink into my pen flowing across the paper.

That is when my creativity flows too - from an intuitive place - with writing, with my paintings.

And I think we all need filling up before we can get into the 'zone'. Rather than settling in to write for the 'work' of writing.

I reckon this is where writers' block starts - the fear of the blank page and the doom laden expectation of, 'Now is the time I gave myself to write. Now write, right now!'

So, we start to do that thing of writing a note or two, a framework maybe, or a content plan for the next ooo how many days, weeks, months or years - that will make it super easy, won't it.

Won't it....?

But where is the soul, heart, passion in that - where is the middle of YOU?

In writing to a plan of time or for a future date, it becomes mundane, a 'should' or 'ought' to. That might just 'do' but if you are looking for truly connecting with you readers, your audience, isn't there just a bit of room for writing from your core?

The alternative is that we do the normal, write ‘to order’ content - but that isn’t getting us leads or sales.

As I settled into the sunny co-work today, I posted into the chat that I felt I had a million ideas – and none – about what to write today.

Even though I have a deadline for Faff Free FRIDAY, it doesn't mean I have it all mapped out days, weeks, months ahead!

A deadline for me is a Good Thing - I prefer to write that way, up to the wire.

Whether you write to a deadline or a schedule we are all faced with the same constant struggle.

Must write, right now, can’t think of anything…must be failing!

We start looking for answers, to get it ‘fixed’, order up the 10 step solution to solve our content planning woes, or pay for the fail-safe system.

Invest a few hundred - or thousand - ￡s or $s in a group to teach us how they did it (and how it will work for us if we follow the process EXACTLY to the letter AND then also find ourselves handing over just a few hundred or so ￡/$s more for their DONE FOR YOU service….!) to grow to a?6 and 7 figure business...

1. What if it doesn’t HAVE to be PERFECT.
2. What if your audience just wants to hear from YOU? (And not someone else’s idea of perfect).
3. What if you don’t NEED or can cope with many, many leads at this point, and do not WANT to build a 6 or 7 business employing a lovely but costly team – all by tomorrow…?

A million ideas or none.

What about just one idea?

Just one thought about the here and now. Listening to your intuition, your inner voice, your passion – your gut-brain (which has the same number of brain cells as a cat has in its actual brain – cats are doing ok, hell, they were deified!)

Get settled into a rhythm, a habit, a routine of getting one idea on the page and out to your audience. Test what works for you and for them – and how that converts to sales. THEN you may want to expand into a campaign, like chapters in a book.

• A topic a week or a blog.
• A content plan.
• Use a scheduler.
• Take some coaching.
• Hire a VA.
• Outsource (but not abdicate!) to a blog writer

But ONLY WHEN you KNOW what YOU are about and what your audience LOVES you for.

Today, rather than obsessing over perfect, get in touch with your pen and like me adorn your hands with the dirt of toil (or at least an inky finger!)

Put your one in a million idea onto the page in an SFD (Shitty First Draft!) and fill the page as opposed to your head (or gut) with words.

And get it out there and tried and tested so you can find the Golden Thread of a message which truly reflects YOU and what your inner passion can bring to the world.

More about that in a future issue.

Happy writing.

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