“I don’t like writing.”

Gremlins are the voices in our heads that pop up when we need to write.

They are sniveling and nasty, yet strangely believable creatures who say things like:

I don’t know what to write about.

I’m too tired/busy/grumpy/not in the mood to do this.

I’ll do it later.

If you see that the gremlins have got ahold of you, see my tip for handling this with whimsy and power (“Why your desk needs a spittoon.”)

Perhaps the biggest gremlin of them all says:

I don’t like to write.

Granted, maybe you really don’t like writing. But the more I hear this statement, the more I am ACTUALLY tuning in to the statement hidden BEHIND it. Which is usually one of these 3:

1. It’s taking too long. I hear this especially from business owners who know they need to be sending a regular + consistent newsletter (because you do, to build a rapport with your house list), BUT. They tend to be overachievers who haven’t set up reasonable limits about writing. Instead of taking an hour to write an article, they spend 4 hours researching. Instead of structuring their emails in a certain way to make it easier to read and digest the offer, they create a whopper volume. What would happen if you limited yourself to 45 minutes of writing? You’d probably have to cut your word count in half (or more.) GREAT! Wouldn’t that make it easier to get your newsletter out every week?
2. You are doing too much by yourself. In my 6 month production lab, I just taught my students how to delegate tasks around their newsletters + blogs. When I first started out, writing my weekly newsletter took FOREVER. I didn’t have as much going on back then, so I could be the one writing, formatting, finding a photo and writing the caption, posting to the blog, sending out a personal note and link via email, and digging through spam to find people’s comments. The truth is, when you consistently make $3,000 - $4,000 a month, you really need an assistant. Because doing all that will make you cranky. You’ve got bigger fish to fry. The goal is to be the one doing the writing, and then delegate everything else to your team.
3. No one ever taught you how to write copy and promotional stuff. Last week, we talked about the rookie mistake of writing with your marketing bullhorn voice I believe this is because many business owners and service professionals know they need to be doing their marketing, but think they can “wing it.” Horsefeathers. Writing about your work in a way that’s of value to your potential clients is a skill. And you don’t learn how to do it in school. You don’t learn it from reading a book or buying a home study course. You learn it by experimenting, and testing, and talking about it with people who know what they’re doing…and watching the results you get.

If you don’t like those results, it’s up to you to decide what needs to happen next. Do you need more training? Is you business coach great on strategy and talking you off the ledge, but not as focused on your message and actual writing of everything you need to create to set up your biz or launch your next program?

Writing is a lot like conversation and thinking aloud. And who doesn’t like talking or thinking?! When you cut down the task of writing into more bite-sized chunks, it gets easier. And the gremlin voices get quieter, too.

Mighty thanks to Daniel Ferencak Flickr photostream for the monster.