Loading the searchable article library…
Browse published articles attributed to Dawn Shuler, with full-archive search.
I run a business. I'm writing a collection of short stories. I'm working on a product for writers. I'm a mother of two amazing teenage daughters. I have deeply connected relationships with my friends and chosen family. I teach. I coach. I create and design new programs. I work with clients to manage their businesses. So, yeah, I'm busy.
You have a business to run, bills to pay, a team to manage, services to deliver, new products and programs to create.... and that doesn't include all the writing tasks you *should* do: • A newsletter • Blog posts • Status updates on social media sites • Marketing copy • Web copy • Your bio • Speaker or one-sheet • Chapter of a collaborative book • Your own book • Self-study program materials • Compelling and juicy anything
Mark and I work from home, and since we're in a smallish, three-bedroom house, we share an office. However, after two-and-a-half years of sharing the office (which personally works just fine), we're finding that the physical arrangement of the furniture no longer serves us. We have two big desks facing one another, and a huge computer armoire from my past life. We also have a bookshelf for my Oxford English Dictionary set, and an easel with a whiteboard.
If you are a true entrepreneur (meaning that you have a vision for your business that is beyond just the day-to-day work that you do), then you want that business to move forward. You need to plan. You need to strategize. But before you get to all that left-brained, nitty gritty stuff, you need to be asking yourself these two very important questions. How is that going to happen? What gets in the way? For example, say you want to launch a program that starts January 4. You ask, “How is that going to happen?” Your answer might be, “I need to enroll 6 people.”
There are many reasons we procrastinate or simply don't do something we say we want to do. Something that will forward our goals. Something that moves us toward our dreams. Something that is EXACTLY what we want to do. But we don't do it. Why? It's being stuck, and it's not just a lack of inspiration, although we may use that as an excuse. It's almost always because of fear. And because of that fear, we keep ourselves stuck.
The most important consideration when writing anything, whether an article, sales page, press release, etc., is who your audience is. What you write, including your message, your style, the language you use, the concepts you mention or explain, is all determined by who your audience is. Writing is not about you at all. Sure, you're the conduit, and it might be your unique message you're conveying. But it's the audience who matters. You are connecting your message to them. So, you always need to be asking yourself these questions about your audience: Who is my audience?r
Michael Gerber in The E-Myth Revisited, talks about the importance of working ON your business, as opposed to working IN your business. The working in is the delivering of your business’s services or products: providing the service, fulfilling the product, writing the proposal, giving the class, hiring the vendors, firing the contractors, sending the reports to the CPA, ordering supplies.
You want to appeal to your audience and deliver your message in a way that rouses them to action, or makes them think, or laugh, or cry; you want to make an impact. That's where style and voice come in. Style covers things like word choice, the types of sentences you write, how you introduce a piece, how you conclude it, and how you show your meaning (if you don't know it already, memorize and make your own the mantra of "show; don't tell"). Voice is that element that's intangible, yet so crucial for effect. Voice in writing is what makes it yours and no one else's.
No matter how much we want and love to write, unless we're terribly disciplined or have deadlines (or an editor/agent looming over us), our default activity is not writing. In other words, if we have a spare minute, a break between activities, the rare gift of an unplanned hour, do we write? Or do we fill it in with stuff that "needs to be done"? Or take a much-needed nap? Or call a girlfriend and relax? Or make plans for dinner? I will write - after I take a shower and get dressed - and after I make the bed - and after I do the dishes.r
E-mail has changed the way we do business and made us more efficient. Instead of endless memos and phone calls, we can e-mail a quick question, an invitation to a meeting, or a request. As helpful as e-mail is, however, we need to follow certain rules: 1. Don't use all caps when writing. It's the equivalent of shouting in the cyber world, and it's difficult for our eyes to read. 2. Conversely, capitalize words when appropriate. Using all lower case shows disrespect and sloppiness.
Writing isn't as easy as it seems. The perfect word doesn't just flow seamlessly out your fingers and onto the paper or keyboard. At least not 100% of the time. We struggle. It takes longer than we thought to finish a project. We get stuck. We spend dozens, even hundreds of hours on research, and we haven't written a word. We feel frustrated. And all around us, it seems as if everyone else is writing much more easily than we. So-and-so publishes two books a year. She gets her weekly ezine out - on time and every week. He writes his column each day, without fail.
Last week, I hosted the Writing Hour where I talked to writers at all various stages of the writing and publishing process. One writer was frustrated with her progress (or lack of progress as it were) in her fiction story. She felt she'd been spending too much time on the character development and not enough time on the plot. "It's like I don't know how to do beginning, middle, and end." As we talked further, we discovered that her time spent on character development hadn't been wasted. "Are you happier with who the characters are now as opposed to when you first started?"
It happens... you set aside time to write and create. Or a client cancels at the last minute. Or that rare thing of a block of time drops into your lap. You're even all set with what you're going to work on. And you stare at the computer. You frown at your list. You shuffle papers on your desk. You look at your plan. You do nothing. And it's so frustrating!!! Especially if it's the case where you got the very rare gift of extra time. You DREAM about having a block of time to create and write. And then you get it, and you can't seem to even press a key on the keyboard.
A few weeks ago, when I was feeling quite overwhelmed, I took a break and sat in my living room and looked out the big picture window with its view of the valleys and mountains. I had bee DOing so much that I felt I was losing a bit of the soul and the why of that doing. So I sat in my living room. And did nothing. Honestly, I had to force myself to do nothing. Not to have a book. Not to have a journal. Not even to put on music. I needed to just be. My goal was to do nothing. To produce nothing. To have nothing be the result of my BEing time.
"An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. An object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force." You know how it works... if it's up to you get something done - and no one is relying on it - you procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate... And it doesn't get done. But the second that you're responsible to someone else and someone is depending upon you to get it done, man, you've never seen yourself be so productive.
I've had my business since 2001, and it's been profitable since the very beginning (meaning I made more tha I spent). Since 2008, I've had the sole support of me and my two daughters. My business has grown, and I'm thrilled to say I have a waiting list for people to work privately with me. What that means is that there's always a lot of work to do. Especially since I have goals and dreams for my business to reach more people and make a bigger impact.
As a business owner, you're writing all the time, even if you don't think you are. Think about it: you're writing all the time... emails, responses to potential clients, ezine articles, blog posts, social media status updates, sales pages, campaign emails, product materials. Business owner = writer. And that means your writing needs to be good.
What exactly is writing well? Is it writing with perfect grammar? Not necessarily. Is it writing that's worthy of The New York Times bestseller list? Maybe, but I'm not sure how practical that is. Could it be as simple as writing so that your readers understand the meaning you're trying to convey? Yep, I'm pretty sure that's it. So how do you make sure your readers understand you?
Content creation is being bandied about nowadays, especially in the online marketing world. Each of us may have an idea of what "content" is, but you might be surprised at how many different things it is. It's about every single day when you sit down at your desk and put your fingers on the keyboard... what are you creating? Articles Blogs Social media updates Videos Website content Promotional materials (and this is a big catchall category: marketing emails, affiliate materials, speaker queries, graphics)
So you've decided that you'll set aside time to write every day, and maybe you've even scheduled a particular time to write. You know you want to write from your soul.... it's the only way to truly to connect to your community and potential customers and get your message across.... Your deep message, the one that's so all-fired important that you have to get it out in the world. So you figure you'll just fit it in between dropping the kids off at school and your first client phone call at 9:00am.
As a writer, I find I'm always looking for new ways to flesh out my ideas. Not because I'm looking for an excuse to not delve into the words themselves, but because I don't want to get stuck in a rut. Outline only. Or mindmap only. Or writing down questions only ad nauseam. But at some point I actually have to sit down and write. It's a constant dance between creativity and structure. Between ideas and linear thinking. Between the-sky-is-the-limit thinking and tight, concise writing.
I was working with a client in a book writing program, and she was having a hard time figuring out what she wanted to write about. However, one theme that kept popping up for her was that she was passionate about people's stories being told. "There are all these stories out there, and they just need to be told!" she'd say over and over. It was pretty obvious to me that telling other people's stories was what she needed to write. At first, she didn't agree. "That's not good enough. It needs to be bigger."
You have a product or service that solves a problem and that people need, and you want to share that. But then it comes down to communicating with your target market... that's where you get stuck. You have to write blog posts, ezine articles, sales pages, campaign emails, affiliate materials... the list goes on. You have trouble taking that concept of your valuable product or service and confidently and powerfully communicating it. You feel like you are not connecting with your market. (And you're not.)
I've committed to writing more and more, and what that looks like (ideally) is more blog posts, more ezine articles, and books. That means writing. A lot of writing. And THAT means actually writing. The other day, I ended my work day at 3:00pm with the intention to write. Oh my goodness, was that hard! As soon as I finished my last work task, I felt completely lost. What do I do next? What's the next step? How do I get started? I almost fled back to my office, to the solace of a to-do list that was very clear about what my next task was. But I didn't.
As I talk with my coaching clients and work with people in my programs, the self-criticisms and struggles of gotta write, "Just do it," and feeling not good enough abound. As writers, it's what we all struggle with. "Am I good enough?" "I should just stop what I'm doing right now and give up this ridiculous idea." "Now that I'm committed to this project, I'm not having any fun. When you're writing about something you're passionate about, isn't it supposed to be fun?"
There are five steps to making your dreams come true. First, just play with your idea. Second, let it sit for a while. Third, take that seed of an idea out of the marinade and see how you feel about it. Fourth, get down to business... what do you need to actually make this dream a reality? What resources, in terms of time, money, help, can you bring on to help you? Fifth, come up with an Action Plan. Steps one through three are more mindset and motivation oriented, whereas steps four and five are about action.
For whatever reason, it's not as easy as one would think to sit down and write. I mean, all you need is a pen and paper or a keyboard, right? You could get a lot of writing done if you add up all these extra bits of time (yes, they really do exist): The 10 minutes before your next client call. The 15 minutes before you have to start dinner. The 5 minutes while the kids are getting ready for bed. The 20 minutes (I'm being optimistic here) that you're waiting in the doctor's office.
Some time ago, I went through an exercise from a great article online from Meredith Eisenberg, "The Reverse Funnel - How to Dream BIG and Start Small." It's basically a product development/marketing exercise to get you thinking differently about your products and programs flow. Long story short, the article recommends that you start with your big dream package, the $50,000 kahuna that people would be willing to pay you... and you have to figure out what you would offer at that price. Then, you work down from there.
You have a lot to write, and, of course, you want your words to come directly from your soul, connect with your audience (whether that be a reader or potential customer), and have a strong impact. To that end, the more conscious we are of our process, the easier, better, stronger it is. And most of the time, we get in our own way. We'd probably be able to create and write more easily if it weren't for our own bad selves.
Much of the work I do with writers, especially authors, is to help them understand that writing is a process. You don't just sit down and start writing Chapter 1, finish that chapter, and seamlessly move onto the next one. Before you can get to that place where you're writing full sentences, you need to know what you're writing about. You need to gather fodder, play with ideas, go down a few paths. Once you've gathered the fruit of your creative labors, then you can start forming that fruit into a more coherent message.
Writing looks like many different things (outlining, taking notes, recording our thoughts, stream of consciousness, to name a few), and we writers are all different, too. The biggest problem I see would-be writers and even those who make the leap and proclaim themselves writers to the world is that they don't think they're doing it properly. That probably comes from the good ol' Roman numeral outline, rough draft, and final version process taught in middle school.
As a writer, I see metaphors everywhere, and one of the lenses through which I view the world is that of writing and words. So, it's not a surprise that when I'm cooking a meal, my mind goes inevitably to writing... and tries to make connections. (One definition of writing could be "finding connections between like or unlike things.") Here are some examples of how writing is like cooking, along with a few concrete tips.
The statistic that writing coaches, book marketing coaches, and write-a-book-in-a-weekend programs love to shout to the world is that 80% of people say they want to write a book. What do you think the key word is in that statistic? "Want." They want to write a book. The number of people who actually start - and finish - a book is much, much lower. Why is that? If so many people want to write a book and that's on most people's list of what they want to accomplish in their lifetime, why doesn't it happen? Because the fantasy is much more lovely than the actual doing.
As a writer, you might find yourself stuck - at the beginning (can't even get started), in the middle (where the heck do I go now), or at the end (is this really a good ending) of whatever you're writing. There are all sorts of techniques to get past writer's block, but it's even more than that.
We may not be able to sit down and write anywhere. Some people can. Yay them! For me, though, my environment is ultra important. The energy of people around me affects me. The location. The natural environment. Maybe that sounds like I'm a diva and everything must be perfect if I'm going to write, dahling.
At times, the creative process can almost look logical: "This is my purpose, and this is what I need to do." Other times the creativity just flows, and you do what you can to capture all the lovely ideas. Occasionally, I'll do some of the same writing exercises I require of my students. Actually, it's not that I feel I should share the pain, er, joy, of the writing homework, but rather that I have a very good reason for each and every writing assignment I ask my students to complete.
You're no good. You don't know what you're doing. That's a stupid idea. What makes you think anyone is going to buy from you? You're sending too many emails. You're promoting too much. No one needs what you have to offer. ____ [fill in the blank] does that better than you do. You offer the same service/product as _____. Why would someone buy from you? That last question is the only question that the Inner Critic Gremlin has that is even remotely helpful. Why would someone buy from you?
If you're an entrepreneur or online business owner, especially with a service-based product, then what you're selling is you and your system. You may be thinking, "I don't have a system... I just do what I do." Well, see, that "just do what you do" IS a big part of your system. The trick is to verbalize that system - to put into concrete form (and maybe even create a product out of it, if that floats your boat... more on that below). "Why do I want to do that?" you might be asking...
Many writers, maybe all writers, have trouble being objective about their writing. As you're writing or immediately after you're writing, you're thinking, "God, what am I doing? This is pure drivel. It's awful. I should just stop." Luckily, you don't stop; you keep going. And, with more luck, when you go back to your writing after a few days' absence, you realize it's not so bad after all. And you keep going. And you keep going. And you keep going.
As a creative, I have tons of projects in the works: two short stories, one short story that could turn into a novel, twelve quilts, three cross-stitch projects, one painting, one creative tool for an upcoming workshop. I'm in no danger of running out of things to do anytime soon, obviously. Why so many projects? Well, part of it is that I tend to engage in long-term projects (like a quilt). After a while, I lose my momentum or interest, and I go on to something else. Another part is that I get stuck. I'm not sure where to go next.
I talk all the time about writing from your soul and how important it is to really connect your message to your audience. I've talked about how to do it, how to set yourself up for success, and what gets in the way. But how do you know if you're actually writing from your soul? That you're actually doing it, real time, right now? That what you're writing isn't just schlock, but real, true, writing from the soul? Think of it as a path you're on, with steps (even baby steps) and milestones. These steps are clues that, yes, you are indeed writing from your soul.
Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction (even business writing), all writing tells a journey. There's a starting point and an ending point. Your job as writer and author is to get your reader from Point A to Point B. The most popular format for a journey story is Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, mainstreamed and made popular by Star Wars: A New Hope. But it doesn't have to be just fiction that gets to play with the Hero's Journey (or any journey). The story of a journey isn't just appropriate for all writing; I go as far as to say it's crucial.
When it's time to write, especially writing from one's soul, one doesn't just turn on a dime. At least, I don't. If I'm going to write from my soul, connect with my peeps, and write powerful, compelling material, I have to write consciously, not unconsciously. First, what do I mean by writing unconsciously?
If you had ever asked me if I was creative, my answer would have somehow revolved around my writing. While both my grandmothers painted, I didn't feel my artistic bents leaned that way in the least. But art has been sneaking in for years... through mandalas and collages and vision boards and now, yes, painting. I have to say that playing with markers, paints, ink, and pastels has humbled me greatly. I have a vague idea of what I want to create, and it NEVER comes out the way I (even vaguely) imagined. Yet, I've pressed on because I really do love the creative process and the results.
In conversations or in words, we usually know what it is we're trying to say. We have the concept in our heads. We can see it. Then, the trick is to translate that concept (which is not word-based) into words. Just like in a conversation with your spouse, you don't mention every single stream-of-consciousness detail (unless it's important). "When we were driving on I-695, this truck almost ran us off the road. Oh, and the sky was blue." Part of our job as writers is to understand what's important and what's not. The "sky was blue" is NOT important, by the way.
After watching Gettysburg several months before, both Mark and I were champing at the bit to watch Gods and Generals. Mark's a huge Civil War buff, and while I'm not an aficionado, I really loved Gettysburg. Great characters, good writing, action that moved along... An hour into Gods and Generals, I tried to fall asleep. Mark looked for the function on the Blu-Ray remote to double time the movie, kind of like speeding up records. We were bored.
Words are powerful. The little ditty we heard and sometimes used as a mantra (See? Words ARE powerful) of "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" just isn't true. Here's an example. One of my favorite memorials in Washington, D.C. is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It's a different kind of memorial with four outdoor "rooms," one room for each of his terms. There are words everywhere, and one of my favorite phrases is inscribed on a granite wall, "I hate war."
It's time to sit down and write your article, and you can't seem to write a thing. You stare at your paper or screen, twirl your pen, tap the keys, get up and get a glass of water, sit back down, get up and go to the bathroom, sit back down, check Facebook/Twitter/Google+, twirl your pen some more... And nothing gets written.
The Internet is a wonderful thing. It allows us to connect with people all over the world, get great information and resources, and do business. And in so many venues: social media, email, online communities... But our inboxes fill up with email after email after email.
The most important aspect of connecting with your audience through words is being clear... Because if you're not clear, your readers certainly won't be. I was at a high-school band concert, and there was a box with "Cleaning Supplies" written on one side and "Lost and Found" written on another side... of the same box. Is it meant for cleaning supplies or lost and found? If I have a lost and found item, is it safe to put in this box? If I put cleaning supplies in this box, will someone thing they're lost items?