Happy writing: my new sustainable blogging strategy
You might have seen my weekly blog posts. Why your site should be mobile-friendly. The difference between evergreen and topical content.
On the docket for today was why your business should be utilizing LinkedIn. As you might have guessed…this is not that.
I’ve always loved writing, and I’m under no illusions that “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Writing can (and should?) be difficult sometimes, occasionally challenging, a slog now and then.
But what I’ve noticed lately, in my desperate attempts to outline, draft, and finalize weekly blog posts on content strategy topics, is that I get absolutely no joy from writing those kinds of articles.
Do I believe what I’ve written? Of course. Do I think these are important aspects of content strategy that businesses should understand and implement? Without a doubt.
The problem is, I kinda hate writing them, and that just doesn't feel sustainable.
The weight of wordy constraints
Maybe it’s the strict outline. I’ve never been a fan. Don’t get me wrong, outlines are vital, but I lean toward a looser style. For my purposes, though, blog posts need to say what they set out to in relatively short order, so a firm framework is required.
Or, maybe it’s exactly that struggle to keep them fairly short (because I’m under no illusions that the information they present is riveting). With this in mind, I feel the need to trim the asides, tangents, and jocular make-believe examples that form the foundation of my writing style.
The balance between usefulness and happiness
Sometimes, writing is going to be a slog. I might not feel inspired by every single client topic, I might have to schedule chapter-writing sessions, and I might wake up some mornings without the slightest motivation to touch my keyboard. I accept and even embrace all that.
This isn't about avoiding every little thing that doesn't fulfill me, and informing followers about content strategy makes sense for my business. But I'd much rather create audio clips like this or this. I’d rather build out deliverables that work toward my dream of teaching a biz to fish, and I’d rather write blogs that make me feel excited as I’m typing them (like this post).
I can’t help but think readers would prefer that last one, too.
All this is not to say I don’t need a schedule or that I shouldn’t keep striving to post one blog a week or whatever frequency I decide works for me. It just means that, in this instance, I’m going to listen to my intuition, not write off my irritation as laziness and shove through it. I want to try to turn blogging back into something I genuinely love doing.
This post flowed so easily out of me after I caught up on a couple issues of Total Annarchy, the newsletter by the incredible Ann Handley. I don’t care if you never write content; you should subscribe just for the laughs, the language, and the obvious and genuine love of her craft that pours out of every issue. Thanks for the ongoing inspo, Ann. You’re one of my Top 3 Favourite Word People™️, no question.
I also edited this after my first session with my new mentor, and it was very neat to see how many of these thoughts overlapped with our discussion. I’m so, so excited to work with her. It’s so sad that mentorship isn’t something offered by more organizations—thank you The Prosperity Project for facilitating this opportunity!
Final words / TL;DR
I still want every blog to have a shareable snack in it, so here is today’s:
Some things in your business will be hard, even things you really love. Some of those you have to suck up and do—they're the only way your business will progress.
But, in the interest of a sustainable content plan, you can step back and consider which of the bits that spawn a negative reaction might be altered to improve your day-to-day without undermining your goals.