Hello, all! I’ve got an exciting opportunity to offer you all on this Friday afternoon. Earlier this week, after I’d shared the recording and highlights from our fall planning party, I got a cool email: Nell Wulfhart, the Decision Coach, reached out to see if I’d be interested in sharing her tips on decision-making with you all. She wrote, “Writers (maybe more than anyone else!!) can really struggle with making decisions and taking action, and I could offer some advice, if you think they might find it helpful” and WOW do I agree. (I’d come across Nell’s work years ago, in an Ask a Manager column, and had linked to her work in this oldie-but-goody post, about creative work and taking risks. I think she’s so cool, and I hadn’t realized she’d been reading and writing along with us since then!)
Nell will gives us better advice than this, I’m sure ;)
So here’s the short version of this question: do you have a tricky decision to make about your writing life for which you’d like Nell’s guidance?
This might be a question related directly to the writing itself (how do I decide which project to work on next?) or it could be something about the business side of writing (do I want to hire a publicist to help me with my next book? should I break up with my agent? (not my question, to be clear!)). You can share your question below, or email me (just reply to this newsletter), and Nell will give us some answers, plus some big-picture tips for making decisions in our writing lives in early October.
What decisions are you considering in your writing life?
It sounds like the silliest problem to have, but I feel like I keep getting sidetracked from the actual writing by the weirdest concerns- like should I be typing it out on a computer or writing in my notebook! And it’s silly because I’ll often know what I want to be do doing (like in the case of this example I want to write longhand) but I get paralyzed by this idea that there’s a way to do things that’s inherently “better”. I’ve decided to turn these doubts into the content for my newsletter but I’d still love to know if this is even a real problem to have!
What a great idea. I'd love to hear more about submitting to contests for the money and recognition vs submitting your work to a publisher to see it in the world sooner.
This is beyond kind and I am so grateful. Trying to decide if I should try to make writing a full-time gig (have it pay the bills) or get a job so I don't stress but have WAY less time to write. I know this is such a personal thing to think about—I really want to go full time, but not sure what freelancing can look like.
Yo this is awesome! I am trying to work out whether to build a freelance writing business or stay in a job I absolutely hate and which doesn’t pay enough and use my extra time to edit and do the find-an-agent thing with my novel.
I have trouble prioritizing the micro and macro, or maybe I should say the important with the urgent. (Examples: I'm telling myself just to write on a new project, but now I think I'm putting off writing a proposal and having to think of the arc. Or: I'll think of an idea I can't do in the very near-term but then sometimes lose sight of it altogether. And yes, I make lists.) Thanks! What a cool offer!
My system. I'm doing daily letters of inspiration and a recipe. I think the core of what my newsletter is to inspire and to make people more alive and connected to the TRUth the we are GOd
It sounds like the silliest problem to have, but I feel like I keep getting sidetracked from the actual writing by the weirdest concerns- like should I be typing it out on a computer or writing in my notebook! And it’s silly because I’ll often know what I want to be do doing (like in the case of this example I want to write longhand) but I get paralyzed by this idea that there’s a way to do things that’s inherently “better”. I’ve decided to turn these doubts into the content for my newsletter but I’d still love to know if this is even a real problem to have!
I think the desire to do it "right" (in writing or anything else) is such a relatable obstacle -- but I'd say just pick something and move forward!
What a great idea. I'd love to hear more about submitting to contests for the money and recognition vs submitting your work to a publisher to see it in the world sooner.
This is beyond kind and I am so grateful. Trying to decide if I should try to make writing a full-time gig (have it pay the bills) or get a job so I don't stress but have WAY less time to write. I know this is such a personal thing to think about—I really want to go full time, but not sure what freelancing can look like.
What a generous offer!
Yo this is awesome! I am trying to work out whether to build a freelance writing business or stay in a job I absolutely hate and which doesn’t pay enough and use my extra time to edit and do the find-an-agent thing with my novel.
I have trouble prioritizing the micro and macro, or maybe I should say the important with the urgent. (Examples: I'm telling myself just to write on a new project, but now I think I'm putting off writing a proposal and having to think of the arc. Or: I'll think of an idea I can't do in the very near-term but then sometimes lose sight of it altogether. And yes, I make lists.) Thanks! What a cool offer!
My system. I'm doing daily letters of inspiration and a recipe. I think the core of what my newsletter is to inspire and to make people more alive and connected to the TRUth the we are GOd