Readers of this blog will know by now that my writing schedule has stepped up a bunch. What you may be shocked to hear is that I am curtailing certain other activities (use your imagination) so that I can continue to plug away at the writing. To be clear, I write for myself and because I have to. I absolutely need to write, and those days that I don’t have even the shortest window to throw some thoughts down, are days that I don’t feel I fully lived.
But I’ve noticed that the more I write, the more clients are reaching out to me. Not sure what the mechanism at work here is, but if I had to guess, I think more and more clients enjoy seeing their potential partners writing a lot. We all know how difficult writing is, the discipline, the fear of the blank page; I think a sense of awe develops whenever we see someone who continually produces. The internal dialog might go something like, “This person has mastered that part of themselves, something I personally know is so difficult. Therefore they must be extremely valuable in other arenas.” Maybe I am projecting here a bit, but even if I am, it is worth an exploration.
I personally believe that my commitment to writing, and the recent success in being able to produce so much, is having a positive impact on my work. Whether its turning client issues, or more likely dilemmas, into intellectual fodder that I flush out on the blog, or chronicling the conversations I have with the people around me, the daily grind of writing gives me an avenue to stream it down. This articulation is helpful to eventually solving issues and getting to the heart of creativity. Again, I am not sure of the mechanisms at work, but I am sure of the results.
I am in a curious position with regards to my personal and professional lives. They are blended in such a way that is very unconventional for most people, but of course, completely natural to me. Most people’s lives are lived in the evenings and the weekends. I never stop living my life to go work for someone else. When I choose my clients, one of the first questions I ask myself is, will this be interruptive to my natural rhythms or will this seamlessly blend into my existing routines.
So yes, even though I write first and foremost for myself, it is not far behind that I think about my readership when I write. And worrying about things like traffic and influence don’t matter much. Just put your head down, write as much as possible, and the clients will continue to reach out. They’ll respect you more for it. If you can do something that a client cannot, you are already successful.
Image Source: DbDbRobot on Flickr
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I noticed this in the past to, although sometimes I’m too busy to write.
.-= David´s last blog ..How To Reinvent Old Media & Embrace The New Economy =-.
i know how you feel david. You are an excellent writer and I wish you would write more. The goal in writing more is not to attract new clients, it is to satisfy our own desires, as content creators, to produce. But the secondary effects of writing more is that you do get discovered.
Sometimes shorter can be sweeter. It’s the same thought as ‘I don’t have time to workout’. So you don’t have 15 minutes? It doesn’t have to be an epic tome. I actually prefer quality over quantity. I’m sure there are thoughts concerning your projects that you can share with your readers that would benefit them as much it would you.
.-= Damien Basile´s last blog ..Are you a supernode? =-.
absolutely damien! oh wait, are you asking me to share more about my client experiences or just sending that out in general?
I totally agree with you Zach. It’s like the old adage, leading by example.
And in my experience, its important to talk about both the big overarching ideas and to talk about the practical process. I’m making more and more of a commitment to sharing my internal process with the world. Sort of demystify any mystique around the work, and instead show – look, you can do this too.
It’s funny though…it sometimes creates cognitive dissonance, because people want to think that it has to be much harder than it is. Like when I reveal to people that I wrote my book in 90 days from the first word on paper to getting the print back from the publisher. I can tell most people – don’t want to believe that could be possible. It forces them to confront whatever limitations they’ve bought into and accepted, yet in reality is holding them back from doing something daring and ambitious.
Still, I think in the end, tearing down the walls and lifting the veil is a true gift to the world. Glad to see you doing your share of truthsaying amidst the court jestering.
i should start to write a little bit more in depth examinations shouldn’t i?
hmmm, you all make me realize I need to instill a new writing discipline, in between chocolate rations and shots of vitamins.
.-= Michael Margolis´s last blog ..SuperBowl Turns into Google Love Story =-.
write a lot, and then when you think your done? put your butt in the seat, and write again, good music helps, coffee? yes please, cocaine? not anymore, schmigarettes? sure why not, all that cancer nonsense is made up
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