One of my clients was totalling up how much time it takes her to write an article for her newsletter.
“I’ve been tracking for a few times now and it looks like sum total, it takes about 4+ hours. 45m-1 hour to really rough draft, 1.5-2 to edit, 1 to format, polish, proof, post…and then send out the emails, post to social, etc. I enjoy the process, and am almost always happy w/ the end product, but it does take time.
“I’m curious- is that just what it takes?”
I love that she’s getting it done. I love that she’s tracking her time. And what she described revealed how she’s thinking about this, and how to shift it.
A book versus a newspaper column.
When I was in college I worked on the university’s daily newspaper, and the columnists there had iron-clad deadlines. The way they wrote their columns? They slammed them out. The editor (sometimes me), edited for clarity and typos. And then we printed it.
I also have friends who have published best-selling books. The process of writing a book takes a long time. The concept, the development, the first draft, the second draft, the third draft, the polishing, the reworking…
The difference is that a book is meant to be a lasting work, that carries something significant. The newspaper column, less so. Not that care and craft is missing from a column, but the intention is different.
To put it another way, I asked my client this question: “If a client emailed you with a question, and you emailed back a response, how much time would you put into it?”
Be kind to yourself and your time.
It’s true that I’ve been writing content for decades, going all the way back to when I was in high school and worked on the school paper and the literary magazine. At this point I’ve written hundreds, thousands of articles and other content.
If you don’t have that familiarity and comfort with writing, I don’t expect you to bang out an article like this in 12 minutes, which is what it took me.
However, please be kind to yourself. Write your content just as if you are answering a question on the spot that a client asks you. Just answer, and let it be done. Read it through and see if there are unfinished thoughts or small edits that need to be made.
And let that be good enough. Let your articles get better over time, the more you write them. Don’t try to make every article the best article that you will ultimate write twenty years from now.
Be kind to yourself and your business. People are out there who need your help. Get it done, cut and print. 🙂
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every Act of Business Can Be an Act of Love.
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6 Responses
Thank you Mark. I constantly struggle with not letting the excellent be the enemy of the good in my writing. These days I mostly write content for other people, so it’s a new level of struggle with just letting it be good enough rather than spending hours anguishing. In the past when I wrote more regularly, it was easier. My writing business is relatively new (at least this time around), so I’m hoping as I get more clients I’ll let my standards “drop,” so that I can actually produce better work!! And not get burned out.
This made such interesting reading for me. The only time it ever takes less than a couple of hours is when I am passionate about the subject and knowledgable. Otherwise I do like to research and double check everything is perfect before publishing. Maybe I need to trust my heart more. Thank you for sharing.
Very nice article. And I would add, that as a coach, I often record the sessions for my clients. From the recordings, I can pull great content, transcribe, edit/ amend for a broader audience, and publish. This saves time, not only for writing but also for coming up with ideas to write about.
Thank you so much. Excellent post. The one who loves writing definitely getting so much benefit by this article. Thanks for sharing.
Need to be able to add more content to my website in much less time. Thank you for this.
Thank you for sharing