The Secret to Finishing Newsletters Faster
One of the most common questions I get is, “Monica, I hate writing newsletters. I hate writing social media posts. It takes me forever to get all my content done, especially because I’m super critical about my work. What should I do?”
I get it. Personally, I’m the kind of writer who tends to rewrite every single sentence and then go back and rewrite each paragraph, so written content takes me way longer than it should.
Here’s my suggestion – this is one of my secrets and the secret of many of my ultra-successful colleagues – don’t write, don’t write, don’t write.
So now you might be wondering, “OK, Monica, well, what am I supposed to do if I’m not writing?” And here’s my answer – talk, talk, talk.
See, my guess is that if you’re a perfectionist in your writing, then you’re a verbal, kinesthetic, or visual processor.
If you’re verbal, it means that you like to talk things out. If you’re visual, you like to draw or see things laid out for you. If you’re kinesthetic, you need to be moving while you are creating.
In my opinion, the best way to handle most different processing styles is to talk your content out. Whether it’s a newsletter, a social media post, or a promotional email, speak them into a recording device (like the voice memos app on your phone), get them transcribed, and then edit from there.
There are some great transcription services out there – one of my favorites is Otter.ai.
When you reach the editing phase, you can either edit the content yourself, or you can hire an editor to edit for you. There are some great freelance editors on Upwork.com.
Keep in mind that the recording should be shorter than the amount of content that you actually want, and go from there. For example, 500 words is typically about five minutes of spoken content – so for a typical article, you’d want your recording to be less than five minutes long.
For those of you who are more kinesthetic, you can go for a walk and record your emails or newsletters. If you’re more visual, you might draw out a mind map and then record your content based on that.
I love this trick so much because it allows you to get so much more content done in so much less time.
So your invitation for this week is to stop staring at empty pages on a blank screen. Instead, grab your phone or another recording device, go for a walk, and talk, talk, talk.
