Do Your First Draft Fast
How doing your first draft marketing quickly helps you push past doubt
Have you ever started out writing a sales page or perhaps copy for a promotional email series or new website copy and gotten sidetracked?
Maybe it’s a voice in your head that says you don’t really know how to do this. Or that no one is going to buy your program anyway. Or that your copy feels flat, uninspiring, especially if you look at what other coaches, healers or other creatives are producing.
Or perhaps it’s a persistent feeling that you’re not even sure why you want to do this creative project or build this business anyway. What were you thinking??
Whatever it is, the doubts can be intense at times as you try to bring your work into the world.
Another important thing I learned while recently writing a first draft of a novel is that having a tight deadline for yourself can help you push past your doubts.
A Draft in 90 Days
Even though I’d wanted to write for years, I never seriously considered writing a novel until about a year ago. Several important changes in my own soul journey and mind frame led me to see that this could, maybe, perhaps, possibly…be doable.
So I set out to try.
Initially, I didn’t have a timetable in place for myself. In my mind, it was enough that I’d finally seen I wanted to do this and was going to attempt it. I didn’t want to add anything like an artificial deadline to the project.
I’d show up to write, and I noticed the doubts. Was I doing this right? Could I do this? Am I on the right track? Is this even possible? The constant stream of questions my mind kept flinging at me weren’t helpful. I’d coach myself and do all the things. But eventually, I could see myself getting derailed - writing less and less each day, spending more and more minutes wondering if this wasn’t all just a pipedream.
Around the same time, I was fortunate to attend a workshop by Alan Watt and learned about his 90-day novel workshop. When I first heard the concept of writing a novel in 90 days, I laughed out loud. Impossible, I thought. Authors took years to write their novels, right?
Yes, many writers take years to put out a book. But they’re not writing the novel that whole time. They draft a novel, and then they work on rewriting it. (Authors I admire speak of seven or eight or fifteen drafts, whatever it takes.)
That distinction is important.
Stopping Before You Get Started
Many would-be authors get derailed before they finish their first draft. Others stagger under the weight of years and their unfinished manuscript.
And I see this in some coaches, healers and other creatives too, especially in how they approach their marketing. They work on their website copy on and off for years, tinkering with phrasing and word changes. Or they take weeks, or longer, to write a blog post. Their idea for a promotional series languishes. That group they want to start, well, they can’t seem to finish the sales page.
There can be legitimate reasons why someone might not be able to write their marketing piece quickly. It might be they need to learn more about how to. Or that they might have a health or family challenge that arises unexpectedly. It might be that something else needs to take priority in their business.
However, other times, it’s really fear and doubt that can stop them before then even get started. (Which, weirdly sometimes leads to marketing itself posing as a cover for procrastination.)
What I learned in the workshop was that having a tight, committed deadline helps you push past your doubts. If I was going to get 65,000 words done in 90 days (and in this case, it was actually 62 days as the first 28 days were spent inquiring into the world of my novel.), then I needed to be writing every day.
I literally didn’t have time to entertain much fear or doubt.
And this focus, combined with the permission to do it poorly and the idea that I was not responsible for the outcome , helped me focus on getting a draft done.
If you don’t have a draft, then you don’t anything to work from. Which then invites in more fear and doubt.
Doubt is an enemy of creativity.
If you have a draft, no matter how messy or incomplete, you have a starting point. That’s precious, because you can then move into editing mode, refining and revising as needed. And you can remind yourself that, unlike writing a book, your marketing is mostly all online. It can easily be amended at any point, if you find something that needs to be changed.
Try Giving Yourself a Deadline
Take a look at the next piece of marketing you need to work on to develop and grow your business. Maybe it’s a sales page, a script for your podcast, or an article. Try to feel into how much time something like this has taken you in the past. (If it’s something brand new you’re working on, be sure to give yourself time to learn the skills you’ll need or to get some extra support.)
Then look at your calendar, and, being honest with yourself and your capacity at the moment, set a deadline for a first draft.
Not the final sales page. Not the email that is ready to sent out.
Just the first draft.
Then, when you’re writing, if doubt and fear creep in, you can simply acknowledge what’s going on. And you can gently remind yourself you’re on deadline, and that you can deal with any questions or concerns after the first draft is done.