One year ago, I held my first writing coworking session. We were in the first few months of the pandemic and I was frustrated. As much as I wanted to use all that "extra time" for my creative writing, I wasn't. I was doing anything but.
Here's what I was doing instead. I was worrying. I was doom scrolling. I was eating. I was waiting for it to be over.
I was not writing.
I suddenly had an idea. What if I set aside an hour a week to write, and, instead of writing by myself, I would intend to write with others?
Writing with Others
I decided to try it as an experiment. On May 7 last year, I opened a Zoom call with a few people I’d invited to write with me. I’d said it didn’t matter what kind of writing you wanted to do – fiction, memoir, blog posts, marketing emails, poetry – if you wanted to write, you could join me.
At the end of that first hour, I was stunned. I'd written the first few rough pages of a story idea I'd had rattling around in my head for a few weeks. It was easy. Effortless. I’d written more in that hour than I had for months.
The two other people there said similar things. One person had been struggling to write her blog post. Every time she sat down, she'd write a few lines, get stumped, and move onto something else. In that hour, she'd written more than she had in weeks. The other person wrote a long overdue newsletter to her clients about handling anxiety during that particularly stressful time.
Each time I did the calls, I felt a little thrill of exhilaration. I was writing!
At some point, I decided I'd keep doing them, no matter how many people showed up. Here and there, I worked on blog post or some other piece of marketing, but I kept my focus on writing creatively. Many weeks, it was the only time I had to work on my writing.
As I think about that anniversary and this past year of writing in this way, two things strike me as important.
The Power of Showing Up
It's powerful to show up with an intention to do something and be witnessed.
At the top of the hour, we speak out loud what we're intending to work on that hour. Setting your own and hearing others’ intentions sets the space.
Then, we turn our cameras and microphones off, and get to work. Many times, when I've gotten stumped on a passage or things didn't feel like they were flowing, I've been tempted to give up. But it only lasts a second.
Because I'm there to write, and I know the others meeting with me are there to do that too, I stay with the page.
And that means something.
Many Small Steps, One Step at a Time
One hour a week doesn't sound like a lot of time. And I suppose it's not in the grand scheme of how many available hours one has in a week.
However, that one hour a week means I've now spent over 50 hours on my writing. That's more than a full 40-hour work week - almost seven full days. A year ago, I was only wishing and wanting and hoping to find time to write. And now, after a year of doing it a little bit at a time, I have.
In this time, I've finished a short story, completed an Intensive Short Story writing course, written a completed draft of a children's book, finished a fable, and have written at least three poems.
What's more, the positive momentum created in those sessions has led me to find more time in my schedule for creative writing. I started a Writing Group in January, and there I write at least another hour, sometimes two a week in addition to the coworking sessions.
The Parallel to Building Your Business
So why am I telling you all this?
Because creating a good relationship with your writing and a writing practice can tell you something about what it takes to create a good relationship with your marketing.
Showing up for your business has power
Setting the intention to work on your business and declaring that – both to yourself and/or to others - sends a signal and helps direct your energy. It helps keep you accountable to what you want to do, to how you want to spend your time. And, if you can find someone to journey with you while doing this, all the better.
Small consistent steps have an impact
It doesn’t have to take a lot of time to work on your marketing. You may have another job or caregiving responsibilities, and that’s OK. Even if you don't have a lot of time to spend growing your business right now, an hour a week adds up. And consistency builds confidence and its own momentum.
Writing a few paragraphs, a week on my fable individually felt small. Sometimes ridiculously slow. At the top of the hour, I’d say “Well, I’m working on my fable again.” Week after week I’d get a new scene or part of a scene down.
By itself it felt tiny. But without that one hour a week, week after week, it would not exist.
You can do the same thing for your marketing. Can you work on your offer? Your Sales Page? Your Home Page? Each of those tasks will take more than an hour – some much more – but with small consistent steps, you’ll be surprised at how much you can get done.
To be a writer is to spend time writing. To be a business owner is to spend time marketing.
If you’d like a better relationship with your marketing and want to practice it more, try showing up with intention and discover the magic in the small, consistent actions you take.
Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash
And if you want to join me writing, I’m here on Thursdays at 10 a.m. CT.
Writers’ Loft - Coworking Sessions
If you’d like to devote time to writing practice, join me tomorrow, on Thursday at 10 a.m. CT, for a writing coworking session.
In this coworking session, we set aside time to work on a writing project. Writing projects can include anything - poetry, your blog post, a sales page, your memoir. Anything!
For more information, and if you’d like to register, click here.