How to start writing content

My top strategies I've found for producing regular content:

1. timeboxing the doing (at the moment it’s just for ‘content’ as I figure out my process, but it would be nice to narrow this down to slots for ‘ideas’, ‘drafting’, ‘editing’, later on)
2. slow and steady (consistency is apparently key)
3. doing it for myself (and keep reminding myself that) rather than any external commercial goal
4. learning the key skills of the internet
5. find the fun! (connections, creating and sending into the world, etc)
6. accountability and buddies (accountability buddy, sharing in communities)

There is so much pressure around online to create content. More content, more engagement, more conversions, more leads, more more more mooooorrreeee…….

I’m trying to remember the time when all those words meant something completely different in my mind.

Now my whole life feels saturated with sales, marketing and content jargon.

I came back online after a long period of poor mental health, when I deeply experienced the extreme negative effects of screens, tech and the internet on the nervous system and inner wellbeing.

I often had a racing heart, suffered from panic attacks, depression (symptoms of which included not feeling able to move, negative triggering thoughts, hopelessness), intrusive thoughts, worry and more.

I very quickly realised that given my extreme mental state, tech, screens and social media needed to be avoided at all costs, not just minimised.

At least until my health improved.

A strange period ensued of feeling simultaneously disconnected from the world, from myself and from everyone around me.

Leaving the internet was by all means not the only source of these feelings, but it definitely contributed to it.

I found a serene space without content, without so much (over-)stimulation, and without so much speed. It was lovely. For a while.

As I slowly recovered, I found I did miss the positive things I experienced from the internet: connecting with others, learning new things and feeling a sense of belonging in quite specific communities that I didn’t always have access to in person.

So I started to dip my toe back into the online world. This essay describes some of my impressions, thoughts and feelings on coming back.

And my evolving perspective on how I want to engage with the internet going forward.

………

Early 2024:

“I’m feeling a bit more up for the internet. Plus I miss people. Hmmm, I wonder what’s happening in the world of startups, tech, operations and investment?”

** Opens laptop **

Firstly, the internet is still exhausting.

The strong trend of growing video content (and all associated wider effects) that I saw whilst working in online safety the past few years, continues.

Good to confirm the things that haven’t changed.

Secondly, EVERYONE has a newsletter now. Substacks coming out of my ears. Where did this come from? What’s motivating people to do this?

Wait…does this mean I should? Or that I shouldn’t?!!

What do I actually want to do?

I haven’t even figured out what my personal life, let along my professional life, never mind what my ‘content/newsletter strategy’ will be!!!

** Shuts laptop **

Well that’s clearly not going to support my ongoing recovery. Let’s leave it a few more months…

Later in 2024:

Ok, I can do this. Deep breaths. Engage INTENTIONALLY with the internet, and all will be fine.

I thought of someone I wanted to re-connect with and sent them a message .

Then I came offline.

The next day, I remembered a newsletter I used to enjoy reading. I opened the latest edition and enjoyed reading it.

I listened to podcasts (audio seems to be less draining and intense for my brain than anything visual which is still the case now.

Even though I’ve always been a very visual person and preferred that medium.

Still, there are so many inputs around- courses, newsletters, LinkedIn etc etc. I’m looking forward to curating my preferred set of inputs so I don’t get overwhelmed.

I’ve always been so interested in so many things, and therefore tried to consume far too much about all sorts of subjects.

In a way, it’s a relief that this just isn’t an option anymore.

It’s probably a good thing I’m just forced to choose, forced to curate what I really want to consume. This will mean I can stay well.

The more I get back into the internet, the more I think about curating what I consume.

Consumption v. production

I’ve enjoyed producing content a lot in the past.

I wrote a blog (What the Fintech?) explaining FinTech concepts and technologies back in my days of working on crypto accounting at EY.

Later on, I wrote a regular newsletter in the style of Gossip Girl (using only people's first initial) about my experience on the Entrepreneur First program, which seemed to go down very well with friends and family.

I know that producing content will help me to process my ideas. What I need now is to keep moving forwards even when the path is extremely unclear.

I’m still learning what my post-burnout self is able to do (which is apparently not all the things that my pre-burnout self could do).

There are lots of challenges when starting with content. They crept up on me, threatening to trigger the overwhelm.

There are SO many topics to write about - interests, ideas, companies etc.

I can overwhelm myself with all the potential things, never mind the internet getting involved and giving me even more inputs.

I’m reminded of a quote I read in this Medium article by Ashley Couto about multi-interested founders trying to work on different things. It made me chuckle:

Being multi-passionate is a special type of hell if you’re an entrepreneur. Rarely, if ever, do your passions converge in the same direction. That would be too convenient.

So many other questions keep coming up:

How does my personal brand fit with what I'm building, what I believe, what my ‘work’ will be from now on?

Surely all these things need to be in place BEFORE I start writing? I need a coherent ‘message’!

The problem is, I see writing and creating as a process to help me and my brain move forwards (likely in direction of more clarity over these things and others).

So if I don’t have clarity now, and I do believe this process will be a source of providing that clarity if I engage in it…. I’ve sort of run out of excuses not to start!

In terms of topics, I think it’s important to start broad (if that’s where I am at), but stay flexible. Then I can be open about the thinking process and narrow in on subjects where relevant.

The Fear(s)

I am actually interested in the ‘creator economy’ although I'm still trying to figure out what it is.

I’ve even been wondering about helping businesses with their messaging, marketing and design content for them.

But then, do I want to be a ‘creator’? That feels more like an identity thing than something I ‘do’.

One of the only things I could do in 2023 whilst unwell was draw and make art (although unfortunately there was also a period when even that wasn’t possible).

I have now made peace with calling myself an ‘artist’ and using that label. Even though it’s taken about 3 years.

(I draw mandala and pattern art and sometimes share at @amandala.g on instagram if you’re interested).

So ‘creator’ is just another label. It reminds me a bit of the artist label, but for the ‘internet’.

So I don’t necessarily need to label myself, but I think I do need to stop the overthinking and just ‘create’, without worrying about being called a creator and what it means.

Another fear is personal exposure, and this fear is real. My greatest fear in the world now is actually becoming famous. Or being in the public eye, in some way.

Usually this conjures up ideas about becoming a politician or famous celebrity (which thankfully is highly unlikely for me), but starting to think about things like creating content and writing about myself, then publishing it online, brings up this specific fear.

This brings me back to thinking about the plethora of Substacks popping up. Newsletters are a way to develop community around your thinking.

It also requires someone to choose to sign up and give you their email address in order to receive your content.

There is a level of ‘closed’ group with a newsletter that doesn’t exist on social media and other platforms.

And this level of closeness goes even deeper in a paid community (another level of commitment from readers).

I think this closeness invites the potential for a higher level of openness and vulnerability from the writer. That’s appealing when you are nervous about sharing your thoughts and feelings online.

But another part of me does worry about the illusion of closeness. Do you actually know people subscribed to your newsletter?

What would you want to share or not? And once you’ve written and published content, you can’t control how other people (mis-)use it.

It’s possible working in the online safety space has skewed my views on this. Coupled with managing some ongoing anxiety and depression symptoms, it’s a potent mix.

It’s definitely something I’m thinking about a lot as I start to write and produce more...

How to start... And how to continue...

So I’ve thought about content from (almost) every angle that I can. Now would be the time to start doing!

I’ve started by writing about writing about content (so meta).

I’ve seen other people do this, and it seemed like something accessible where I can’t find any excuses how not to do it.

Once I’ve got a few initial blog posts out of the way, I have lots of ideas I want to write about.

So the first few posts will be more about getting into a rhythm, a process, a habit.

I know there are lots of other people thinking similar things about content, their personal brand, and how they want to show up online.

I’m fortunate to be part of some incredible communities where these things are discussed and shared. Generalist World is one of them.

I connected with Alex Huhn over writing together and having regular check-ins to catch up on what we want to do with our content.

Even though we’ve only spoken a couple of times so far, it’s nice to have someone on the other side of the internet in the same position as you, walking the same path.

The peer-learning and accountability created from that type of relationship is brilliantly helpful.

The next question is finding the right processes.

I’ve managed to get slowly into a habit and figuring out the steps that work for me for: idea generation, refining, drafting, writing, editing and publishing, but it’s all very much a work in progress.

I really wanted to set everything up at the beginning and then click ‘start’ on my writing process, but of course it doesn’t work like that so I’m enjoying seeing what comes up.

Sink or Swim

Take regular swimming lessons, and learn not to drown

Starting out with the content journey reminded me of the process of building a company.

There is some saying or quote I’ve heard a lot that startups don’t starve, they drown.

In other words, the challenge is dealing with all the potential, and channelling it into a focused path forwards.

Potential customers, potential products, potential opportunities, potential collaborations, etc.

I feel somewhat the same with content.

Now I’ve started to think about producing content, it’s like I’m opening the floodgates for my ideastream and I’m scared of what might come charging out.

I can already see this can lead to more overwhelm. And also a drifting state of purpose.

These are valid concerns, but not enough to stop me starting in the first place. The important thing is to build in ways of dealing with the risks.

But I wanted to start somewhere and so here I am. With all the related feelings.

My top tips helping to keep me on track:

1. timeboxing the doing (at the moment it’s just for ‘content’ as I figure out my process, but it would be nice to narrow this down to slots for ‘ideas’, ‘drafting’, ‘editing’, later on)
2. slow and steady (consistency is apparently key)
3. doing it for myself (and keep reminding myself that) rather than any external commercial goal
4. learning the key skills of the internet
5. find the fun! (connections, creating and sending into the world, etc)
6. accountability and buddies (accountability buddy, sharing in communities)

Finally, I’m acknowledging that it’s hard. And some of the reasons why.

I’m trying to mentally separate the challenges of content from the challenges of ‘figuring out my life & work’ situation.

This is an ongoing thing happening in my life, which has lots of factors involved.

I’ve found it’s very easy to confuse everything and draw unhelpful connections.

That’s not my fault, but I need to find a way forwards that works for me.

It’s also just difficult to start something you haven’t been doing before! And building a whole new set of habits around it.

I’m looking forward to writing about what works and doesn’t for me so I can look back in a year’s time and see the journey from now to … content?!

Who knows where I’ll get to...

If you are starting your own content journey I’d love to hear from you as you figure out the best ways for your process.

Connect with me here.