Appreciate your consistently showing up with great advice Dan. So much good information here to digest. I have watched the workshop video several times through as well and keep gleaning new information each time.
So true and so important to do less. I’ve learned and tried a dozen new things for my recent book launch and now I’m stepping back to assess and write about what really worked, didn’t exhaust me, and gave satisfaction even if it didn’t offer huge success. I find I have to now weigh the satisfaction quotient more than anything else.
Thank you for sharing this, Dan. Your Substack presentation for She Writes was transformative for me, and I fully credit you for inspiring me to take the plunge into this amazing world. Your advice to present, to be generous, and to focus on the value you can bring to others is invaluable, and I really appreciate your grounded, steadying advice to authors.
I appreciate your emphasis on simplicity and doing less. I find it a powerful and game-changing concept. Quality over quantity resonates deeply with the creative community.
Thanks for this week's newsletter, @danblank! Yes, I've been overwhelmed for all the reasons you listed! (And I've done two of your Substack workshops . . . still learning! The personal connection part is what keeps me going--just seeing one person seem to get something from what I create. But I need to implement some of the cleaning and organizing strategy you suggest, so that I can be focused with even more clarity.
Had a conversation earlier this week with a group of writers and book coaches, almost all of them overwhelmed by all the "stuff" to do. I embrace the "do less, do it better, and do it with joy" philosophy and try to practice that myself.
I'm so inspired to set up an intentional creative space now! I find myself working on so many different projects in so many different places--I just know it will help to "do less." Thank you for this!
Dan, I've been following you for — what? a couple of years at least. Ever since I got a book contract and realized I had to get EVERYTHING together AT ONCE. Yikes! You don't just have great advice. You have the secret sauce (for me, anyway): you encourage me jump off the gerbil wheel and relax. Not like go-to-sleep relaxed, but rather the "perspective" relax. This can be done and you don't have to kill yourself doing it. This is, far and away, the best piece of advice I have heard throughout this entire process.
I’m glad you mentioned boundaries, but this is a difficult one for me to balance with the idea of sharing. I’m intensely private, live a boring life, and am unwilling to share most of what I think or feel in public. The times I have done so have not gone well. One of the reasons I write fiction is so I can explore my thoughts in a safe environment. So writing about why I wrote something is not something I’m comfortable doing. This balance between sharing and boundaries is a tricky one.
As someone who is about to click publish on her first Substack post, this was the encouragement I needed! What I love about all of this is the sustainability of it! Thanks for sharing!
Writing, sharing, and overwhelm
Appreciate your consistently showing up with great advice Dan. So much good information here to digest. I have watched the workshop video several times through as well and keep gleaning new information each time.
So true and so important to do less. I’ve learned and tried a dozen new things for my recent book launch and now I’m stepping back to assess and write about what really worked, didn’t exhaust me, and gave satisfaction even if it didn’t offer huge success. I find I have to now weigh the satisfaction quotient more than anything else.
Thank you for sharing this, Dan. Your Substack presentation for She Writes was transformative for me, and I fully credit you for inspiring me to take the plunge into this amazing world. Your advice to present, to be generous, and to focus on the value you can bring to others is invaluable, and I really appreciate your grounded, steadying advice to authors.
I appreciate your emphasis on simplicity and doing less. I find it a powerful and game-changing concept. Quality over quantity resonates deeply with the creative community.
Thanks for this week's newsletter, @danblank! Yes, I've been overwhelmed for all the reasons you listed! (And I've done two of your Substack workshops . . . still learning! The personal connection part is what keeps me going--just seeing one person seem to get something from what I create. But I need to implement some of the cleaning and organizing strategy you suggest, so that I can be focused with even more clarity.
love these tangible tips. Especially the idea of doing more with less (or doing less, but with more impact).
Had a conversation earlier this week with a group of writers and book coaches, almost all of them overwhelmed by all the "stuff" to do. I embrace the "do less, do it better, and do it with joy" philosophy and try to practice that myself.
I'm so inspired to set up an intentional creative space now! I find myself working on so many different projects in so many different places--I just know it will help to "do less." Thank you for this!
A really good post — thanks!
Love to be reminded to focus and simplify!
Beautiful! It’s a way of love you express in such practical concrete manners. Love it 💓
There is so much here to like. Thank you.
Dan, I've been following you for — what? a couple of years at least. Ever since I got a book contract and realized I had to get EVERYTHING together AT ONCE. Yikes! You don't just have great advice. You have the secret sauce (for me, anyway): you encourage me jump off the gerbil wheel and relax. Not like go-to-sleep relaxed, but rather the "perspective" relax. This can be done and you don't have to kill yourself doing it. This is, far and away, the best piece of advice I have heard throughout this entire process.
Your webinars are so fantastic, Dan! Thanks for all you do for writers and authors, and yes to constant reevaluation of all we take on. ♥️
I’m glad you mentioned boundaries, but this is a difficult one for me to balance with the idea of sharing. I’m intensely private, live a boring life, and am unwilling to share most of what I think or feel in public. The times I have done so have not gone well. One of the reasons I write fiction is so I can explore my thoughts in a safe environment. So writing about why I wrote something is not something I’m comfortable doing. This balance between sharing and boundaries is a tricky one.
As someone who is about to click publish on her first Substack post, this was the encouragement I needed! What I love about all of this is the sustainability of it! Thanks for sharing!