{"id":214,"date":"2015-10-30T20:12:01","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T20:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/?p=214"},"modified":"2019-08-30T21:18:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T21:18:22","slug":"writing-is-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/writing-is-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing is vulnerable"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to write more each day\/week\/month, I’ve put significant effort into sitting down and actually\u00a0writing<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Seth Godin put it best: SUSDAT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Show Up, Sit Down, and Type”<\/h2>\n

It sounds much easier than it really is.<\/p>\n

I’ve been better about the showing up part.<\/p>\n

I’ve even been pretty good about the sitting down part.<\/p>\n

It’s the typing that’s holding me back.<\/p>\n

So, in typical Roxy fashion, I’ve over-analyzed it.<\/h4>\n

I’m trying to figure out why, suddenly, I have no idea what to write. I’ve come up with a few ideas:<\/p>\n

1 \u2022 I have no idea what to write.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Seriously, what do I write about?<\/p>\n

When consulting clients, I advise them to develop what Neal Schaffer described as “content buckets”<\/a> – 3-4 subject\u00a0areas or categories that you would like to talk about. (For example, if you run a recipe blog your content buckets might be “my own recipes,” “recipe reviews,” “where to get ingredients,” and “presentation.”)<\/p>\n

I’ve done the same for this blog. I’ve taken my own advice. I have a list of ideas to write about, things I find interesting or useful.\u00a0I’m my own worst critic, though. I have my list of topics and talk my self out of every single one of them. That leads me to…<\/p>\n

2 \u2022 I want to write something worth reading.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Why write if it isn’t worth reading? What if I’m the\u00a0only person<\/em> who cares about how awesome apple butter is? (I know I’m not, but go with me on this one…). What if, what if, what if…<\/p>\n

It’s bogus.\u00a0Writing is beneficial on so many levels. If I choose to put it here, on this blog, I’m trusting that there is someone, somewhere, who will connect with it. And if not?<\/p>\n

I guess I’ll just have to live with writing for my own sake.<\/p>\n

3 \u2022 I’m out of practice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This is tough for me. I used to write all the time, then I started grad school and wrote even more. I shouldn’t be out of practice, but I am. I’m out of practice writing the way I love to write. I haven’t written for myself in a while, and I’ve lost the rhythm of it a bit. It will come back, I’m sure, but only with practice.<\/p>\n

So here’s my practice. That leads me to my final idea of why I’m not able to just sit down and type:<\/p>\n

4 \u2022 Writing is vulnerable.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Really, really vulnerable.<\/p>\n

What if I mess up? What if I miss a silly grammatical error?\u00a0What if, what if, what if…<\/p>\n

So I watched this (for about the millionth time):<\/p>\n