When you are stuck writing, it’s usually not about your writing

In practical terms, I help clients to write and speak about their work. To put together the words and phrases that let them tell a beautiful story about who they work with and what becomes possible for people through their work.

So they can write web pages, and emails, and blog posts, and prepare videos or design programs that feel real and rich and true.

And sometimes as we’re working on a piece of writing, a client gets stuck.

I was working this week with a client on a Story. We’d written a main story already, the Story of the collective work she does that is offered through classes and trainings.

She wanted to write a second Story about the work she does with private clients.

So how to write a Story wasn’t new.

But as we talked through the content of her private-client focused Story, she spoke up.

“I hear what you are saying, Isabel, and it makes sense. I hear the words but I’m not following you.”

So we paused. And these pauses matter.

What burbled up is that she’s not sure she wants that many private clients. Maybe not any.

And that what was calling to her much more strongly was to create a group program where she could have more direct engagement with the folks who currently attend her classes and trainings.

So we shifted her focus to that.

For you, that stuckness might be something different.

It might be a fear that you’ll draw too many clients too you and get overwhelmed.

It might that the voices of other teachers and coaches are too loud, and instead of writing what you know and feel, you’re trying to postiion it right.

It might be you decided that it’s not lucrative enough to pursue the clients you really want to serve.

Or some part of you still questions if what you offer has enough value.

Can you feel into what’s beneath any stuck you have around writing?

In my twenty plus years working with people on their communication, their expression in the world, what I’ve seen is that pretty much everyone is a great writer when they are lined up with what they most want to say in the world.

Pretty much everyone has great things to say. Deep, powerful, important things to share that would open up worlds for the people they want to work with.

It’s just a question of getting lined up with that so the work and the words come through. Naming what the work is, being precise about how  to express it so it rings true.

And then it can flow.

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