Ok, you've got a lot of words down, but something feels a bit chaotic or disorganized about the writing you've done so far. You aren't quite sure whether to keep writing, start revising, or just what to do next.
Here is where your writing anchor can support you and give your writing a clear direction. In today's episode, I break down:
1. What is a writing anchor?
2. The core question to ask yourself to identify the idea that will anchor all of your writing.
3. How to use that anchor to support your revision process
Exciting new affiliate offer: Hey ladies, ready to take control of your health, especially when "the change" comes? I'm excited to announce that The Written Compass has partnered with Dr. Heather Bartos to offer you a special invite to The Menopause Mothership (https://heatherbartos.ac-page.com/menopause-mothership), a community of women being supported and guided through their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical journey! Check it out here (The Written Compass and Shana Hartman will receive an affiliate payment if you choose to sign up):
https://menopausemothership.drheatherbartos.com/checkout/menopause-mothership?affiliate_code=e0d3b3
If you loved these tips and ideas and want more, head to shanahartman.com/schedule to get on our calendar and talk about next steps. If you are ready to explore what a writing community can do for you and your writing goals, head to shanahartman.com/schedule to get on our calendar and talk about next steps. If you want some help kicking things off, download my Embodied Book Writing Kickstarter: https://shanahartman.com/writingkickstart
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[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.
[00:00:10] In today's episode of The Written Compass, I'm gonna support you in finding your writing anchor.
[00:00:15] If you're not sure what that is, this is going to be the key thing
[00:00:19] to help you really walk your reader through from your beginning of your piece of writing all the way to the end.
[00:00:25] And the beautiful thing is you can apply this to anything that you are writing.
[00:00:29] This is going to help you find that purpose, that soulful,
[00:00:34] connected thing that brings all of your powerful words together in a really light and easy way. I'm so excited you're here. Let's jump right in.
[00:00:43] If you're anything like me,
[00:00:44] you've been in the midst of drafting and just getting your ideas down for whatever project you're working on,
[00:00:51] whether that's articles, book writing, I feel this when I'm creating notes for my podcast, social media posts, emails, etc.
[00:00:59] And I've got all of these words floating around and they seem really good and powerful,
[00:01:04] but I'm not quite sure how they're all connected. In today's episode,
[00:01:08] I want to talk about finding your writing anchor and how that can support you and
[00:01:14] really fine-tuning the connectivity that you want your reader to feel as they're moving from one idea, chapter, section,
[00:01:22] piece to the next in your writing. So welcome. I'm super excited to share this today.
[00:01:27] So this showed up because one of my clients that I was working with, she has been
[00:01:33] drafting this beautiful amazing book connected to her experience as an African-American woman growing up in the 60s.
[00:01:41] Her experience as an educator dealing with a an amazing diverse
[00:01:47] population of students, really getting to understand them and how to respond culturally appropriately to each of them and help them be seen.
[00:01:56] Conversations that she wants to write about just how the landscape of education is right now and
[00:02:01] she's done writing about all of these things and she was getting stuck because she was being told,
[00:02:06] well, if you don't have an outline then you're just gonna keep spinning your wheels.
[00:02:10] You're just gonna keep writing and you're not gonna get anywhere and that didn't sit right with her.
[00:02:15] So we had an interesting conversation about
[00:02:19] what could be supportive of her at this point. She's got a lot of words down.
[00:02:25] Now she's ready to
[00:02:27] find some connectivity between them so that she can take her draft
[00:02:32] to the next level and that's what I want to talk about today. I call this the writing anchor.
[00:02:36] I'm not sure if I stole that phrase or not or if it's something I actually did genuinely make up.
[00:02:43] The thing that I like to get people to feel into, they've got words down and y'all know enough about me that I
[00:02:50] don't believe you have to have an
[00:02:52] outline in order to write your book. I think oftentimes we use that to kind of procrastinate a little bit.
[00:02:59] We think we have to know the order of everything, the way one thing will be and then the next and then the next,
[00:03:04] Roman numeral one, all that kind of stuff and
[00:03:07] oftentimes that will actually keep us stuck and not actually writing. For some people an outline is just a springboard and they can
[00:03:14] rock and roll from it and create it pretty quickly and then go from there.
[00:03:18] A lot of people the outline is going to keep them stuck because they're going to keep working and tweaking the outline and the chapter
[00:03:24] titles and all of that and not actually get words down.
[00:03:27] So I always work with people to say which one is going to be best for you and let's move forward that way.
[00:03:34] So with this particular client, she really just needed to get words down, get drafting and then take her next steps
[00:03:42] into starting to create the shape that she was already creating but needed to name a little more clearly and that's where the writing
[00:03:49] anchor came in. So here is the question that I love to ask once people have started drafting and
[00:03:55] they're ready to start to see what have I got here? What's the structure?
[00:03:58] What is the shape that these words, these beautiful words want to take? And so I always ask this,
[00:04:04] what do you want the reader to know, think, feel,
[00:04:07] understand, do? What kind of action do you want them to take once they finish reading this? Now for a book,
[00:04:13] that's a big question. So we spent a lot of time was coaching her and asking her questions, deeper
[00:04:19] questions, fine tuning that question over and over and really just letting her talk and speak and me reflect back
[00:04:25] what I heard her saying. And ultimately we got to a very clear overall so what.
[00:04:32] That's what we call that writing anchor is this is my so what for writing this.
[00:04:36] And you can use this for something as small as a social media post caption, an email, a blog, an article,
[00:04:43] a chapter and an entire book.
[00:04:46] OK so this is really something very powerful. Write that down and I suggest you try to get it down to like a
[00:04:52] line or two at most. What do I want the reader to know?
[00:04:56] Think, feel, understand, believe, experience, take action on after they finish reading this.
[00:05:05] Then what you want to do is to go back through your words that you've written so far and see one, are those
[00:05:12] words? Are those ideas? Are those sections supporting that overall so what?
[00:05:17] So you can already guess this is where we can start to kill our darlings as Stephen King reminds us.
[00:05:24] There may be things that we wrote initially that don't actually have to do with our so what.
[00:05:29] And that's OK. That wasn't writing in vain.
[00:05:31] We take that beautiful writing, go put it in another document.
[00:05:34] I use the cutting floor document a lot because we may use it for some other time.
[00:05:40] It might come back. So if you look at something you're like, I'm not sure this fits anymore.
[00:05:45] This is how we can treat it. One is just like I said, it might not belong and we cut it and get rid of
[00:05:49] it and say thank you for letting me write you.
[00:05:51] I'll come back to you another time for another purpose.
[00:05:55] We also can go, OK, this isn't fitting right now, but could I do some writing around it and within it to
[00:06:02] connect it to that overall writing anchor?
[00:06:05] So as you're going through your writing, that's what you're looking for.
[00:06:08] Are these words supporting and directly connecting back to my writing anchor?
[00:06:14] And a lot of times we will have really powerful stories and ideas, but we don't make that
[00:06:20] connection. And so we want to add words and sentences.
[00:06:24] To our writing that's already in existence, let's say I'm telling a story about an experience I have with
[00:06:31] a student and if my overall so what, which it is, by the way, my current book that I'm working on,
[00:06:36] that'll be coming out later this year.
[00:06:38] Tooting my little horn there and getting a little accountability is all about writing is not that hard.
[00:06:45] I think we've been sold a bill of lies and I truly believe we all have amazing things to share
[00:06:52] with people and it's actually not that hard when we tap in and get connected to ourselves.
[00:06:56] So let's say I'm telling a story about a student who is really struggling and I'm giving the play by play.
[00:07:01] This happened and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened.
[00:07:04] And if I'm really committed to that story staying and I know my overall anchor, writing
[00:07:09] anchor, my overall so what is I want the reader to know and understand that writing is not that
[00:07:15] hard. Then I need to add some sentences that connects that story to that overall so what?
[00:07:22] So I might say this is why it was so important for my student to really get connected to their
[00:07:29] voice. And once they did that, they were able to realize that they actually knew what they do
[00:07:35] were doing when it came to writing.
[00:07:37] They realized that writing was not that hard.
[00:07:39] Like you can literally use the words of your overall so what?
[00:07:43] You're writing anchor to help you pull that thread throughout the entire piece that you're
[00:07:48] working on, the entire piece you're writing.
[00:07:51] So going back through your entire, you know, your draft so far, seeing what things do actually
[00:07:56] connect to your writing anchor and making sure you've got clarity and you've actually got
[00:08:01] words that can make that connection for the reader.
[00:08:04] And then anything that feels a little questionable, you're going to make a decision.
[00:08:07] Does this still belong or should I give it the cut?
[00:08:10] Should it go away for now?
[00:08:12] And if I still committed to it and I want it to be there, then again, I've got to add the
[00:08:16] words that make that connection.
[00:08:18] I've got to wrap those ideas around with my writing anchor connection type of writing.
[00:08:25] So that's the way to support your writing.
[00:08:28] And really, I love the idea of it being an anchor overall.
[00:08:31] So what? I've used this vision before this visualization before, but I just want to
[00:08:36] walk side by side with my reader.
[00:08:38] I don't want to skip ahead.
[00:08:40] I don't want to be behind and they be ahead of me.
[00:08:42] We just want to be side by side holding hands even.
[00:08:45] I like to think and they were just cruising through my book and just really feeling my
[00:08:50] words and feeling what I'm sharing and having their own experience.
[00:08:54] And we're working together and supporting each other to do that.
[00:08:57] Right. And that's the power of using and finding your finding and using your
[00:09:02] writing anchor.
[00:09:04] So I'm curious if you've ever done something like this before.
[00:09:07] If so, does that resonate?
[00:09:09] Does it help if you've not done this before?
[00:09:11] I want you to try it.
[00:09:13] I'd love to hear what your current writing.
[00:09:15] So what is, and I'd be happy to support you.
[00:09:18] So be sure you can go send me a message over at the Shana underscore V on
[00:09:22] Instagram. And as always, we want to hear from you.
[00:09:25] I want to hear what is resonating with you from this episode.
[00:09:31] And I want to give another shout out.
[00:09:34] We're going to be talking about Dr.
[00:09:35] Heather Bartos a few times over the next few weeks in the podcast.
[00:09:40] And Dr.
[00:09:41] Heather is this amazing women's health doctor, and she has created a community
[00:09:46] all around menopause rocks.
[00:09:49] So if you have ever been in the situation as a woman where you are not
[00:09:54] feeling yourself, things are changing.
[00:09:57] You're not really sure why.
[00:09:58] You're not sure where you are on the progression of women's bodily changes.
[00:10:04] Are you in para menopause post menopause right in the middle of menopause?
[00:10:09] Sometimes we don't know because there's conflicting information out there.
[00:10:13] And Dr.
[00:10:13] Heather's true calling is to advocate for women's health.
[00:10:17] So I want to make sure you go to the link in the show notes today,
[00:10:20] give her menopause rocks community a check, a look.
[00:10:24] I have been in the community now for a few weeks and I am getting so much
[00:10:28] amazing information and just being in community with others who are having
[00:10:33] these conversations about our bodies and our feelings, you know,
[00:10:36] just that beautiful, as Dr.
[00:10:37] Bartos calls it, intricate tapestry of emotional, mental, spiritual threads,
[00:10:42] not just physical.
[00:10:43] She brings them all together in amazing, powerful ways.
[00:10:46] And we all get to share from that place together.
[00:10:49] So head to the show notes, check out the link in there.
[00:10:52] And I can't wait to see you in the community.
[00:10:56] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Written Compass.
[00:11:00] If you are enjoying this content, do me a favor and go and review the
[00:11:04] podcast.
[00:11:05] This allows me to share and get these messages out to the people who really
[00:11:09] need them, who we want to read their books in the future.
[00:11:13] You can also go and share your thoughts and tag me at
[00:11:16] shanahartman underscore on Instagram.
[00:11:19] Again, this is just a way for us to get connected and share the writing
[00:11:23] love. And if you know that you are ready to write your book,
[00:11:27] that message that's been burning inside of you for a long time,
[00:11:31] then I want to talk to you, my team, and I want to talk to you.
[00:11:35] Head on over to shanahartman.com and click work with us.
[00:11:39] From there, you'll see an application to explore and see if writing your
[00:11:43] book is your next best step.
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