Dear Write Way reader,

Today we wrapped up season two of the Ghostletter Seminars.

It was a blast.

Wade and I are pretty sure we’re going to run one more round of the live variant first thing next year and then we’ll launch a digital product version because…

…much as I love the chance to do it live, to answer questions, to help people directly…

…I’m a writer.

I’m an introvert.

Having a call mid-afternoon?

It wipes out the whole day for productivity.

(Sometimes part of the next as well, because then I stay awake late to write once I’ve recovered, and then I’m tired out the next day etc.)

So the advantage on our end is that we can skip the energy-draining calls and still get the info across. The advantage on your end is that we can make it more digestible, ten minute modules instead of two hour calls, and not raise the price as much as we would if we kept it live.

But there will be that one last chance to get in for the live version, with calls, Q&A and feedback to help make it work for you.

More on that soon.

But prepping for that last session made me think it was time to talk about…

ENERGY!

Which is why this newsletter issue is named after the most famousest of energy drinks:

Red Bull.

The little can that could.

Finally carving out a bit of market share against the juggernaught of coca-cola by combining drug-like levels of caffeine, tiny cans like it’s too strong for full-size, gross taste to make it feel medicinal, and a host of other genius marketing moves.

(It gives you wings, anyone?)

But go look up Rory Sutherland on YouTube if you want more on the marketing.

We’re here to follow the money energy.

Because the truth is:

Writing is hard enough already.

So my whole approach is geared around making it as easy as it can be. We don’t want to make work that we don’t have to make. Because we all have a limited amount of energy.

And because you have a limited amount of energy, the best thing you can do is to reduce friction in spending that energy.

(Because friction is wasted energy, high school physics, people.)

But how do you avoid wasting energy?

By understanding that there are different types of creative energy.

I hear a lot of Content Creatooooor gurus lay down blanket rules like “edit in the morning when you’re focused and write in the evening when you’re creative” and, like, I guess?

But write what?

Because some evenings I’m feeling loose and speculative. Some afternoons I’ve got the perfect zone for poetry - mind bouncing all over the place looking for the perfect words.

And so on.

The Content Creatooooor take is super-unnuanced and a bit silly as a rule because they’ve never written more than social media posts so they don’t understand that creative energy comes in different types.

So if you want to make your life easy?

Spend energy on the right writing!

Now, this applies more if you’re my kind of writer. If you have a dozen projects spinning like circus plates above your head and you’re trying to keep them all up in the air then this is for you.

You have a few hours of writing time?

What do you work on?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind

It depends.

What’s the weather like? How was your sleep? What happened this morning?

Those will influence your choice if you know yourself.

As Wade says, know thyself is not a platitude it’s a business strategy.

It’s a writing strategy too.

Yesterday was a sunny day, I hadn’t slept well, and the kids were out with grandparents. I was relaxed. I just wanted to chill.

So I did.

I outlined this issue of the Write Way Newsletter, but I never tried to write it all out.

I caught up on admin, registering five new hymns and updating them on my website.

I read some extra chapters of the latest craft book I’ve been working through.

It was a productive day, because I leaned into the energy I had and made the most of it. Then in the evening I was feeling more focused but not productive so I worked through the next module of a course I’m taking on paid traffic.

Then this morning I woke up, it’s sunny again but I had the Ghostletter call this afternoon, another call this evening, the Write Way deadline, plus kids to look after.

I can feel the compression of impending deadlines.

(And dadlines. Heh. Heh. Sorry not sorry.)

But my energy is taut, I’m focused. And the last thing I want to do is to waste time thinking and outlining.

Good thing I outlined this in my creative space yesterday.

So I get up and type.

I warm up by editing the final session of the Ghostletter Seminars ready for our call. Then I crack on with typing up the Write Way.

Later, in the haze of creative exhaustion between calls, I edit it. Because my energy is right for that.

You follow your energy with whatever you choose to work on that particular day. And yeah, sometimes you just have to suck it up and work on the immediate deadline, but most of the time if you’re making steady progress, you have a choice.

But, and here’s where it gets powerful even for those with one or two simple projects, we also follow the energy with each piece on its own.

Say you’re writing a sales page. You start and you’re all fired up and ready to go.

Hammer out the closing sections.

Or maybe you need to ease into it. Work on the stories.

Or maybe you’re in a foul mood, why not focus on the bit where you demolish all your competitors’ offerings.

Etc!

Then as you spend that energy with your writing, you work through those emotions and you find they fade - so you hit something else.

With this newsletter issue, I wrote the previous five paragraphs first, the bit about following your energy within the piece. I was feeling focused and I had the idea between my teeth. But the broader strategy part needed time to sit.

So I let my subconscious think about it and then came back to it when this last bit was done.

Then I’ll go back up and expand the intro part…

…and now that I’ve done that it’s time to wrap up.

Which I shall do by saying ‘may your pipe and your prose burn with all the energy they need and never go out’

But before I do that, let me just suggest that anyone with plenty of energy that wants to spend it well, should pick up a copy of Speed Daemon Secrets.

After all, when you have energy you need to use it by writing fast, and when you don’t have energy you still need to power through so you can rest.

This helps.

Meanwhile, follow the red bull writing rule and write what best fits your energy, and you’ll save a lot of pointless pain.

And now, may your pipe and your prose burn with all the energy they need and never go out,

Yours,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

fin

Meanwhile, Craftsman’s Corner, exclusive to current subscribers, where I give you a short practical tip on what to do when you have no energy left…