There are at least two ways to avoid hitting send before you are ready. They are:
- believing you have nothing to say (therefore, you never write anything to completion)
- & using your drafting powers to create valuable copy that will live on in the hearts of your loyal readers
I started to write a post here at least three times yesterday. It wasn’t quite right and never left the draft phase. I also never wrote it down on paper. It was too easy to type a quick witty note to you all and promptly delete the attempt. Imagine my frustration with myself after hitting the delete button for the third time. In the end, it felt like I had nothing to say that would help you.
Today, I can see that the exercise itself was beneficial. I am reminded that we have the draft phase of writing for a reason. Creating your content in a permanent and semi-permanent private place makes it real without a full blown commitment. You can massage your message and fine-tune your tone.
The reality is, there is a sense of commitment behind our words when we hit the enter button on a social media platform. Once they are out in the world, you can’t call your words back. So you better believe what you say and mean what you write.
There is an eventuality that you will have an “oops I hit enter too early, moment”. When this happens to you, I hope it is a benign post.
To mitigate your risk, I encourage you to draft and finish your content in Word, Google Docs or something similar. Old school pen and paper are acceptable too, of course. Work through your copy there until you are ready to hit that enter button and release your message on the world.
I like to use a combination of programs and methods depending who I am writing for and what I am writing. My favorites at the moment are Word, Google Docs, Evernote, and good old pen (sometimes pencil) and paper.
Feel free to comment what you use for drafting and why you use it!
Happy Writing! #amwriting