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Is Your Writing System Holding You Back from Being Productive?





I think mine is.

When I first started writing online back in 2013, I wrote for only one website called Allvoices — a contributor news site. How simple my online writing system was then compared to what it has turned into over the last 12 years.

Now, I have too many sites to syndicate on, too many social media sites to share to, and overall just too large of a writing system to be productive.

Crazy part is I’ve shaved it down to what it is now; it was larger and even bulkier before.

One thing I won’t do is give up on trying to build a system that enhances instead of hinders my online writing efforts; I’m not there yet as it stands.

I wonder how much more I would write if I didn’t have to spend an hour syndicating and sharing each article? If I could just write an article and maybe spend 5 minutes on sharing and syndicating it?

As it is now, I have five platforms to syndicate with and ten social sites to share on.

My system hinders my writing and keeps me from wanting to write because of all the work that comes with it.

I’m probably not the only one with this problem, yet it’s probably taken me longer to figure it out than most. Well, I’ve known it’s a problem, yet resolving it is the difficult part.

The question is, am I being stretched too thin as I try to be relevant on each of these platforms? Wouldn’t it serve me better to simply focus on one or two platforms and one or two social media sites?

Then comes the hard part of cutting the others out of the system.

Maybe it doesn’t seem like a lot of work to simply copy and paste articles from one platform to another, then share the link to different social media sites, yet in reality, it is work that keeps me from simply writing, publishing, and being done with that article.

Some may say, if you write an article, it should be worth the effort to market, yet I hate marketing. I have many ideas to write about, yet the idea of having to spend the better part of an hour syndicating and sharing them keeps me from simply writing and publishing them.

I’ve come to the point of having to make hard choices with my writing system. I can rationalize that it is a good system, yet I can’t argue with the practical reality of how it hinders my productivity. Something has to give.

The goal is to publish more articles and streamline the system so writing and publishing are simple. Then, focus on interacting and growing those limited platforms.

Which platforms offer the most potential with making money and selling books? The same question with social media sites.

Maybe most of my articles go nowhere, but if I can publish more, the chance of gaining traction and writing popular articles increases drastically. Publishing 30 articles a month vs. 1 is bound to make more of a difference than any efforts with syndication and sharing on mostly dead social media channels.

If your writing system is hindering your productivity, maybe this article will help you consider a more streamlined approach.

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