Hi there. My name is Avil Beckford, and this is the latest episode of the One Problem Podcast. There are tons of problems in the world. We don't want to get overwhelmed, so we're going to tackle them one problem at a time. Most of my guests I have some sort of prior relationship with. I've known Safiya Robinson for close to two years, and I met her in a Facebook group. Safiya Robinson is an editor, coach, and an author. So over to you, Safiya.
Safiya Robinson
Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me on. And yes, we did meet in that Facebook group. So as you said, I am an editor and a coach. I'm also an author. And one problem people quite often will talk to me about is that they have a writing project that they actually want to bring into the world. Maybe it's a book. Maybe they want to start a blog, or maybe they just want to even write an article somewhere.
And they have all these notes in their Journal. They've been journaling for a while. They're writing all these notes, but they haven't actually shared their work with anybody. They're scared to put it out there. And so they're keeping it all to themselves.They're not sharing it. And of course, learning to share, building that muscle is a really critical part of being able to publish your work. The problem is it's stuck in your Journal and you can't get it out into the real world. All right. So I'm going to go ahead and tell you a few strategies that I think work really well for that. And the first is to remember why you're doing this.
If you want to share your story, it could be that you feel as if it could help somebody. It could be that you think it could really impact someone's life. It could be that you have a message to share with the world. Or it could be that maybe you want to get clients if you have a business, and you want to write your story or write your sort of methodology so that you can actually get clients.
Safiya Robinson
So remember why you're doing this. It's so important to connect back to that when you are getting lost in who would want to read this and second guessing yourself. And you've written it in your Journal, but you don't want to share it. So I would say, remember why you're doing it. Tap into that. Write it down. Have it somewhere prominent.
Remember the importance of the message. Remember why it's important to share it. Remember who is going to benefit from it. Write it down and look at it often. And that is going to be something that will be really great to spur you on when you're worrying about what others might say and how they may respond.
You may get some responses that you might not want. But the best responses are the ones for whom that message is going to touch them. And it's going to really inspire them to take action. So you have to think about them and not about the sort of naysayers when you're writing and when you're sharing your work. That's the first thing I would say is, remember your why?
Safiya Robinson
The second thing I would say is to get support. Right now, I'm a writing coach and I'm an editor. So obviously hiring somebody is great support. When I started my writing journey, what was really supportive for me was a group of writers. I joined a Facebook group full of writers, first time bloggers, because I was starting my blog for the first time. And they really cheered me on.
We supported one another, we read one another's blogs, and we kind of gave each other tips. And I had my friends and my family. But that group of writers was really critical and key in supporting me and putting my work out there, and being able to have – and I'll get to this third point in a minute – being able to have a safe place for me to just say, okay, read this thing here.
Tell me if it sounds okay. Am I crazy? Whatever those thoughts are, that's in your mind, the people who are supporting you, that group, that community support is really awesome. You can hire someone. You can hire a coach, you can hire an editor. But I still think even if you do hire someone, having a community of writers, of people to cheer you on, is the biggest or one of the most valuable forms of support you can have.
Have you read or watched?
- Robin Sacks, Confidence Coach: How to Flip the Switch on Negative Self Talk
- Diane Darling, Professional Networking Strategist; Speaker, Instructor & Coach
- Rosie Yeung, Founder and President Changing Lenses
- Nancy Ynchaustegui, Health and Fitness Coach
- Carol Walkner, Life Guide, Energy Healer, and Clairvoyant
- Mariett Ramm, Founder, the Powerful Woman, International Bestselling Author
- Sarah Elkins, Storytelling and StrengthsFinder Coach
- Debbie McKiver, Founder of the Strong and Healthy Temple
- Hedieh Safiyari, Founder, Prompt Health, Healthcare Solutions
- Benita Lee, Trade Consultant, Founder, Benita Lee Professional Corporation
- Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
- Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant
- Larissa Russell, Founder and CEO Queer Voicez and Creative U Business
- Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy
- Dr Marsha Carr, Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Gabriella O’Rourke, Business Consultant, Borden Ladner Gervais
Safiya Robinson
And the other form of support is really great is somebody like maybe an accountability partner. Maybe somebody who's a writer, or maybe they're not writing, but they're also working towards a goal. And you can message each other and say, have you done it yet? Have you posted this thing? Or you can actually even share the post with them so that they can give you a little bit of feedback.
And by the way, it's okay to say you don't want feedback. It's okay to say I only want good feedback. Sometimes I post something and I'm like, I only want good feedback on this one. I don't want any bad feedback because I know that bad feedback may not make me feel good.
And so sometimes when I'm just sharing it for the first time, I just want to feel like, oh, okay, let me just share this thing for the first time. Get out into the world and then go from there with the feedback. And as I said, those people will then provide that safe space for you. That safe space is something that you need when you're sharing your writing. The place to build that sharing muscle is in that small group of people. It could be those fellow writers, it could be that good friend. Or it could be that accountability partner. But it allows you to share and feel like you're not going to be criticized. All the things that you're worried about, you're not going to experience that, and that's why it's a safe place to do that.
The One Problem: Safiya Robinson Sharing Tips on Sharing Your Writing with the World
Safiya Robinson
And last but not least I would say is practice. I think everything requires a level of practice. Even something as vulnerable as sharing your work becomes easier the more you do it. It doesn't mean that it will always be easy, but the more you practice sharing your work, the more you share it and realize, oh, I shared my work and the sky didn't fall down. I didn't get hit by lightning.
Nothing happened as a result of me sharing my work. Or whatever happened, I was able to survive it. The more evidence you have for yourself that I can do this, and it's not going to harm me in any way, or that it feels like it's not going to harm me every time I go to put my work out there. And then you're able to put your work out into the world and that is going to be something that can help your reader.
Maybe they'll identify with your story, maybe they'll learn something from you, maybe you'll make a difference in someone's life. And you can do that through sharing your work. So I hope that you find this helpful, those tips for getting out of your Journal and into the world.
Avil Beckford
So thank you so much, Sofya. This is really helpful and I think the readers will appreciate it because they've always said that there's at least one book inside of you. So thank you so much.
Next Steps
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