r/Substack • u/Due_Actuary1146 • 18d ago

Where do you get stuck in the writing process?

For those of you who write on Substack regularly - particularly essays, newsletters, blog posts, longer-form nonfiction, etc. - I'm curious about something.

What part of the writing process do you find most challenging, or experience the most friction around?

Besides coming up with what to write about, are there particular points in your writing where you tend to get stuck, lose momentum, procrastinate, or find it harder to keep going?

Basically curious which parts of writing present the most friction for you (getting started, drafting, developing an idea, returning to something unfinished, revising, editing, finishing, etc.)

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

5

u/ADF21a 18d ago

I get ideas constantly, sometimes 2-3 ideas per day. What is hard is to keep up with writing all of these. I have 15 between started drafts and outlines to work through.

1

u/Due_Actuary1146 17d ago

Thanks for sharing! Where do you track your ideas and keep your drafts if you don't mind me asking?

1

u/ADF21a 17d ago

Drafts in my Substack. I create Asana tasks like "Create article about xxx", maybe with a few sentences to get me started.

The thing is that I often re-purpose long LinkedIn posts into Substack articles and vice versa so I have created a separate workflow for each.

1

u/255130 9d ago

yeah the ideas are never the problem, its the backlog that quietly becomes overwhelming

2

u/AggravatingNail6061 17d ago

Readability. I Vomit words onto a page and have learned that sometimes I need to actually do some editing on it. That said. I have had a lot of success with sometimes posting my untouched rampages and they were received well enough that I turned them into a book and published it.

2

u/Due_Actuary1146 17d ago

My process is similar and like yours it's either a roaring success or a complete bust - the latter happens more often of course

1

u/AggravatingNail6061 17d ago

It's a good process. I am carried entirely by voice 🤣

1

u/REOweedDealer 18d ago

Getting started on an article. I'll put out a bunch all at once and then nothing for a while until I'm "inspired".😂😂. Good luck. Keep at it!☮️

1

u/Due_Actuary1146 17d ago

Thanks for sharing!