Dawn Shuler
Free
Content Creation Expert
Dawn Shuler Quick Facts
Dawn Shuler has been working with writing and the writing process all her
life, from teaching English to working with companies to improve their
communications and marketing. As an online business manager, she creates
systems, procedures, and, oh yes, lots of marketing material for her
clients. In addition, she works with private clients in her coaching
practice to help them create and maximize the content that is going to get
them noticed and create connections with their communities.
With a degree in English and business administration, as well as over 20
years experience teaching English, writing, communication, and customer
service, she has worked with hundreds of small business owners to create
powerful content.
Her soul purpose is to help entrepreneurs unleash their authentic selves
into their businesses through their content. She created the Writing From
Your Soul system to help business owners connect more powerfully, reach more
people, and make a difference.
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
What If... Your Writing
As a writer, you might find yourself stuck - at the beginning (can't even get started), in the middle (where the heck do I go now), or at the end (is this really a good ending) of whatever you're writing. You might find as you're writing and creating content that everything seems as if it's been done before. This 8-step program for success? You're sure it's already been done. This how-to guide for financial intelligence? A million books out there. Proven techniques for online marketing? Stand in line. This fiction story on vampires? Yeah, it's been done (a BILLION times).
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Lessons Learned From a Creative Writing Retreat
We may not be able to sit down and write anywhere. Some people can. Yay them! For me, though, my environment is ultra important. The energy of people around me affects me. The location. The natural environment. Maybe that sounds like I'm a diva and everything must be perfect if I'm going to write, dahling.
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Writer's Block - Is It an R.O.U.S?
As a creative, I have tons of projects in the works: two short stories, one short story that could turn into a novel, twelve quilts, three cross-stitch projects, one painting, one creative tool for an upcoming workshop. I'm in no danger of running out of things to do anytime soon, obviously. Why so many projects? Well, part of it is that I tend to engage in long-term projects (like a quilt). After a while, I lose my momentum or interest, and I go on to something else. Another part is that I get stuck. I'm not sure where to go next.
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All Stories Tell a Journey
Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction (even business writing), all writing tells a journey. There's a starting point and an ending point. Your job as writer and author is to get your reader from Point A to Point B. The most popular format for a journey story is Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, mainstreamed and made popular by Star Wars: A New Hope. But it doesn't have to be just fiction that gets to play with the Hero's Journey (or any journey). The story of a journey isn't just appropriate for all writing; I go as far as to say it's crucial.
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One Goal - Hundreds of Steps. How to Manage, Get Through, and Complete a Huge Goal
Mark and I work from home, and since we're in a smallish, three-bedroom house, we share an office. However, after two-and-a-half years of sharing the office (which personally works just fine), we're finding that the physical arrangement of the furniture no longer serves us. We have two big desks facing one another, and a huge computer armoire from my past life. We also have a bookshelf for my Oxford English Dictionary set, and an easel with a whiteboard.
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How to Run Your Business Like a Big Girl (or Boy)
In order to successfully run your business, you have to focus on more than just the thing you do (coaching, consulting, assisting, bookkeeping, CPAing, etc.). Some people find those other things are not the fun stuff. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's time to run your business like a big girl or boy and attend to ALL areas of your business. The good news (see how I play "bad cop, good cop"?) is that you can outsource some of this. The bad news is that you still need to pay attention to these areas and do at least some of the work.
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Create Beacons to Keep You on Track- And in Alignment with Your Purpose
I was working with a client in a book writing program, and she was having a hard time figuring out what she wanted to write about. However, one theme that kept popping up for her was that she was passionate about people's stories being told. "There are all these stories out there, and they just need to be told!" she'd say over and over. It was pretty obvious to me that telling other people's stories was what she needed to write. At first, she didn't agree. "That's not good enough. It needs to be bigger."
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Strong Writing- Powerful Endings
You need a great beginning in order to grab your readers' attention, but if you don't end just as powerfully, your reader could walk away with a bad taste in her mouth, your content forgotten. You can take a so-so piece of writing and make it powerful with a good conclusion. If you start with a great piece and don't conclude it well, it's not a great piece overall. In another article, I demonstrated several different models to begin your writing, whether fiction or nonfiction. Now I'm going to do the same with endings.
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The Top 5 Pieces of Content You Need to Be Writing
I have a checklist of over 70 types of content that business owners could be writing. That sounds overwhelming, but as a business owner, you probably don't need to write all 70+. And... to keep in front of your market and your community and to establish your credibility, you do need to be writing something. So, what do you write? Obviously, you want to put your energy, time, and effort where it's going to make the most good. Here are the 5 pieces of content you SHOULD be writing or tweaking.
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Strong Writing Part I - Powerful Beginnings
Grab 'em at the beginning and don't let 'em go. Powerful beginnings - whether we're talking about short stories or sales pages - are crucial to capturing your reader's attention. If you don't grab her right away, she has no reason to keep reading. And you've lost her. Conversely, if you've kept her attention from the very beginning but you leave her wanting or, worse, confused at the end, then that's just as bad. Let's start with beginnings and introductions. (We'll cover endings in Part II.)
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What If Dreaming Big Is Too Scary?
There are five steps to making your dreams come true. First, just play with your idea. Second, let it sit for a while. Third, take that seed of an idea out of the marinade and see how you feel about it. Fourth, get down to business... what do you need to actually make this dream a reality? What resources, in terms of time, money, help, can you bring on to help you? Fifth, come up with an Action Plan. Steps one through three are more mindset and motivation oriented, whereas steps four and five are about action.
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Starting Big- 5 Steps to Making It Real
Some time ago, I went through an exercise from a great article online from Meredith Eisenberg, "The Reverse Funnel - How to Dream BIG and Start Small." It's basically a product development/marketing exercise to get you thinking differently about your products and programs flow. Long story short, the article recommends that you start with your big dream package, the $50,000 kahuna that people would be willing to pay you... and you have to figure out what you would offer at that price. Then, you work down from there.
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