52 Writing Tasks To Tackle During Mercury Retrograde
I was leery when people around me used to panic around mercury retrograde.
The first time I heard someone mention mercury retrograde to me, it left me scratching my head.
It’s when Mercury appears to travel backward for about three weeks. Planets don’t actually move backward in their orbit around the Sun. It only looks that way from Earth.
For our eyes, it looks as if it's slowing down. It’s an illusion since the Earth circles the Sun at a different speed than other planets.
Mercury is the planet that rules communication, and its retrograde can make some of us feel like we’re in a haze, making writing feel like a slog.
Mercury governs how we see and decode information we get from our environments and how we communicate that to others. It influences things like speaking, negotiating, decision-making, buying and selling, listening, contracts, and travel. So when Mercury appears to be stalled, astrology tells us that all of these areas can also be sluggish.
Some astrologers recommend avoiding signing contracts, making big decisions, or launching a new business since uncertainties and changes are more likely if Mercury is retrograde. Sometimes that’s unavoidable, though. If I’m booking travel, signing something big, or starting things around this time, I’m just sure to review it with an extra close eye.
And when it comes to starting new businesses or ideas, if you start something during mercury retrograde, just know it might change. Which as we know, everything changes, so as long as we’re going with the flow, trust that any transformation it undergoes is necessary and is to serve your highest purpose.
People often complain about things like laptops not working properly, travel plans going sideways, and needing to rework contracts.
I heard so many people around me freak out about this time. Often angry, they’d blame literally anything that went even slightly different than their expectations on mercury.
Do we really think we can blame a planet for things going wrong in our businesses?
How about taking some accountability for your actions?
Maybe your laptop isn’t working properly because you haven’t updated it in three months, your travels plans are sidetracked because you were half paying attention when you booked your flights, and that contract needs a second look — well, maybe you were rushing through, reading it while you were on a zoom call.
I noticed immediately when an astrologer client of mine wouldn't make a big deal out of mercury retrograde as much as others.
It happens three, sometimes four times every year, and it's absolutely not something to fear.
I look forward to Mercury retrograde season now.
I know it will deepen my writing.
I use it to revisit all kinds of things in my life and business. Specifically, when it comes to writing, I revisit old blog posts and book chapters and revisit anything I’ve published in the past. It might be calling for some fresh inspiration, some tweaks, or even a complete overhaul.
For creatives and business owners, look at Mercury Retrograde as an opportunity to REview, REvise, and REpurpose.
If you’re going with the flow in your writing, there’s a good chance you’ll find these revisiting-type tasks easy during retro season.
All the “REs” are my favorite tasks. Especially with writing, because we’re taking and tweaking what’s already there. Which can spark fresh ideas, but there’s generally less tension at the page to create something new.
While I might not want to start something fresh. When I review something old, though, I might have ideas for something new I want to create. I’ll grab that inspiration and ain to play with it later.
Here are 52 ideas to help you have a wildly successful mercury retrograde as you REview, REvise, and REpurpose the words you use in your business:
REview…
Your business
Your business back end
Your launch plan
Your annual plan
Your annual, quarterly, and life goals
Your wellness plan
Your boundaries
Your social media strategy
Your content strategy
Your book chapters
Your old blogs
Your email sequences
Your sales pages
Your proposals and sales process
Writing habits that no longer serve you
Your mindset and where it might be keeping you stuck — can you take an out-of-the-box approach?
Client agreements
Where you like to network
Your approach to visibility
Your daily and quarterly priorities
Your top clients and how you could serve them on a deeper level
Your biggest referral sources
Your Google Analytics
Your business KPIs (key performance indicators)
REOrganize your Google Drive, inbox, desk, and all your content
A course you took a while back, listen to old podcast episodes for new nuggets of wisdom.
Your notes from a book you’ve read — or read the book again
REvise
Any of those above aspects or strategies in your business
Your email nurture sequence
Your social media bios
Your book
Any old blogs and make them feel new again
Spiff up your copy and content with some of your keywords
Your website copy
Your schedule
REpurpose
Take anything you’ve revised and share it again — in a newsletter, a series of new social posts, on a podcast
An old email sequence and freshen it up
Your last launch plan for your next launch
Share something in a new format — take a podcast interview and repurpose the nuggets into social captions
Pitch a new podcast or an old blog post as an outline you can walk through
Turn a popular newsletter into a course
Turn your course into a book
Transform your book into a course or 30-day challenge
Do a round-up blog post of several of your favorite blogs — and email it to your newsletter list
Record an audio version of your blog post using it as a guide for talking points
Turn the highlights into social media posts
Turn your outline into a workshop and teach it to your audience, inside other communities, or in your town
Turn your blog into a newsletter, and don’t forget about all your older content — revisit your older content and turn them into newsletters
Find more repurposing ideas here.
After reviewing your most popular articles, newsletters, and social posts – share them again. You might not even need to tweak them.
Resend emails to those who didn’t open the original email
Old course, book, or blog? Reshare with a testimonial
I know a big list like this can feel overwhelming. And I want you to feel accomplished, not tired, when you look at these potential writing and editing tasks.
Here’s how I flow with writing and Mercury Retrograde:
Plan what I want to review, revise, and repurpose.
Revisit how i structure my time and how I approach my business
Add each one as a specific task on my 12-week plan (grab the free template and workshop).
Then, each week, I decide which task will happen for the week on which day.
Mercury retrograde is also a magical time to become more aware of our inner world. You might want to make sure there’s space in your day for journaling, meditating, and walking (without your earbuds). You never know what kind of wisdom you’ll tap into.
If you’re reading this and we’re NOT in mercury retrograde, keep a running list of all the things you’ll do when Mercury is retrograding again. I keep these in a parking lot section on my 12-week plan. Then, when a Mercury Retrograde pops up, I know exactly what I’m going to work on.
So you don’t have to go exploring — here are the upcoming Mercury Retrograde dates:
2024 mercury retrograde dates
December 13, 2023 to January 1, 2024, in Capricorn and Sagittarius
April 1 to 25 in Aries
August 4 to 28 in Virgo and Leo
November 25 to December 15 in Sagittarius
