58: The Power of Roundups: How to Honor Your Wins and Gain Clarity
Behind the scenes of my January roundup, writing wins, and what flowed when I stopped forcing.
Welcome to a behind-the-scenes peek into my writing life and business as I share my January roundup.
As a writer and business owner for over a decade, I track my stats and key performance indicators (KPIs) with both heart and brains. Every month, I review my metrics, including website traffic, social growth, podcast downloads, client consultations, and community growth. All to track progress and celebrate wins.
Why I Love a Roundup Post
A roundup is one of the easiest and most fun types of content to write because you’re simply summarizing your actions and celebrating wins. It’s so easy to check the box on your to-do list and move on without pausing to honor what you’ve accomplished, but roundups help you see your wins in black and white. Plus, they allow you to share a wide range of things you love, from books and blogs to products and new discoveries.
Celebrating My January Wins
January was a month of beautiful momentum. A few things I’m celebrating:
Website Traffic: The Intuitive Writing School website traffic was up 41%! I keep older content fresh by updating top-performing articles for SEO, such as my post on Mercury Retrograde or time-based writing prompts.
Podcast Episodes: I’m celebrating 57 episodes of the How Women Write podcast (actually, this one makes 58).
Substack Flow: I wrote six new Substack articles and started a new feature, Writers Gonna Write Wednesday, with text-only interviews from writers in my community.
The Living Draft Launch: I launched a new writing container — The Living Draft — that treats your work as alive. It’s been too good not to do again!
Key Takeaways:
Track KPIs with Heart and Brains: Use key performance indicators to celebrate your wins and gain clarity for any changes you'll make moving forward.
Why Write a Roundup: Summarize your actions and wins over a theme or timeframe (like a month) to honor your progress. (Readers love these!)
Refresh Old Content: Update and change the publish date on old, high-performing blog posts for renewed SEO and traffic.
Balance Flow and Planning: Avoid forcing your writing; instead, embrace spontaneity with loose planning, like using the "surrendered first draft" method.
Community Matters: Flow states are more common in group activities, and writing with a community can make a solo activity feel less lonely.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to How Women Write
00:28 Tracking Key Performance Indicators
03:08 The Power of Roundup Posts
06:06 Celebrating January Wins
08:43 Substack and Writing Process
11:47 Community Wins and New Writing Experience Launches
15:13 Insights and Reflections from January
18:32 Conclusion and Call to Action
Links:
Old blogging at theintuitivewritingschool.com/blog
Episode #57: Why I Came Back to Substack — and What It Changed in My Writing
Episode #52: Stop Racing Your Writing: Kairos and the Right Time to Write
