GNT #164: Exactly how I write this newsletter

Welcome to Grow North Thursday - One idea each week to help you grow with purpose, earn sustainably, and design a life you love.

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read time: 4 minutes

TL;DR: A behind-the-scenes look at exactly how this newsletter gets made each week. From idea to inbox. Including the messy parts.

Someone asked me recently: "What's your actual process for writing this?"

I loved the question. And the likely "ugh" feeling behind it. Because figuring out a creative process is genuinely hard, and it took me a long time to land on one that works for me.

So here it is. All of it.

How it started

I've been writing this newsletter every week since January 2023. When I started, I didn't have a process. I had three pillars I cared about and wanted to explore: purpose, profit, and wellbeing in business. And one goal: get it into your inbox every Thursday at 7:30am CST.

That was it.

The first newsletters took me 10+ hours to write. I wish I was exaggerating.

Now it takes about 2.

Here's what changed.

The idea bank

I think the single biggest unlock for me was building an idea bank in Notion.

Ideas don't arrive on schedule. They show up when I'm on a walk, in the middle of a client call, reading a book, or watching something that sparks a thought I want to explore later.

When that happens, I capture it immediately. On my phone, on my computer, wherever I am. It's not a title. It's usually just a note, a quote, or a question. Enough to remind me about the idea later.

I now have 50+ ideas in that bank.

When I sit down to write, I'm never staring at a blank screen. I'm choosing from a list of things I'm already curious about. Or if I'm really hyped up on a new idea, I'll move that to the top of the list. That step alone took hours off my writing time.

One more thing: sometimes I start writing about a topic and it just doesn't work. I figure that out within the first 30 minutes and scrap it. That's just part of the process.

When I write

I write during my kids' activities.

Jiu jitsu, boxing, piano lessons, and now tennis and spring sports. I'm in the lobby or the parking lot with my laptop, and I have a built-in window of quiet time that doesn't require me to carve anything out.

My goal is to have the newsletter finished and scheduled by Friday. Right now I'm running about 3 weeks ahead, and I protect that buffer. Life happens. Kids get sick. Summer comes and the activity schedule changes or disappears entirely. When that happens I find a quiet morning before anyone wakes up. When we're on vacation or motorhoming sometimes I write and sometimes I don't. That can get tricky with our travel schedules. Luna, my German Shepherd, prefers when I do so we can snuggle over morning coffee.

Overall, I write best in silence or with brown noise. We have a busy house with two active boys and Luna who has strong opinions about squirrels and mail carriers. So I protect the quiet when I can find it.

I'm also a write-talker. I write as I talk things out. I re-read what I write and wait for what comes next. It can be a bit embarrassing when I'm in public places, but that's what works for me.

Finding your voice

This is the part no one warns you about. It takes time.

For me, finding my voice felt like connecting my written words to my heart. That's why writing this newsletter is both good for my soul and, I hope, useful for yours.

It clicked when I stopped worrying about what everyone else would think and asked a simpler question: is this true for me? does this resonate with me?

When I started seeing the reader, you, as a version of myself, everything got easier. The writing got cleaner. The ideas got sharper. And I stopped performing.

That shift didn't happen overnight. But I found my voice somewhere along the way.

The structure

One thing that helped a lot: having a consistent template.

This has changed a bit over the years, but for the most part every newsletter follows the same basic shape. A TL;DR up front. A story or opening that connects to the idea. A few sections that build the thinking. A takeaway. A sign-off.

That structure gives me a container to work inside each week. I'm not reinventing the format. 

The four drafts

This is where my real work happens.

1. The Yucky First Draft: Barf it up. Get it out. Don't edit. Don't judge.
2. The Hacksaw: Move the big chunks around. Is it starting to take shape? Does the logic flow? (no fine details yet)
3. The Surgical Edit. Now I do the line by line. My biggest challenge each week is always keeping it concise. Each word must earn its keep. A few must delight me.
4. The Read-It-Out-Loud Version. Does it feel right as I speak the words? If no, I go back to step three. I repeat until it sounds right.

I write four or more drafts every single time. There's no shortcut to that for me.

A note on AI

I use AI in my writing process and I want to be straightforward about that.

I've worked with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others as thought partners. But here's what I've learned about how it works for me: if I don't start the idea, write the story, and find the hook myself first, it never works. The idea has to come from me. The human experience has to come from me.

What AI is good for: helping me organize, tightening logic, catching grammar, being a second set of eyes when something feels weird.

What it cannot do: replace the story. Replace my struggle. Replace the lived experience that makes any of this worth reading.

I also want to say: everyone is different. Some people think best by talking, not writing. If that's you, try talking through your idea and using AI to help you organize it afterward. The goal is to figure out how you create best, not to copy someone else's process.

AI is a tool. A genuinely useful one. But you are still the point.

The final step

Before I schedule anything, I send my final draft to two people: my husband Ed and my friend Andy. They give me some fresh eyes, honest feedback, and a link check.

Then it gets scheduled in Kajabi (my website) and Kit (my email) and lands in your inbox Thursday at 7:30am.

Takeaway

I learned you don't need a perfect process on day one. You just need to start and keep going long enough to find your rhythm.

Three years in, writing this newsletter is one of the most clarifying things I do each week. For me and, I hope, for you.

I'm always rooting for you. See you next week.

-Colleen

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