🔋ATP#10: Behind the Scenes - My 3-Step Weekly Newsletter Workflow

I can’t believe I’m already writing the 10th edition of my newsletter.

I started writing on X in March and on Threads in August last year. And everybody was saying:

They were right.

But I kept putting it off.

Why?

Because my perfectionist head, full of impostor thoughts, was broadcasting things like:

“The world doesn’t need another newsletter.”

“You don’t have enough to say to run a newsletter.”

“You already have such a busy life, why add more to your plate?”

At one point, I even set up everything on Beehiiv, but then did nothing with it for months.

In March, I had a call with my friend Gasper (hi Gasper!) and told him that I knew I was sleeping on my newsletter but was hesitant to make the move. Gasper gave me the push I needed, and I realized that once more I had been trapped in an overthinking spiral for way too long.

A few days later, I boldly announced my newsletter on social media:

After calling people to subscribe to it and announcing the first edition for the following Monday, I had to do it. And I did!

Since April 14th, I’ve been sending out a new edition each Monday.

After two months, I already have over 300 subscribers, and I’m grateful to all of you for your support (yes, I’m talking to YOU!).

This edition: Behind the scenes of ATP

This newsletter edition is a bit different from the others because I’ll be sharing my process with you. This might help you if you're considering starting a newsletter, or perhaps you’re just curious about what happens behind the scenes at ATP.

Let’s go!

My 3-step newsletter process

The process is subdivided into 3 steps:

1. Ideation & Research

2. Writing

3. Editing & Scheduling

Let’s look at each one separately.

1. Ideation & research

This is where I organize my content ideas and do research about them. I block off 2 hours on Thursday morning for this process.

I look into the scientific literature, but also check what’s popular on X, Threads, and YouTube to collect content ideas.

I have a Notion* template that I use to organize all my ideas. Each idea receives a separate Notion page, where I compile information from scientific studies, blog posts, YouTube videos, and social media posts.

In my Thursday slot, I use most of the time to focus on one topic idea and deep dive into it.

The other part of the ideation step is messier because I always have ideas. And as a neuroscientist, I know that even if my brain tricks me into thinking that I will remember them later, I won’t. So I quickly capture ideas that come up at random times to have them available for later.

2. Writing

I block 2 hours on Monday mornings to write the draft for my newsletter.

Sometimes, when I know a topic well and/or have already prepared it sufficiently during my Thursday session, I don’t need 2 hours for writing. But for some topics, I do.

The writing process is nothing fancy: I sit down at my computer with a cup of black coffee, eliminate distractions, and write the newsletter draft in a simple Google Doc.

In this first version, I don’t care much about grammar and style because writing and editing are separate processes (I highly recommend this to everyone! Don’t write & edit at the same time!).

I try not to overthink at this stage; I just write and leave placeholders wherever I want to add a link or an image later so it doesn’t interrupt my flow. If I can’t come up with the appropriate word in English at the moment of writing, I put a German or Spanish word to look up in the dictionary later. 😉

By the end of my Monday session, I have a full, unpolished draft.

3. Editing & scheduling

I reserve one hour on Friday mornings for editing. Reviewing the draft with fresh eyes helps identify issues that need optimization. I also run it through an AI to help me with editing.

The editing sessions are for polishing the language, improving flow, and adding any links or images.

Once I’m satisfied, I copy it over to Beehiiv, and I often spot more issues there. Taking your text to another platform allows you to view it from a different perspective.

Then, I schedule it to be sent out on Monday morning at my local time.

For the first few editions, I would log in again on the weekend to make minor edits, but I no longer do that. I’ve banned “weekend tweaks” for perfectionist Patricia. Once it’s scheduled on Friday, I don’t touch it anymore.

Wrapping up

Yes, a newsletter is a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

Writing this newsletter helps me clarify my thinking, and I can repurpose every edition into multiple social media posts.

I’m still fine-tuning my repurposing strategy (inspired mainly by Justin Welsh’s Hub & Spokes model) so I can generate tons of posts from each newsletter.

Your turn

If you’ve been sleeping on your newsletter just like I did, maybe this is the push you needed to start yours.

And before you go:

I’d love to hear from you.

→ How are you enjoying ATP so far?

→ Do you have any suggestions on what to improve?

→ What topics would you like me to cover next?

Just hit “reply” and let me know.

Thanks again for being here. 🫶🏻

Until next time!

Best wishes,

Patricia (Dr. Schmidt) from creatorschmidt.com.

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