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Writing takes time, and life is short.\n\nWhen experts recommend we post content on Facebook and on blogs and in newsletters and YouTube and all these places while we\u2019re trying to write essays or articles or books, we can feel deflated and defeated. How on earth are we supposed to produce that much content?\n\nIt\u2019s easy to just say, \u201cForget it. I can only write one thing at a time."\nRepurpose Your Writing to Connect with More People\nI\u2019m not super strategic, and I tend to write just one thing at at time, but I\u2019m discovering ways to repurpose content in order to connect with more people in places like Facebook and on my blog and in newsletters.\n\nWhat I\u2019ve been doing most often is writing one solid piece\u2014usually an article that\u2019s available as a podcast episode, like this one. Then, if it seems workable, I repurpose it\u2014that is, I repackage it in some way, or cut it down, or, if its short, I expand on it. The various versions head out to appropriate destinations often with slightly different audiences and purposes.\n\nFor example, about a month ago in my weekly newsletter, I described a trip I took to New York City with a client. It was my first-ever trip there, and because my sole purpose was publishing-related, I thought it might be interesting to my subscribers.\n\nThen I realized, Hey, this could be an article at my website.\n\nYou may have noticed that articles at my website are also available as podcast episodes, so that story I wrote for subscribers ended up as an article and a podcast episode.\n\nAnd then, on Instagram, I posted a photo of me standing in Times Square that did not appear in the article at my website or in the newsletter. Along with that photo, I posted a short story about the trip that was really similar to the original, but different. In other words, I didn\u2019t write anything new; instead I tweaked the article, cutting some material and changing the focus a little bit, and published it there in Instagram. So far, it seems to be one of my most popular images.\n\nI took one idea, spun it different ways and shared in different spaces for different people. That\u2019s repurposing writing. Whether you start small and go big or start big and go small, this will save you time as you reach more people.\n\nYou can start with one little nugget of an idea\u2014maybe a thought you had, or a quote you came across and posted on Twitter\u2014and expand that one small nugget into a full-blown article, essay, or book chapter.\n\nOr you could start with a full-blown, fully developed project and pare it down until you express it at its simplest core thought\u2014perhaps as a quote\u2014on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.\nStart Small, Go Big\nLet\u2019s say you start with a quote you find. Here\u2019s one I came across in my reading not too long ago:\nHonor the world by observing it truly and writing about it with humility. (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)\xb9\nThat rang true to my ear\u2026and my heart. So I shared it as-is on Instagram as the caption accompanying a photo of a leaf. I didn\u2019t say more. I didn\u2019t offer commentary, though I often do. I simply shared the line and the source for other writers to ponder.\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BZzDeDHB147/\n\nMy hope was that maybe they, too, would find that it rang true to their ears and their hearts, and they, too, would feel inspired to observe and write with attentiveness, honesty, and humility.\n\nI could just let that be what it is: a quote on Instagram. It doesn\u2019t need to be more.\n\nBut I was looking at that quote a few days ago thinking about the concept of repurposing by expanding on it. I could illustrate its message with a story from my own life and my own attempts to honor the world with my true observations humbly expressed in words.\nCase Study: How to Expand\nI might think of a scene from my life.\n\nMaybe I\u2019d tell about my dad, the other day, when I joined him for a meeting at his long-term care facility. Every quarter, they gather several people\u2014a person from nursing, food service, activities,