The Publication Coach

• Is writing a dreaded chore that you avoid?
• Do you suffer from writer’s block?
• Would you like to write faster and more easily?
• Would you like to be in control of your writing instead of having it control you?

If you’re fed up with a daily diet of writing stress, I can help. As the Publication Coach, I bring techniques from daily journalism and time management, and adapt them to meet your writing needs. If you’d like to double your writing speed, look no further than my book, which presents a system for writing that will help you write with ease and clarity. Yes, you, too can write faster, better!

Start with the free stuff!

In Internet-land lots of people claim to be experts on everything. So, to demonstrate my expertise to you, and to prove that I’m a writing coach with a difference, I offer a free writing newsletter called Power Writing. Check out a sample and then consider these three reasons why you should subscribe:

• It’s weekly and it’s short. Super short. As in 3 minutes or less to read.
• You’ll receive a free copy of my 17-page e-booklet on mindmapping.
• I never share my list with anyone for any reason. Your name and email address are safe with me. (Privacy Policy)

This newsletter is equally valuable to those who want copywriting assistance, corporate writing help and Internet writing support. Heck, even some fiction writers tell me they find it useful! Please be sure to check out my blog (see most recent entry below or click on the link above for the archives) and I’ll have you writing faster in no time!

–Daphne Gray-Grant

Word count: 240 words

Reading time: Less than 1 minute

On Thursdays, I tell you about a book or a piece of technology that will help you as a writer.

I am a particularly dim bulb when it comes to technology. Just ask my 18-year-old son. He’s my in-house IT department (and not all that happy about the task!) It’s not that I’m afraid of technology — I actually like it. It’s just that I’m too old to find much of it intuitive. I stumble around with Photoshop, Facebook and Dropbox and for reasons I don’t understand, I have the hardest time of all with anything related to audio.

Thank goodness for my son, who was a sound producer at a local theatre company last summer and who has a fast hand with anything technological. He also has an eye for a good deal and he’s the person who told me about Audacity. This is a free, cross-platform piece of software that lets you edit sound.

It’s pretty easy to use although I must confess I rail against the bright red button for “record.” (Shouldn’t a bright red button mean “stop”?) You might laugh if you saw the sticky note sitting at the base of my computer. It says: Record = Red. Stop = Yellow. Pause = Blue. It all seems so counterintuitive to me that, after several years, I still have to consult this note every time I record.

That said, you can’t beat the price! If you need to record or clean up any audios for your work, be sure to give Audacity a try.