Reading time: About 3 minutes Write more consistently by fixing your system, not your willpower. Here are six habits, some backwards, that keep writers showing up. One of my clients wrote every day for 43 days in a row, and then she stopped for five months. When she finally came
Want to write more consistently? Fix your design, not your discipline Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about getting enough sleep to be creative… The majority of people in the US
Are you getting enough sleep to be creative? Read More »
Viewing time: 59 seconds Knowing where readers should land gives every paragraph a job and keeps your writing on track. Yes, write your final sentence first. Transcript Here is a trick that will sharpen everything you write. Write your final sentence first. Sounds odd, I know. We are taught
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Douglas Stuart tackles complex and challenging family dynamics. And he does so in a deeply evocative way….. Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart rocketed to fame in 2020 when he won the Booker Prize for his bestselling novel Shuggie Bain. I couldn’t bring myself to read it
The figurative language of Douglas Stuart… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes According to Karen Sommerville, inspiration has the habit of showing up after she’s already started typing… Karen Sommerville is a certified fiction book coach and multi-published suspense author writing as Karen Dodd. Her thrillers transport readers to southern Italy, where murder has a habit of
Reflections on writing with Karen Sommerville… Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Daily writing habit: why your writing should be like a river, moving a little every day, not a yearly binge followed by guilt. Is your book or dissertation feeling too big to finish? Join my fr/ee class this Thursday, Oct. 8, at 1 pm Pacific
Reconciliation should be like a river. So should your writing. Read More »
Reading time: About one minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the internet to help other writers. Today I examine a new app that isolates questions in your writing… What role do questions play in your writing? Do they make it better or
Pulling out questions in your writing Read More »
Viewing time: 1 minute Big writing project feeling daunting? Join my free Oct. 8 class and learn how 250 words a day can move your manuscript forward. Transcript You open your long manuscript to see how much more you have left to write. Then you close it again. Another
How do you tackle a BIG writing project? (video) Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes James Young likes to use a musical analogy for the act of writing: “There doesn’t have to be a “drum fill” after every verse or refrain; sometimes, you are just keeping the rhythm….” James Young spent 14 years as a staffer in the Senate and House,
Reflections on writing with James Young… Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Intrusive thoughts when writing can stop you cold. Try these six defusion techniques, from silly voices to thanking your mind. I have a thought that shows up at roughly the 400-word mark of every first draft I write. It says: your readers will find this
How to stop arguing with the voice that says you can’t write Read More »
