Reading time: Just over 4 minutes Here is a brief summary of the top pubcoach blog posts for 2019. Happy New Year to all my readers! I write each installment of Power Writing with high hopes about how it might interest — and help — my readers. Some topics, I can tell, are right on […]
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We have ALL had bad writing days. I’m sure you know what I mean by that phrase. Days where you really, really, really don’t feel like writing Days where you’d be happier doing anything else (even cleaning the kitty litter box; even doing your income taxes) Days where you stare at a blank screen until
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Are you paying enough attention to your breathing? This might sound like a question better directed to an athlete but I’m convinced it’s important for writers as well. Researcher Linda Stone calls the issue email apnea — a term borrowed from “sleep apnea” — a medical condition in which people stop breathing for a few seconds at
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Sometimes I fear that I promote mindmapping too much, as though it were an all-purpose cure to every writing problem in existence. It’s not. But it is an extremely valuable tool or technique for people who have a hard time facing the blank screen. It’s also a good way to inject some more creativity into
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Reading time: About six minutes Every month I scour the internet malls pawing through more than 100 blogs and magazines with advice on writing. And each time I select 10 of the most beautiful, useful articles and wrap them up in recyclable but sparkly paper just for you. Here’s your latest top 10: Use the
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Begin by understanding that EVERYONE has setbacks when they’re writing. And most everyone will respond in one of two typical ways: Anger: If you’re angry, you’re saying to yourself, It’s all their fault: the editor, the publisher, the readers, the reviewers and everyone else who can possibly be involved. Everything feels terribly unjust and unfair
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Reading time: Just over 5 minutes Looking for some recommended books in time for holiday reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for you, in November and June.
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My favourite writing quote of all time is: “I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” I had always attributed the comment to New Yorker writer Peter de Vries. More recently, I’ve learned that Herman Wouk, William Faulkner and a host of other writing celebrities
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Reading time: Just over 4 minutes Does your fine taste in reading make you despair about the quality of your own writing? Perhaps you have an expectation hangover…. Even when we write in a healthy way — without editing while writing and yet spending plenty of time editing, later — it’s possible that we’ll be
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This is a post on how to pitch to blogs and magazines. Even if that subject doesn’t relate to your ambitions, give the post a quick glance. It may spark some ideas applicable to your own writing goals. Identify and develop your own particular subject area. If you try to be an expert on everything
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