Each week I go through a Halloween grab bag of more than 100 blogs about writing, publishing and psychology, pulling out the Crunchie bars and Smarties I especially like. Here’s my take on the 10 most interesting pieces I’ve read or seen during the last month (each headline is linked to the piece I’ve highlighted): […]
PubCoach Top 10: November 2019 Read More »
Keep in mind there is no “one-size-fits-all” when it comes to determining a writing schedule. The 16 tips I’m giving you below are designed to help YOU recognize what’s going to work best for you. While not all of them will work for every person, I’m know that everyone will be able to take away
How to make a better writing schedule for yourself Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Wouldn’t it make writing easier if you knew you were not required to complete the work? I was listening to a 2005 radio interview last week with the late Harold Bloom who died Oct 14 at the age of 89. A famous American literary critic, Yale University professor and prolific
Why you’re not required to complete the work Read More »
If you’re like me — like most people — you probably have a hard time forgiving yourself. Forgiving yourself for mistakes to others is hard enough: the time you forgot to do something you’d promised to do for a friend the time you yelled at your partner or your children the time you failed to
The value of forgiving yourself… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 4 minutes A whispered word, NaNoWriMo stirs equal measures of fear and interest in many writers. Why? And is the program a good idea? Do you want to write a book quickly? Say, in 100 days? Nothing strikes me as a crazier idea, although I’ve recently seen a number of posts promoting the
Is NaNoWriMo for you? Read More »
Continuity is a term that is largely used in the TV and movie industry. This is because films are rarely shot in the order in which they are presented because the shooting schedule is often dictated by location permit issues. For example, a character may return to Times Square in New York City several times throughout a
How to edit for continuity (in fiction writing) Read More »
Reading time: About 6 minutes Are you considering self-publishing a book? Here are the mistakes I made when producing Your Happy First Draft. Some 30 years ago, when I was an editor for a large metropolitan daily newspaper, I had a terrible boss. But I was lucky enough to qualify for some management coaching. And
Mistakes I made with my book Read More »
You have undoubtedly already read some of my many entreaties to break the habit of editing WHILE you write. (For the record, my post with the most useful tips about how to achieve this goal is here.) But today I want to explain in detail the important reasons for taking this step. The first relates
Why it’s always better to edit LATER Read More »
Reading time: Just over 5 mins. Clients often ask me how they can nurture their creative sparks. Here’s what I learned about creativity when producing my latest book. My new book, Your Happy First Draft, required a lot of creative sparks before it was published. But in today’s post, I’m going to talk about
How to turn your creative sparks into a bonfire Read More »
Do you mindmap regularly? I regularly teach workshops on this practice, so I thought I’d share a few of my super-user tips with you. (If you’re a newcomer to the topic, go here for everything I’ve written or recorded about mindmapping.) Here are my tips: Always put a question in the centre of the page.
Some finer points for mindmapping Read More »
