Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you understand the difference between self-doubt and idea doubt? It’s a really important distinction for most writers… I first heard about what’s called “the progression of creativity,” from my son, Duncan. It goes like this: This is awesome This is tricky This is crap I …
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Reading time: About 4 minutes If you have difficulty writing, consider using the tool of CBT — Cognitive Behavioural Therapy — to help give yourself a boost. It’s easy and inexpensive and you can do it yourself… Are you familiar with CBT? If you’re not, I apologize for using the …
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Some writers worry about or are embarrassed by their spelling. Today I tell you why this is an unnecessary concern and when you should ignore spelling… I try to read about 80 blogs a week. Most of them are related to writing, productivity or creativity and these …
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Has it ever occurred to you to plan for the worst while hoping for the best? This is precisely why preparing for imperfection is such an integral part of the writing process. If I had a dollar for every person who told me they couldn’t write because …
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Viewing time: 4 minutes and 5 seconds The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of the fourth issue, on lack of confidence, which ran on Feb. 10/17. Transcript Welcome to …
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Reading time: About 3 minutes If your writing ever makes you feel helpless, it’s time for you to use learned hopefulness to inspire and support your writing… If the COVID epidemic has taught us anything, it’s schooled us in the concept of what psychologists call “learned helplessness.” Basically, this …
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Reading time: Just over 3 minutes This piece will help you determine whether you suffer from ‘writing perfectionism.’ Will it surprise you to learn that I don’t think that’s your real problem? My family of origin — mother, father, brother, sisters — and my current family — husband and children — …
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Reading time: Just over 4 minutes If you’ve ever wanted to be a happier writer, my new book will give you encouraging, practical support…. At last, it’s sales day. My latest book Your Happy First Draft is available today. Finally! Even if you’re not interested in buying, I hope you’ll take 60 …
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you tend to set big fat writing goals for yourself? Today’s column describes what the Japanese can teach you about writing…. When my family and I moved out of our house for a major renovation 10 years ago, we wore our paper shredder to …
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Rejections are a challenge. But if you’re a writer, they are also inevitable so you’d be wise to learn how to recover from a writing rejection…. Most of us have had jobs we didn’t get, partners who dumped us, schools we didn’t get into …
