Power Writing began as a weekly newsletter in April 2006. Its purpose? To give tips and advice about writing, to tell interesting stories and to help writers everywhere work faster, better. I distribute the newsletter by email to thousands of readers around the world every week and, since March 2012, it has become the Tuesday entry of my blog.
You can read many Power Writing entries here – I back-entered all columns until the beginning of 2009, and a handful of ones that were earlier than that. But I hope you’ll consider subscribing, too. Just enter your name and email in the box next to my photo on the home page of my website. If you do that, you’ll not only receive Power Writing by email each week, you’ll also automatically get access to a 10-minute video on how to unblock your writing.
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 […]
Recommended books: Christmas 2019 Read More »
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 —
Do you have an expectation hangover? Read More »
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
PubCoach Top 10: November 2019 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,
Why you’re not required to complete the work 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
Is NaNoWriMo for you? 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
Mistakes I made with my book 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,
How to turn your creative sparks into a bonfire Read More »
Reading time: Just over 4 minutes My new book has generated lots of extra traffic for my blog and newsletter. I thought I’d take this chance to explain my own rules for blogging…. Although I didn’t start this iteration of my website until 2007, I’ve blogged since 2006. That’s almost
My counterintuitive rules for blogging Read More »
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
Your Happy First Draft is here! Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes The real problem with writing is not spelling or grammar. It’s persuading yourself to put enough words on the page…. I’ve been spending a lot of time on the internet reading what others have to say about writing. Too many of them sound like
The REAL problem with writing Read More »
