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: About 3 minutes How does your writing life intersect with your sleeping one? In fact, how much sleep do writers need, anyway? How often do you hear that it’s just about mandatory to start writing earlier in the day? About 30 seconds of research showed me that a great […]
How much sleep do writers need? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Has a piece of writing ever left you stymied? My guess is that you may have overthought it. Here’s why overthinking is bad for writers… When I teach people about mindmapping, I try to be explicit about one thing. My use of the phrases “left
Why overthinking is bad for writers Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes This may sound crazy but if you want to reach your goals you may have to reduce them. Here are the benefits of beginning to reduce your writing goals… If you speak the ‘language’ of goals, you’ll understand there are all sorts of rules
When you should reduce your writing goals Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Our society is obsessed with accomplishment. But doing nothing can make you more creative. Why not try that this summer? Would you feel better about your holidays if I told you that doing nothing would increase your writing creativity? I’m not making this comment
What I did on my summer vacation… —Nothing! Read More »
Reading time: Less than 5 minutes The dreaded phrase ‘lit review’ strikes terror in the heart of many grad students. Here’s how to remove the fear and write a better lit review…. Imagine there’s a subject about which you know a great deal. Let’s say it’s soccer. As you try to
How to write a better, less stressed lit review Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Do you understand how many of the blogs you read and the podcasts you hear earn their money through advertising and sponsorships? In the world of the internet, it’s a case of buyer beware… How do you feel about advertising on the internet? And
Why you get what you pay for Read More »
Reading time: Less than 5 minutes Looking for some recommended books in time for summer 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
Recommended books: Summer 2018 Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Do you regularly “run out” of time? Psychologist Gay Hendricks has some intriguing ideas that can help writers find more time to write. How do you visualize time? Perhaps you see it as a bucket full of water, being drained? Or maybe you imagine
How to find more time to write Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever struggle with ‘important writing’ versus ‘urgent everything else’? Here’s how to change your mindset, so you actually accomplish your writing…. I have a date with myself to write this column at 9 a.m. every Thursday. But guess what happened last week?
How to protect the important from the urgent Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes When you take a vacation should you also take time off from writing? Here’s a quick guide to handling holiday writing… Even if I didn’t have a calendar and was oblivious to the days getting longer and the temperatures becoming warmer, I would still
How to handle writing while travelling or on holiday Read More »
