If you’re one of those writers who waits until a great idea strikes to write, then you may find yourself running low on fodder. For many of us, the act of writing itself primes the mind to identify insights and create something new. This is yet another chicken-and-egg writing situation (like writing and outlining). You […]
Writing
What Makes You Curious?
If you’re a nonfiction writer, as I am, then you must recognize that the entire world does not share your deep interest in your topic. The audience of people actively looking to read about obscure topics may be quite small. How can you reach a wider audience, or get the one you’ve got interested in […]
Chickens, Eggs, and Outlines
Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, shares occasional “reports from the trenches” on his weekly writing blog, describing the state of his current writing project. So I thought I’d try something similar. It may look like I’m cranking out books seamlessly, but most of you see only the finished work, not the process […]
Books for Writers: The Shallows
If you want to read something that gives you chills, check out The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. No, this isn’t the script for the move about a surfer and sharks. It’s a book about the Internet and our brains – a different kind of thriller. I not sure how I missed reading the book when it […]
Ghosts and Other Invisible Writers
“I read invisible writers…” Their words are all around us. I detect them in press releases, blog posts and web pages, even in articles attributed to specific executives. Some of these words are written by ghosts — well, ghostwriters. They intentionally choose to disappear behind another purported author. Invisibility is part of their job or […]
The Five Phases of Book Research
My favorite part is of the writing process isn’t crafting the perfect sentence, making a brilliant point, or polishing words. No, it’s research. That’s a good thing, because as a nonfiction author, I spend a great deal of time actively researching, even when not at work on another book. Sometimes that work doesn’t look like […]