You’ve heard many versions of this advice before: Embrace the ugly first draft. Ann Handley, Everybody Writes Write with the door closed, revise with the door open. Stephen King, On Writing Turn off the inner critic and be fearless. Me, The Writer’s Process No matter how it’s phrased, the advice is sound. Resist the temptation to revise and polish […]
productivity
Writing Productivity: Why Counting Words Can Mislead You
Whenever a group of writers gets together and the topic of productivity comes up, inevitably the discussion turns to “words per hour” or “words per day.” “I once did 8,000 words in a day.” “I can write 1,000 words an hour, easily.” “I had a terrible session, only 500 words.” This conversation might lead an insecure […]
Productivity for Creative People by Mark McGuinness [Review]
How do you schedule your writing time each day? How much time do you spend handling emails? What happens when you get a backlog of other work – do you put aside the writing altogether? The distractions of daily life can derail writing, stealing the time, focus, and attention you need for creative work. In his […]
Step Away from the Writing Desk
One of my favorite writing productivity tools: the rowing machine. Writing Productivity Tip: Write When You’re Not Writing When people speak about writing productivity, they usually talk about the drafting phase of writing. How many words can you write in an hour? How many pages per day? More relevant, of course, is the question of how quickly you […]
Writing: Rest Before Revising
Writing Productivity Tip #5: Give the Draft Room to Breathe You’ve dismissed the inner editor and created the first draft of your blog post, report, book chapter, whatever. You’re on a roll – what next? Now walk away. Give it some breathing room. Writing and revising are separate disciplines, and don’t work well when they crowd […]
Secrets of Crazy-Productive Writers
Everyone cherishes the image of a tortured writer, laboring long hours, crumpling sheets of paper, drinking in a back room, spiraling into depression. That doesn’t sound like much fun for the writer. I’d rather be someone who writes fluidly and creatively, while engaging with the world, family and friends. A normal person, in other words. […]
