Nearly every day I see promises of a foolproof strategy for writing a book: write and publish your book in 90 days. Become a published author within the year. Formulaic approaches do have value, giving people the impetus to get started. But the formula needs to leave room for discovery and growth. In writing a book, as in other aspects of life, […]
Writing
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 […]
Do Not Save Your Best Writing for Later
Share the Marshmallows In the 1960s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel and his students conducted studies on self-discipline in preschoolers. In what has now become known as The Marshmallow Test, toddlers were given the choice of eating one marshmallow immediately, or waiting a few minutes and getting two marshmallows. Those who were able to successfully delay the gratification of […]
Find Your Writing North Star(s)
When I set out to write my first book book, I started researching everything from writing to publishing to marketing books. The effort nearly derailed me altogether. There are more writing and book marketing podcasts than you have time to listen to. You cannot read every book, nor follow every blog and watch every video. If you try […]
Revision: When Does It End?
Writing Productivity Tip #8: Balance Patience and Urgency The hardest part of the revision process is knowing when you’re done. Patience is your friend, to a point. If a deadline looms, do what you can quickly and let it go. But when you have time, you must decide: how long do you keep revising? Brilliance, humor, pithy observations – much of […]
Writing: Learning to Love Your Quirks
Writing Productivity Tip #7: Work Your Quirks We’ve all got writing quirks and mannerisms. Writing quirks include grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or little things you do that readers could find annoying. For example: While writing quickly, you make the wrong choice between its and it’s, or your and you’re. Awkward sentences suddenly appear in your drafts like unwelcome houseguests. You […]
