Podcasts Provide Practical on-the-go Instruction I listen to many podcasts, between ten to fifteen hours a week, that cover writing or publishing. I listen in the car, during lunch, on walks and as I work around home. I access all through iTunes and listen on my iPod. I select podcasts to help me become a […]
People who say they will one day write seldom get around to it When I tell people I am a writer I get various responses. Aside from a blank look of incomprehension or the dreaded question of “Have you written anything I’ve heard of?” they usually tell me about their own writing aspirations. Here are […]
Be upfront with editors if you are sending the same piece to multiple publications When submitting an article to a magazine it’s a good practice to inform them if it’s a simultaneous submission, that is, if you’re sending it to others for consideration at the same time. Making simultaneous submissions is like dating multiple people […]
5 Tips to keep your mind sharp and creativity flowing Last week we talked about being physically healthy as a writer. We also need to stay mentally ready so that we can write when the time comes. Here are five tips to fuel our writer’s mind: Consume Creative Content: Mental readiness is spurred by filling […]
The more I focused on platform building, the less I enjoyed writing. I almost quit. A few years ago, when I was still looking for an agent, I received some unexpected feedback. The agent liked me and my writing. He thought my book had merit. But despite all that he chose not to represent me. […]
Last week we talked about the importance of knowing how many words we write per hour. I’ve heard experienced fiction writers who say they consistently clip along at 2,000 words an hour. They write four or more books a year. This boggles my mind. In the stratosphere of word counts, I’ve heard other writers claiming […]
An online friend wrote a blog post that went viral. It elicited emotion. Passionate comments spewed forth in support and opposition. Because of the firestorm his post created, a publisher offered him a book deal. He turned his blog post into a book. This is one-way blogging that can result in a published book. Though […]
We all want people to buy our books and then read our books. That’s the ideal. But what if we can realize only one of these two outcomes? Would we rather have people buy our book or read it? In the first scenario a lot of people would buy our book but they never actually […]
Last week I blogged about forming a habit to write regularly as prompted by the book The One Thing. A second idea that resonated with me from Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s book is the idea of blocking out time to focus on one thing, in my case writing. While most people might strive to […]
I relate a lot to the book The One Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. In it, they remind us to focus on the one thing that matters most. The first section of the book confronts various lies we accept as truth, which serve to distract us from our one thing. One of those […]