Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
Writing, as with most worthwhile things in life, benefits from a bit of occasional introspection. Succinctly queried, what are your goals as a writer? After all, without goals, how will you prod yourself to write and by what measure will your evaluate progress? Here are some common motivations of writers: With the exception of the […]
Five Kinds of Writers and How to Move Forward from Where You Are There are different types of writers. They have different motivations, are at different places in their writing journey, and have different goals. Here are five common scenarios: 1. The Aspiring Writer: I’ve heard many people refer to themselves as aspiring writers. But […]
Ebooks Get Attention, but Print Still Matters People like to talk about what is new, what is exciting, and what is fresh. That’s why the book publishing industry has so much buzz about reading digital books and listening to audiobooks. I’m not going to dismiss those options—because they’re exciting opportunities for authors—but I do caution […]
Five Drawbacks to Weigh before You Pursue a Publishing Deal In my post “5 Reasons Why a Writer Should Go With a Traditional Publisher,” I gave five advantages of traditional publishing. Although these reasons are compelling, there are also some downsides of traditional publishing. Consider These Five Downsides of Traditional Publishing: 1. It Takes Longer […]
Pursuing Equilibrium in Writing, Work, and Life Requires Intentionality Personally, when it comes to finding balance, it seems something is always slipping, with the areas of writing, work, and life being in a constant state of tension. Yes, there are times where I may go a couple of days keeping everything in balance, but one […]
Why Learning to Write Better Matters More than Writing Faster For years my goal was to write faster, but I made no effort to write better. Though I did improve, my progress was gradual. When I got serious about improving as a writer, I had to force myself to slow down and be more deliberate. […]
Tips to Never Run Out of Ideas I write a lot and in many areas: magazine columns, newsletters, multiple blogs, nonfiction books, memoirs, and I recently added short stories. But this doesn’t sap my creativity; I still have more ideas than the time to explore them. Here’s how I fuel my writing: Keep a List […]
Choose Your Blogging Platform with Care Some people say that if you’re blogging as a hobby, wordpress.com is okay, but if you consider yourself a professional you need to go with WordPress.org (the self-hosted version). Is it possible to do a professional website with WordPress.com? Though I’ve seen some successful authors use a WordPress.com powered […]
Seek Input from Serious Writers and Readers Who Speak the Truth in Love After writing regularly, the second most valuable thing I did was to get feedback on my writing. It was scary at first (and sometimes still is). But to get feedback from our family or friends doesn’t count. They love us and will […]
Authors Should Treat Their Writing Like a Business If you write solely for the fun of it or treat writing as a mere hobby, then don’t read this post. Seriously, it will just make you mad. But if you want to succeed as a writer, regardless of how you define success, then this post should […]