Most writers, myself included, would prefer just to write. We don’t want to pitch, sell, or market our book or ourselves. Some may not even want to blog, develop a social media following, or build a platform. Yet, the reality is writers need a platform, a vantage from which to gain a following and move […]
Category: Writing and Publishing
Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
Many writing teachers and coaches offer all manner of rules for optimum writing. Do this; don’t do that. Always include this one element; never use another. These rules make my head spin and threaten to paralyze my writing. Is it possible to compose even one sentence that doesn’t violate some critical principle? Though I’ve given […]
As writers, we all have strengths and weaknesses. One person’s forte may be another person’s nemesis. It’s wise to know where we excel as writers and what trips us up. For myself, I’m good at editing for length and ensuring a piece flows, something I do every day at work. I’m good at spotting needless […]
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Every Author Needs a Bio
Your book is going to need an author bio. The best time to write your bio is before you need it. That means you should start now. (See “Why You Should Write Your Author Bio Now.”) For a short piece, writing our own bio (that is, a concise autobiography) can be confoundingly frustrating. One challenge […]
This weekend I’m attending Grand Rapids WordCamp, a fun, but intensive, two-day event about WordPress. The meeting is geared towards developers, so it’s mostly more technical than we writers need for our WordPress blogs and websites. I went to last year’s event. Though much of it provided more detail than I needed, I picked up […]
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Finding a Place to Write
A month ago in my post, “The Rhythm of Writing,” I shared that my wife and I moving would interrupt my writing. My blog posts for the past three Saturdays reflected this, as I provided the starting point and gave you the opportunity to finish my posts by 1) promoting your blog, 2) working on […]
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What’s Your Happy Place?
I sometimes give writing prompts on this blog, but it’s been a long time. Here’s one for today: whether real or imagined, describe your happy place. Share your happy place in the comment section below.
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Do You Have an Author Bio?
The best time to write your author bio is before you need it. That means, write it today. I gave some pointers on this in my post, “Why You Should Write Your Author Bio Now.” We need multiple length bios for different uses, but today, let’s focus on a 25-word or 50-word bio. Here are […]
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Promote Your Blog
A few weeks ago, when I finished my series on blogging, I invited readers to post a link to their blog. No one did. I know many of you have blogs, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Perhaps the offer got lost in the post or maybe the series dragged on too long. Anyway, […]
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The Rhythm of Writing
To be a successful writer, we’re encouraged to do many things: The list goes on, and it overwhelms me. Though I do well at writing every day and blogging, I struggle to do the other items on a consistent basis. And this is when the rest of my life is in order. When something disrupts […]