It might be blog posts, book chapters, social media posts, podcast material, or in the case of myself, I’m sorry to admit, entire books you have written but never released for one reason or another.

I call this my personal slush pile. The slush pile can be a great source of material when you’re looking for ideas or get a little short on time.

The term “slush pile” came from the days when writers would send manuscripts to publishers and agents through the mail. They would get far more manuscripts than they could possibly use, so they would put them in a big heap called the slush pile.

The more you write, the bigger your personal slush pile becomes. I recommend keeping all your work on a location, or locations, where you can easily get to it. You need to have some kind of organized filing system, even if it’s just a document that’s title “unused ideas.”

The slush pile is not the same as a trash pile—not by a long shot. I don’t believe in trash piles for writers. Anytime you write something, it’s fair game as a spark for another idea, or to be revised or updated later. Never throw any ideas, or any writing, away because it might come in handy later.

C.S. Lewis said, “When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I think my best, is the re-writing of things begun and abandoned years earlier.”

If a writer the caliber of C.S. Lewis lived by this advice, surely it’s good enough for me and you also.

Question: Where do you keep you personal slush pile, and have you looked at it recently to search for ideas you can use?

The post Go to the Slush Pile appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Yesterday, I talked about writing blog posts. Articles are similar to blog posts, except they are posted on other places besides your website.

You can write for magazines, journals, newsletters, newspapers, or even other blogs and websites. You can also post these articles on social media, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. The possibilities are endless.

The big question everybody wrestles with is, “Where do I start?” It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the options, so let me present two great ones.

The first is writing articles for other bloggers. This is a super easy win. If you know someone who writes about the same topics you do, ask if they would be willing to do an article swap.

I remember a few years ago when a few other bloggers and myself did a series on leadership in the movies, and we did guest appearances on each other’s blogs. It was a blast.

The second is to submit an article to a site where you can get accepted fairly easily. I recommend The Good Men Project. This is a large media site with several million visitors per month. I used to be a lead editor there, as well as a writer. They are always looking for new writers. Plus, it’s a great way to hone your writing skills and build your audience.

For example, one time I wrote an article on the singer Tony Bennet, and his manager saw it and emailed me, saying that he loved the article. Tony is world-famous and has been making music for decades. He’s in his 90’s, and he’s quite a big deal in the music world.

You never know what might happen when you start writing for other outlets besides your own blog.

Question: If you had to write an article today for a place other than your own website or blog, where would it be?

The post Start Writing Today: Articles appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

A blog is a great way to get your ideas out into the world and share them with others. It’s also a great place to develop your writing chops, to work out your ideas about different topics, and present your viewpoint to the world.

You can share your blog posts on social media, podcasts, in email newsletters, or even use them as book chapters (or parts of chapters). I see blog posts as a fantastic building block for other types of content.

Remember that the more you post online, the more material you are giving Google to index on your behalf. Every blog post is like a little soldier that is out there recruiting people to come back to your website.

If you don’t already have a blog, I would recommend starting one through WordPress or Squarespace. It doesn’t take very long to set up, and it could potentially change your life!

Question: How could writing a weekly blog post impact your life a year from now if you wrote every week?

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So far we have talked about getting specific on your core message and audience, and building the platforms where you will share your content. Now let’s look at Milestone #3: Write consistent content that helps your readers.

Why it’s important: When you write consistent material, specifically blog posts, it helps your SEO (search engine optimization) and also builds an audience. It’s impossible to build an audience, and to create loyal readers, without actually producing content consistently.

This is a big problem for many writers. The consistency is what gives you credibility over time and allows you to build up a library of content. Believe me, I have been through times when I’ve not been consistent, and it really hurts your growth. It also makes it hard to feel motivated when you keep starting and stopping.

One of the great benefits of creating content consistently is that you can repurpose the material into other formats like podcasts, email newsletters, books, courses, speeches, training, and more.

The big challenge in doing all this is that it’s hard to stay steady. It’s very easy to get excited about your new material, or your new platform, and write for a while… then give up. If you can just stay consistent, you will be ahead of 95% of other writers, I guarantee.

As far as a schedule, I recommend a baseline of creating something once a week. More specifically, I’d recommend at least a 500-word blog post once a week. If you can do that for a year, you will have enough material for a book, if you have organized the material in such a way that you can compile it into a book.

Daily Question: What could your writing business look like a year from now if you wrote a blog post every week and shared it with others?

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Why it’s important: When you see other successful writers, it might seem like you should be everywhere. But that’s not the case. The ones who do seem to be everywhere probably have assistants creating a lot of that content, which is totally fine. I have an assistant, also, but that’s only been for the last year or so. Up until then, I did everything myself.

But when you’re starting out, you have to pick and choose where you want to be. A blog is essential. That is the baseline for a writer, in my opinion. An email newsletter is essential also. And then being on social media is crucial, although I recommend just focusing on 2-3 places.

Video is great if you feel motivated. The same is true for podcasting. I love podcasting but you have to really commit to it. The point is to choose your platforms, the ones you enjoy and that you can use to reach your audience.

Here’s the big challenge in choosing your platforms: you will be tempted to be EVERYWHERE. And it’s just not possible. When you see the big names being super active on every social media platform and doing “all the things,” remember that it took them a long time to build that up. And again, they have hired people to help with those things.

Don’t give into the idea that you have to be everywhere. First, focus on your website/blog, and email newsletter, and a couple of social media platforms. That’s more than enough to begin.

Daily Question: What platforms do you currently use to share your content, and where do you plan to expand in the next six months?

The post Milestone #2: Build the Platforms Where You Will Share Your Content appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Those lists are important because they keep people engaged and give us some context of how to think about other people’s creative work. But remember that human beings have made those curated lists. Someone, somewhere, decided they were going to be a tastemaker and put their opinion out there for the world.

You can do the exact same thing, and there is great power in doing so.

One of the best ways you can serve your readers is not only by creating content like blog posts and books, but also by curating other people’s content. There is so much material out there that it’s hard to wade through. How can we possibly make sense of it all unless someone helps us?

Whatever your area of writing, think about ways you can help your reader rank or arrange the best material out there. Help them understand what’s worth watching, reading, or listening to, and what’s not. Become the person that others turn to for leadership and guidance in your space. As a creative and a writer, this is an important part of the way you can have an impact on your genre or topic.

Don’t just sit by and let others be the curators and tastemakers. Take it upon yourself to be the one who helps determine the best content in your field.

Daily Question: If you were going to make a top 10 list of items in your field, what would be on that list?

The post Be a Curator, Not Just a Consumer appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Whenever I talk to new writers, the most overwhelming emotion I sense from them is confusion. There are so many options and resources for writing and publishing a book that it’s hard to know what to do next.

Fortunately, there is a clear pathway forward, and my friend Brigitte Cutshall is here today to walk us through the formula for publishing a quality book. In fact, the title of her new fantastic book is Quality Book Formula: Professionally Publish Your Book for Excellence.

Brigitte is a Solutions Consultant and the Founder of Gemini Media. She knows all the secrets to publishing a quality book after spending three decades in the print media industry. She started Gemini Media to share her insider knowledge of the best solutions with content creators like you. The solutions she offers include production services, print project management, strategic sourcing, and content development.

In this conversation, Brigitte and I get pretty deep into the “geeky” side of publishing, shipping issues, and what it takes to create a fantastic print book. She is a creative genius and it was a blast having her on the show!

You can pick up your copy of Brigitte’s book, or connect with her through the links below:

Quality Book Formula: Professionally Publish Your Book for Excellence

Connect with Brigitte on LinkedIn

Connect with Brigitte on Facebook

Follow Brigitte on Instagram

Real Things Living Podcast and YouTube

Gemini Media

QualityBookFormula.com

BrigitteCutshall.com

The post Brigitte Cutshall: The Formula for Publishing a Quality Book appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

One of the most vital questions we can ask in our writing is, “What can I cut out?” This is a great habit to adopt because cutting makes your writing sharper, crisper, and cleaner.

When you write, go back through it and take out all unnecessary adverbs, filler, and padding. Longer does not mean better. Longer usually means the piece is more diluted.

If you can make your paragraphs and sentences shorter without sacrificing the meaning, it will make the piece stronger. This is tough if you have been used to padding reports for school or work.

In writing, less is usually more.

Daily Question: Do you find this idea of cutting unnecessary words to be intimidating, or liberating?

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As a ghostwriter, I live and die by word counts. Page numbers mean very little because pages come in all sizes, and fonts and spacing can be increased or decreased. Word count is the best way to measure your progress and productivity.

If you don’t have a daily word count for your current work in progress, may I suggest 250 words? That is very doable for almost anyone. It amounts to about a page per day.

250 words doesn’t sound like much, but you would be surprised at the volume of writing you can accomplish by just writing that amount each day. When you write 250 words per day, you can easily write a full-length book draft in just a few months. Those words add up quickly.

Don’t despise a low word count goal. If you stay consistent, you will be amazed at all the content you can produce.

Daily Question: Do you currently have a daily word count goal? What could you accomplish by writing 250 words per day?

The post Do You Have a Daily Word Count? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Although this podcast is called The Daily Writer, the reality is that many people don’t write every day. They may set aside time every couple of days or once a week to work on their writing.

I want you to know that this is totally legitimate. You shouldn’t take the concept of the “daily writer” too literally. The main point is to write regularly, whatever that looks like for your schedule. The more regularly you do it, the better you will be.

There is some writing I do not do on a daily basis, but weekly. For example, I write material for this podcast once every week or two. I write a bunch of episodes’ worth of content at the same time because I’m in that mental mode, and it goes much quicker than if I were to try and set aside a few minutes every single day to write or record.

This is called “batching” your work and it’s a great productivity principle. Do similar kinds of work, or write similar kinds of content, at the same time because you’re in that mental space already.

You can do this with email, book content, podcasts, blogs, or anything else. Give this a try and see how it will improve your writing output.

Daily Question: How can you consolidate your writing into batches during the week to help you be more productive?

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