One of the basic motifs of superhero stories is the importance of a double life. When the hero puts on their costume, they are a courageous individual who rushes into the battle to save lives. But in order to conceal their true identity, they adopt a mild-mannered persona that is the total opposite of their … Read more
There is a common trait among successful writers, and it has nothing to do with skill, talent, genre, or style. Instead, it has everything to do with taking responsibility for your own life choices. Most people are passive observers to their own lives. They accept the choices that life hands to them. They assume what … Read more
The history of writing is replete with stories about authors who were rejected, but kept trying until they found success. Here’s just one example. A number of years ago, an aspiring author decided he wanted to write a book about the key personal decisions that determine personal success. Except he didn’t want to write it … Read more
Being a writer is a lot like living in The Wizard of Oz. Some days you feel like you’ve lost your brain, most days feel like you’re holding onto your heart, and every day feels like a battle for your courage. That’s how the Cowardly Lion felt just before he and the rest of the … Read more
If writing is a house, each of us lives on two levels. The ground floor is where we invite people in. We share things we think people want to hear. We say a lot of nice things, put some coffee on, and invite people to sit around the table. On the ground floor, we have … Read more
The way some of us writers shrink back from a challenge, you’d think we live forever. We hesitate to write that book because we fear what others will think. We don’t set up that website because it feels too hard. We don’t meet with that person who is five years ahead of us because we’re … Read more
One of the curses of being a writer is that we are too rational. We pride ourselves on reporting the facts of a situation accurately. We love the idea of having an objective point of view, then giving our commentary or perspective. We don’t like the idea of getting carried away with our emotions. We … Read more
There are a lot of reasons people give for avoiding the hard work of writing. One of the most common ones is a lack of time. Others include not knowing what to write about, or confusion about processes like blogging or publishing. Another reason exists that is worse than all the others combined. It also … Read more
As a writer, you have to do things sometimes that make you uncomfortable. It might be networking, public speaking, learning self-publishing, joining a writing group, or a hundred other things that seem new and exciting, yet still make you feel anxious. The business leader and author Michael Hyatt said, “The most interesting things happen just … Read more
One of the most famous movies of all time, and what many consider to be the greatest movie of all time, is 1941’s Citizen Kane, starring Orson Welles. While it is certainly a great movie, and one of my personal favorites, it tends to overshadow Welles’ other great movies. One of them is The Third … Read more