Whatever you’re working on right now, you’re bound to get stuck at some point. When you stumble upon our old friend, lovingly called “writer’s block,” here are ten tips to keep the words flowing. Lower your standards. Many times, we get stuck because we’re trying to make it perfect. Be willing to write garbage just … Read more
Most people listening to this podcast are located in the United States, so let me focus on that crowd for a second. Part of our culture here in the U.S. is what we call the “Protestant work ethic.” Even though not everyone is religious, or even Protestant, we still abide by this standard today. The … Read more
Once you make the decision to start writing, and you do it on a regular basis (hopefully every day), over time you will build up quite a collection of half-baked ideas and unused pieces of material. It might be blog posts, book chapters, social media posts, podcast material, or in the case of myself, I’m … Read more
A common problem we writers have is how to get started. We have a rough vision of what we want to create, but we’re afraid to take that first step. What if we go in the wrong direction? What if we discover we aren’t really talented? What if someone thinks it’s no good? What if … Read more
If you get heavily involved in the writing community, you have to be careful. Why? Because there is a whole sub-industry devoted to writing tools that supposedly help you be more productive and creative. Are many of these helpful? Yes, of course. For example, I swear by the writing app Scrivener. I write almost everything … Read more
For most writers, writing feels like work because it requires a lot of brainpower. So why not use tools that help make the work easier? One of the most effective tools is music to help you focus. There are three different music tools I use to help me do this. Most of the time when … Read more
Writers are creative by nature, and we like our independence. One of the reasons we do this in the first place is to have control over our creative work. We want to express ourselves, to make a difference in the world, or maybe even make a living with our writing. In short, we value autonomy … Read more
One of the perennial questions writers ask is, “Where do you get good ideas?” It’s a fair question because all of us have struggled with finding good ones for our writing. The overriding feeling we have is that we need to do something more, or add some technique, in order to find great ideas. In … Read more
You’ve heard the saying “curiosity killed the cat.” The phrase has been around in some form or another for hundreds of years and is meant to be a warning to those who would investigate a matter too closely. Perhaps we take it a little too far. When have you ever heard of someone actually being … Read more
There is a fascinating scene in the original 1984 Ghostbuster movie that has an interesting application for writers. The three ghostbusters, played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis are trying to capture a ghost flying around a hotel ballroom. Their proton packs emit a powerful stream of energy that trap the ghost and … Read more