I’m not sure why we do this. Maybe we over-compensate in our desire to stay humble. In the process, we undermine the value of the gift we bring to the world naturally.

What comes naturally to you as a writer? Is it storytelling? Outlining a book? Editing? Proofreading? Making clients feel comfortable? Writing a draft quickly? Systems for book production?

Let me share some of the natural skills of a few friends in the Daily Writer Club.

Lucas Marino is a course creator who has a natural skill for taking your book content and turning it into a course.

Karen Hunsanger is an editor who has a natural skill for rooting out errors in your manuscript and making you look better.

M.J. James is a coach for burned-out business moms. She has a natural skill at listening and helping you see the roadblocks that prevent you from having a more peaceful life.

Andrew Wood is a former college professor who is an incredible researcher. He has a natural gift for knowing how to organize complex material and write it in a way you and I can understand.

Perry Gabbard is a former aerospace engineer who is one of the most natural and gifted storytellers I’ve ever met.

Lori Melton is a coach who has a natural calming presence and a gift for helping others discover their spiritual mentors.

Brigitte Cutshall is a runner and book production specialist who has a natural skill for creating books that look amazing.

These natural skills are not unique to them. You also have a natural gift and special skill that is powerful! That’s what makes you a genius in everybody else’s eyes.

Whatever that skill is, you can combine it with writing to create a powerful business and author platform.

Don’t run from your gift. Don’t hide it. Instead, embrace it, cherish it, and nurture it. God gave it to you for a reason!

Today’s Challenge: Grab a piece of paper and write down your natural gift. You know what it is. Are you using it to its fullest potential? How can you keep developing it and combine it with writing books to serve others or even build a business?

The post It’s Natural for You, But Genius to Someone Else appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Here’s a question to consider: Why don’t people finish goals that are important to them?

There are probably many answers to that question, but one obvious reason is that they simply get tired and don’t see a lot of progress toward the goal.

Take writing a book, for example. If you’re a perfectionist, writing a book can take a long time because you’re trying to both write and edit as you go. It’s easy to get discouraged and just quit.

I know because it’s happened to me. Once I spent a couple of years working on a book, and in the process compiled literally 150 pages of notes… yet never finished the book.

It’s easy to do when you’re focused on trying to make it perfect.

Instead, we should take John Steinbeck’s advice about first drafts. He said, “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on.”

My advice is to take Steinbeck at his word. Once you have outlined your book, try to get the first draft done as fast as possible. This will give you incredible momentum because it’s easier to work on a book that is complete.

You will have a sense of accomplishment and motivation because you have something whole you can work with. You can also see the big picture of the book.

Today’s Challenge: Whatever project you’re working on, try to get a first draft done as fast as possible. Don’t overthink it—just do it.

The post The Productive Writer: Get the First Draft Done Fast appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

These are related but not the same thing. Let’s begin with editing first.

The essence of editing is that you are getting someone’s writing or book manuscript ready for publication. But there are different types of editing.

If you are great with content organization or story structure, you might consider developmental editing. That means thinking through the structure and flow of the book on the front end. Or, it could mean re-working a book that has not been properly organized or written. Maybe the author is stuck and needs expert help.

You could also consider line editing, copyediting, or proofreading. Line editing is more of an art than a science. It mainly concerns making sure sentences flow as well as possible. Copyediting mainly focuses on the mechanics of language, ensuring that the writing adheres to correct English usage, grammar, punctuation, citations, and so forth. Proofreading literally refers to reading the proof, which is the final version just before or after it goes to print as a last measure of defense against errors.

Another form of editing is working for a magazine or publication. A few years ago, I worked for The Good Men Project as a lead editor. This means people sent me articles, and I decided which ones to run in my sections, which are also called “verticals” in the publications world. Then, I would give the authors feedback if I needed changes. I almost always made changes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so forth. It did not pay very well but the experience was absolutely priceless because I learned to think, write, and edit quickly.

If you enjoy the self-publishing process, you can also help others navigate their way through getting their book published. If you are detail-oriented and like to manage complex projects, you can help people get their book cover and interior formatting designed, manage editors, get their book uploaded to Amazon and other online vendors, and market their book.

The bottom line is that if you can write and publish your own books, you can also help other people do the same thing. Most of the writers I know, no matter their level of success, do some type of client work in addition to writing for themselves.

I really like doing client work as one of my income streams because I learn something from every project. Whether you are editing or helping other people publish their books, it’s a great way to serve authors and make money at the same time.

Question: Have you ever considered helping other writers with editing or publishing services? What specific services could you offer?

The post Making Money as a Writer: Editing & Publishing Services appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

I worked as a college professor for 17 years. During all these years, the faculty at our school were all contracted on an annual basis. We never knew from year to year if we were going to get a contract for the next year.

I hated being in this position, not knowing if I would be employed over the long term. Some years, we wouldn’t get our contracts until mid-May, and the fiscal year started in June!

I hated the feeling of uncertainty that would start to creep around mid-April and wouldn’t be resolved until late May.

If you have a day job and are working on writing as a side hustle, you can relate to this. Even though you might like your day job and feel secure, the reality is that your job could be taken away at any moment. There is never any true security when that security lies in someone else’s decisions.

Or maybe you already are working as a part-time or even a full-time writer. If that’s the case, my guess is that you’d like to make more money as well!

No matter your situation, this series will give you some options for increasing your income—and your different income STREAMS—as a writer.

Writing is the hub of what you do, but it’s just that—a hub. Just like the hub on a bike wheel, writing is the center of what you do, and income streams are the spokes that support you financially. The more spokes, the more security, and the more stability you have.

In this series, we will dive into ten different income streams you can develop as a writer. I won’t be able to go into much detail with each one, but I want you to get a feel for how many different options there are to use your writing skills to create income.

To give you a little sneak peek, here are the ten ways to make money we will talk about:

• Book sales
• Editing & Publishing Services
• Coaching
• Membership & Masterminds
• Freelance Writing
• Speaking
• Courses
• Products
• Ghostwriting
• Affiliates

These are only the tip of the iceberg, but they are many of the most common ways that writers make money with their skills. I hope you’re looking forward to this series and considering how you can begin putting some of these income streams in place in your own business.

Question: How motivated are you to explore new possibilities for creating income as a writer?

The post Making Money as a Writer: Series Introduction appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Have you ever dreamed of sitting down with an editor at one of the big New York publishing houses and asking them all your questions about the publishing process? If so, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what I did on today’s episode.

I’m excited to bring you this conversation with Noah Schwartzberg, Senior Editor at Portfolio, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House, the biggest publisher in the United States.

Before joining the Portfolio team in 2019, Noah brought over a decade of experience as an acquisitions editor for McGraw-Hill, Cambridge University Press, and Fairchild Books. His areas of focus include business, economics, finance and investing, and politics. His authors run the gamut from generals to journalists, economists to entrepreneurs. He’s especially interested in stories that shine a light on critical but overlooked issues at the intersection of business and society.

Noah shares his journey in the publishing world, what a publisher looks for in a great book concept, the benefits of traditional publishing, and much more.

You can connect with Noah on Twitter, or LinkedIn.

The post Senior Editor Noah Schwartzberg on Working with a Traditional Publisher appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Many people have an ideal of sitting down at a computer and just letting the words flow out perfectly. The heavens open up, birds sing outside, and a ray of light descends from above as they post their work, email it, or send it off to the editor.

That, however, is a fantasy. It’s not how good writing actually gets done.

Writing is like mowing your lawn with a push mower. It’s a lot of manual labor. Sometimes it’s pretty monotonous. You have to go back and get the spots you missed. You get pretty messy in the process.

While you’re mowing the lawn, you get sweaty and dirty and you can’t see the big picture. But when you’re done, you can stand back and look at your perfectly mowed lawn and appreciate all your hard work.

Good writing happens the same way. It is created through hard work, persistence, multiple drafts, editing, and finishing what you started. This is how professionals work, and it’s how you must work, too.

Question: Do you want to write badly enough that you are willing to endure the messy part of writing in order to get to that wonderful final draft?

The post This is How Good Writing Happens appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Let me ask you an honest question. Do you love the work of being a writer?

Here’s what I mean. Do you love the process of coming up with ideas, writing multiple drafts, editing, and working on the design or layout of blog posts or books? Do you take pleasure in the overall creative process?

Or are you more interested in the end result? Do you see all those other things as an irritation or annoyance on the way to getting to the end result?

This is an important question. I believe if you’re going to be successful over the long haul as a writer, you must learn to love every step of the process. The author Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing. I love having written.”

We all can relate to that, but it’s also a sad commentary on our obsession with the end result.

Sometimes you hear about world-class actors who really relish the process of bringing a character to life, or even living in character on set. Heath Ledger and Daniel Day-Lewis were famous for that. They loved the process, not just going to the movie premiere and seeing themselves on screen.

If you don’t love the drafting or editing process so much, I want you to start seeing it as your friend, as a companion that helps you to produce a better end result. When you come to love the process as much as the end result, the writing life becomes something you can enjoy every day, not just once every year or two when you release a book.

Wouldn’t that be so much more fun?

Question: Do you love every part of the writing process? Why or why not?

The post Love the Work, Not Just the End Result appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

One of the reasons that writing feels so hard to many people is because their expectation doesn’t match the reality of how a clean draft actually gets written.

Many people have an ideal of sitting down at a computer and just letting the words flow out perfectly. The heavens open up, birds sing outside, and a ray of light descends from above as they post their work, email it, or send it off to the editor.

That, however, is not how good writing actually gets done.

Writing is like mowing your lawn with a push mower. It’s a lot of manual labor, sometimes it’s pretty monotonous, you have to go back and get the spots you missed, and you get pretty messy in the process. While you’re mowing the lawn, you get sweaty and dirty and you can’t see the big picture. But when you’re done, you can stand back and look at your perfectly mowed lawn and appreciate all your hard work.

Good writing is created through hard work, persistence, multiple drafts, editing, and finishing what you started. This is how professionals work, and it’s how you must work, too.

Daily Question: Do you want to write badly enough that you are willing to endure the messy part of writing in order to get to a wonderful final draft?

The post How Writing Actually Gets Done appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

You can learn more from Jennifer and connect with her through the links below:

HarshmanServices.com

Find a Real Editor by Jennifer Harshman, ed.

Follow Jennifer on Facebook

Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn

The post Jennifer Harshman: How to Write Your Book in 12 Weeks appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

When we talk about your “writing voice,” we usually mean the unique way you communicate. It involves tone, language, turns of phrase, attitude, and more. But for a moment, let’s talk about your actual voice and how you can use it to improve your writing.

When you are editing your work, you will go through the usual process of proofreading it yourself, probably using some beta readers, and having it professionally edited at least once.

But another way to edit your book is to read it out loud. When you hear yourself speak the words, you will catch errors you will not catch otherwise. Your eyes play tricks on you. Once you have seen the same sentence or paragraph many times, the errors can be almost invisible.

However, when you read it out loud, you’re using your ears, instead of your eyes to catch errors. It is amazing how many errors and needed improvements you will catch this way.

So yes, use your author voice in your writing, but use your actual voice in editing. Read your work out loud to make edits and improvements that will help your writing flow. If it sounds better to the ear, it will read better on the page.

Daily Question: How do you think reading your writing out loud before publishing could improve it?

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