We don’t just write to express what we think. We write in order to discover what we think.

For many writers, it goes even deeper than that. It’s an itch they keep on scratching, but it never seems to quite go away. This itch is what we call a life theme. It’s a statement or an idea that ties your body of work together.

This isn’t true for all writers. But for most, it is. They write because there is a singular theme that resonates from their soul. It’s a golden thread that ties it all together.

This was true of Maya Angelou. She said, “In all my work what I try to say is that as human beings we are more alike than we are unalike.” That was her golden thread.

Is there a theme or idea that you keep coming back to? Something you’re trying to say, but you never quite feel you get it right?

That feeling of not getting it quite right is not an indication that you’re inadequate. It’s a sign that you still have more to say.

Don’t be afraid of your golden thread. In fact, lean into it. The more you do, the more your writing will resonate with people because it represents the truth of who you are and how you see the world.

And if you have been true to your golden thread, someday you’ll be able to look back on your body of work and see how that golden thread has been woven into a stunning tapestry.

Today’s Challenge: Write down a few ideas of what your golden thread as a writer might be. Share it with a couple of friends to see if they agree.

The post The Golden Thread Running Through Your Writing appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. When you look at the millions of books, blogs, podcasts, and magazine articles that have been created, what could you possibly say that is unique?

The answer is simple. What makes your writing unique is not that you’re writing about something new. It’s the fact that it’s you who is writing it. You are the unique factor in the equation.

Unique means “one of a kind.” And there is only one of you in the world.

Your unique combination of skills, experience, and viewpoint is what makes your writing worth reading. You might be writing about the same things as a hundred other people, but they’re not saying it in the way you say it.

So, how does this inform your writing? The novelist Barbara Kingsolver has the answer. She said, “Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.”

Well, as it turns out, the only thing you have to offer is also the best thing you have to offer. There will only ever be one of you in the world. There is only one person who can speak with your voice.

Don’t waste the opportunity to let us hear it.

Today’s Challenge: Ask yourself if you’re holding back because you mistakenly believe you don’t have anything unique to share. Be honest.

The post You Only Have One Thing to Offer appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

In the simplest terms, your voice is how you talk. It is how you express yourself. It’s your style.

On the smallest scale, it even comes down to how you construct sentences and paragraphs and book chapters. On a larger scale, your voice concerns the themes and topics you write about.

Just like your physical voice, your writing voice takes time to develop. It can also change over time. Think of how different your voice as an adult sounds compared to what you sounded like as a three-year-old or even a thirteen-year-old.

If you don’t feel like you’ve found your voice yet, keep working at it. As the author Henry Miller said, “You have to write many words before you find your voice as a writer.”

The most important thing is not what your voice is, but that you use it. Don’t compare yourself to others. Be bold. Be brave.

There’s only one you. We need to hear your voice.

Today’s Challenge: Find one simple way to share your authentic voice with the world today, through a blog, social media, or even through a text or phone call. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.

The post We Need to Hear Your Voice appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Writers don’t think about what we do in terms of power. We use words like creativity, craft, platform, audience, and entrepreneurship.

But power? It’s a concept that seems a little old-fashioned, if not outright outdated these days.

Power is just influence. When you have power as a writer, you can change people’s minds. You can tell a story that has an impact. You can write books, sermons, articles, or other content and know that it can influence other people.

If power as a writer is a good thing, how do you get it? There are many ways, such as having the right connections or even just getting lucky. But those are external situations that you can’t predict or control.

There is only one surefire way to become powerful as a writer. Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, said it best: “A word after a word after a word is power.” (By the way, this was the title of a 2019 documentary where she discusses her life and work.)

The meaning of the phrase is pretty obvious: when you put down one word after another, eventually you wind up with something you can share. And when you accumulate those words, and they become books, screenplays, speeches, or other types of shareable content, they can have more power than you can possibly imagine.

Your words have power. So, get out there today and put down not just one word, but a word after a word after a word.

Today’s Challenge: Whenever you write today, remember: words are powerful, and you can use this power for good in the world.

The post Your Words Are Powerful appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

My father, Don Sanders, is Vietnam veteran. For years, we have talked about putting together a book about his experiences in Vietnam. Last year, we decided this was a great time to get started.

After all, he’s 75, and I’m no spring chicken, either!

Father’s Day of last year, I gave him a nice leather journal and asked him to start writing down some stories from Vietnam. I figured that he would write ten or twenty pages of notes for us to discuss, then he would verbally tell me the stories. This is how I approach most ghostwriting projects.

A couple of months later, when Dad came to my house, he handed me the leather journal. I said, “What’s this?” I was confused and didn’t understand why he was giving it back to me.

Then, he explained that he’d been working almost every day to write down all his memories from Vietnam. When I opened the journal, I saw that he had filled nearly every page, top to bottom. Then, later on, he gave me even more pages he wrote in a notebook.

In just a couple of months, Dad had hand-written the first draft of the book—over 200 pages! And this is from a man who has struggled with multiple health problems from agent orange exposure, as well as arthritis in his hands.

I’m still in awe of this accomplishment.

So, the next time you think you can’t write one more word, or you’re feeling a little tired… remember Don Sanders, the Vietnam Veteran, who hand-wrote a book in two months.

Today’s Challenge: Think about the biggest writing challenge in front of you. How do you think my Dad would handle it?

The post My Dad Hand-Wrote a Book in Two Months appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

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.

So far, we’ve talked about the factors of pricing and location. Now let’s dive into something hard to define, but still important when you are considering the quality of your office space: the environment.

I’m referring to two things: the physical environment, as well as the emotional and social one.

The physical environment is the area around your office. Do you like the neighborhood? Is it safe and well-kept? Does the office space have amenities like a kitchen, copier, clean bathrooms, or a parking lot with good access?

The emotional and social environment is also important. What are the people like? Are they friendly? If it’s a co-working space, are they keen on helping each other? Do you like the general vibe?

A couple of years ago, when I knew I was leaving my college job, I checked out a local co-working space in the next town over. I immediately got a snobbish vibe, like the owners thought they were the coolest cats in town. I didn’t feel welcomed.

On the other hand, last year I rented an office at a different co-working space for a month and loved it. The people were super friendly and the vibe of the space was fantastic. They held a lot of community events at their space and it was clear they really cared about people.

However, I didn’t rent an office there because the only ones they had available were slightly bigger than a shoe box. Another checkmark against that space was their policy that you could only work there during business hours. That was a big NO in my book because I often like to work on Saturday mornings or, occasionally, in the evening.

I like the vibe of the space where I am now. It’s close to my house, and the owners and property manager are all super nice. Yet, it’s also a professional environment, so it has lifted me up to another level just by being in this space. In addition, I can come and go anytime I like, day or night.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that your environment doesn’t matter. It matters greatly. As much as it depends on you, choose to work and write in a space that values you and helps lift you to another level.

And if you are just fine working from home, that’s great also. But be honest with yourself: are you happy with that environment? If not, what can you do to improve it? You may want to revisit the series we just finished on clearing the clutter.

Today’s Challenge: Whether you’re working from home or considering an outside space, think about the physical and emotional environment. Is it helping you be more productive and have a better state of mind? If not, what can you do to change or improve it?

The post Office Space: What’s the Environment? 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.

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 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.

All that said, however, I definitely want to encourage you to write something every day if you can… even if it’s just five minutes’ worth of writing.

Today’s Challenge: Take the concept of batching your work and apply it to some type of writing you are currently doing: it might be emails, blog posts, podcast material, copywriting, or something else.

The post The Productive Writer: Batch Your Writing appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

One of the reasons why we sometimes get stuck in our writing is that we see how much there is left to do.

Let’s say you’re writing a 750-word blog post. You would typically write this in sections—an introduction, two or three main points, and a call to action. So really, this is a collection of pieces that are somewhere between 100-200 words each.

You would normally outline the piece, then start writing a first draft at the introduction, progressing through until you write the call to action.

You can have trouble getting motivated when you see how much there is left to do. One way to break this cycle is to start at the end and work your way backward. Write the call to action first, then the main points from last to first, then the introduction. If you have outlined the material ahead of time, this shouldn’t be a problem.

When you write backward, so to speak, you interrupt your normal writing pattern and feel a new sense of creative energy. You don’t have a clear sense of how much you have left, and it reduces your tendency to feel distracted.

For example, I usually produce these podcast episodes in batches of one or two weeks at a time. Most of the time, I will write the last one first, then work backward until I have the first one finished.

It’s a simple way to give yourself a different writing pattern and add new energy to the process. In other words, going backward can help you go forward.

Today’s Challenge: Give the “writing backward” strategy a try on your next piece of writing.

The post The Productive Writer: Write Backward appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.