Puzzle-Piece Scheduling: A Writing Model for the Non-Marathoner

/ Scheduling & Tracking / 2 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

What if, instead of waiting for those rare marathon writing sessions, you fit your writing into the cracks of your day—one or two hours at a time? Puzzle-Piece Scheduling is about breaking your writing into smaller chunks that still add up to real progress. It’s not about being perfect—it’s about being consistent. Even short sprints can keep your story warm and moving forward.

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How to Stop Procrastinating (Without Spending 4.5 Hours To Do It)

/ Discipline & Motivation, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION / 2 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Mark Manson recently released a 4.5-hour video on how to stop procrastinating—which sounds like a great way to procrastinate for 4.5 hours. At The Productive Indie Fiction Writer, we’ve tackled this beast from every angle. This post pulls together some greatest hits, a few uncomfortably true quotes, and a flexible mindset to help you find your way around the monster.

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Writing Hack: How One Author Wrote 25,000 Words on Her Phone—and Why You Might Want to Try It

/ PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Work Processes / 3 minutes of reading

We talk a lot around here about optimizing your writing life, especially when things aren’t ideal. Whether you’re juggling kids, caregiving, a full-time job, or just sheer burnout, sometimes the biggest enemy of progress is the myth that “real writing” only happens under perfect conditions.

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Why Do You Write?

/ Attitude, Discipline & Motivation, Inspiration / 4 minutes of reading

Ah yes, that question. “Why do you write?”

It’s one of those that gets asked a lot—especially in writing forums, interviews, and on the back covers of literary memoirs, usually printed in italics for some reason. It can feel a bit… woo-woo. As if the answer should be sacred and profound. (“Because the Muse demands it, obviously.”)

But the truth? Your “why” is probably a lot more practical, changeable, and occasionally downright grubby than the question makes it sound.

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Turn Off Editing and Spelling While You Type. And Why.

/ INDIE PUBLISHING, Technology, Tools & AI / 3 minutes of reading

Recently, I was forced to replace my laptop. Not because of a catastrophic hardware failure, or because it fell into a vat of coffee (although, give it time). No—because the space bar stopped working. Yes, the space bar. That humble, workhorse of a key. Turns out, if you can’t make spaces, you can’t make anything

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Writing a Lot Isn’t Intimidating—It’s Just Math

/ Discipline & Motivation, INDIE PUBLISHING, Inspiration, Prolificacy / 3 minutes of reading

I’ve spent the last couple of posts being pretty firm about the importance of doing the work. In Hauling the Bricks and The Indie Author’s Scam Survival Guide, we talked about how there’s no magic shortcut—just putting in the effort, day after day, is what gets you there. But let’s take a moment to step

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The Indie Author’s Scam Survival Guide: How to Spot, Avoid, and Outsmart the Predators

/ Finance, Money Management & Frugality / 4 minutes of reading / 1 Comment

Indie publishing is booming, which means writers have more control over their careers than ever before. But with opportunity comes risk—and scammers are circling like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Every year, new scams pop up, often just repackaged versions of old ones, designed to prey on authors who are still figuring out the publishing game. Because while anyone can write a book, successfully publishing and selling one is much harder. That gap—between the dream and the reality—is where the scammers strike.

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