The Slow Squeeze: Why It Might Be Time to Reconsider Barnes & Noble

/ Distribution, INDIE PUBLISHING / 5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Barnes & Noble didn’t send a warning shot—they sent a deadline. Raise your paperback prices to $14.99 by May 14th, or your books are gone. For indie authors working in short fiction or maintaining deep backlists, that’s not a tweak. It’s a hard stop. And it’s only the latest move in a pattern that’s quietly reshaping who—and what—belongs on the platform. The question isn’t whether these changes are fair. It’s whether your publishing strategy can survive them.

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The 5-Minute Brain Dump That Can Instantly Get You Back to Writing

/ Creativity, INDIE PUBLISHING, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Technology, Tools & AI, Work Processes / 6 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Excerpt: Writers don’t usually suffer from a lack of ideas—we suffer from too many. Between errands, reminders, story ideas, and random questions, our brains can become so cluttered that writing feels impossible. Here’s how a simple five-minute “brain dump” can clear the mental noise, help you focus, and get you back into the flow of writing.

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Write Stuff Story Bundle Release.

/ Attitude, Creativity, Disaster Planning, Discipline & Motivation, Distribution, Finance, Money Management & Frugality, Futurism, Good Company & Good Examples, Habits, Indie Health, Longevity & Wellness, INDIE PUBLISHING, Inspiration, Marketing, Networking, Planning, PRODUCTIVE INDIE BOOKS, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Publishing & Production, Stoicism & Perspective, Technology, Tools & AI, The Productive Indie Fiction Writer, Work Processes / 7 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Excerpt: Fourteen exclusive books and one workshop, all packed with up-to-date advice for indie writers navigating 2026—from writing faster and smarter to marketing, Kickstarter, newsletters, and surviving the modern publishing landscape. Available for a limited time, the Write Stuff StoryBundle also supports World Central Kitchen, so you can help your writing career and do some good at the same time.

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The Magic Cookie Method of Writing Motivation

/ Discipline & Motivation, Inspiration / 7 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

When writing starts to drag, the problem often isn’t laziness or lack of discipline — it’s that you’ve lost sight of what you’re writing toward. In this post, I explore the “magic cookie” method: finding the one scene, moment, or beat in your story that excites you enough to pull you through the difficult middle. Because sometimes the best cure for procrastination is knowing there’s something wonderful waiting a few chapters ahead.

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Safe Writing Is Dangerous Now. Here’s What to Write Instead.

/ Notetaking, Planning, Story Concept / 7 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Safe writing used to feel like the smart choice. Study the market. Follow the trends. Give readers more of what they already liked.

But in a world where AI can produce endless same-but-different stories, safe writing is becoming the riskiest strategy of all.

Readers do not know what they want until they see it. They cannot ask for the strange combination, the odd obsession, or the idea that should not work but somehow does. That is your advantage. The books that stand out now will not be the safest ones. They will be the ones only you could have written.

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Can’t Reach Flow State? This Might Be Why

/ Creativity, Planning, Project & Task Management, Publishing & Production, Scheduling & Tracking, Work Processes / 7 minutes of reading

Struggling to reach flow when you write? It might not be a discipline problem. Flow isn’t just about focus—it’s about whether your brain trusts that everything else is handled. If your mind is still tracking loose ends, unfinished tasks, or “don’t forget this” thoughts, it won’t let go. And without that mental quiet, true immersion in your story stays just out of reach.

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Build Better Habits (Not Better Goals)

/ Habits / 2 minutes of reading / 2 Comments

Goals feel productive. Habits are productive. If you want to be a producing indie author, you don’t need a shinier goal — you need a quieter, more consistent life. The writers who finish books aren’t chasing outcomes; they’re protecting routines. It may look boring from the outside. Good. That “nothing to report” life? That’s exactly what makes the words pile up.

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You’re Not Bad at Writing. Publishing Is Hostile to Story.

/ Character Arcs, Pacing, Plotting & Outlining, Story Concept, Structure / 8 minutes of reading

Storytelling hasn’t failed readers — publishing culture has simply become suspicious of it. If you’re being told to slow down, soften conflict, or “let the story breathe,” the problem may not be your writing at all. It may be that you’re telling stories in a moment that prefers experience over consequence.

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