Recently, Anne R. Allen published a post titled “Can Marathon Writing Sessions Lead to Depression?,” citing studies that suggest long, intense writing sessions might mimic symptoms of depression. If you’re an indie author pushing for a prolific writing habit, this kind of claim can be alarming. I get it. No one wants to wake up […]
The Joy of Writing Prolifically (No, It Won’t Make You Depressed) Read More »
Ah, the dreaded 3 a.m. wake-up. You know the drill. You’re drifting in and out of sleep, and suddenly, your brain decides now’s the perfect time to replay that awkward email you sent at work. Or it spins a delightful doomsday scenario about how your project will implode, your reputation will be ruined, and your
Harnessing the 3 A.M. Dread to Supercharge Your Writing (and More) Read More »
Writing is hard. Some days, it’s staring at a blank page until your soul starts to shrivel. Other days, it’s forcing words onto the page that feel as clunky as a toddler’s first steps. This difficulty, though, isn’t a bug in the system—it’s a feature. What you’re experiencing is disfluency, the grinding friction that comes when creativity refuses to flow like a perfect algorithm. But here’s the kicker: disfluency isn’t just a hurdle to clear; it’s the point of the creative process.
Writing Through Disfluency: How to Embrace the Grind and Keep Moving Forward Read More »
As an indie author, you’re not just a writer. You’re a marketing department, an editor, a publisher, a social media manager, and possibly the person who has to remember to water the plants. All this juggling means burnout is more than a risk—it’s almost a guarantee if you’re not actively carving out downtime. And yet, downtime isn’t laziness or time wasted. It’s the fuel that keeps the creative engine running and prevents that ugly beast called burnout from knocking on your door.
Why Indie Authors Need Downtime (And How to Actually Get It) Read More »
Writing to Market isn’t quite as divisive as Wide versus KU, but it comes close. Mention Writing to Market to a group of indie authors, and you’ll witness a heated debate spring to life almost immediately. Sometimes full-blown arguments can break out. For the record, I’ve never written to market. Not because I’ve ignored the
Why Writing to Market Won’t Serve You Anymore Read More »
This is a two-part post. Part 1. Part II. _________________ Last week, I talked about the benefits of keeping notebooks. This week, I’m looking at whether you should even bother keeping notebooks, this day and age. First up, the arguments against notebooks. Why you shouldn’t keep notebooks. Clutter Bins Steve Pavlina, a long-time lifestyle blogger,
The Case For and Against Keeping Notebooks, Part II Read More »
This is a two-part post. Part 1. Part II. _________________ Lately, I’ve come across a few separate opinions on the worth of notebooks for writers that I found interesting. They made me reflect upon the usefulness of notebooks for writers in this hyper-connected, fast-progressing and digitized era. What are notebooks for writers? It might seem
The Case For and Against Keeping Notebooks, Part I Read More »
The interview I did with Joanna Penn is now live on The Creative Penn.
The Creative Penn podcast now live. Read More »
One More Reason To Be A Prolific Writer And why this one will be critical in the future No matter what you write, writing a lot comes with benefits. Authors like Nicolas Cole and Dickie Bush make excellent cases for writing quantities of non-fiction. I’ve spent years and written dozens of posts exploring the benefits
One More Reason To Be A Prolific Writer Read More »
Most story ideas, even the coolest of them, are just ideas. Here’s an idea I grabbed off a random plot generator I found online: An action thriller set in New York in the 1980s about a dying cop with a secret, trying to do a heist. Now there’s some intriguing ideas in this one. More
Two Questions That Transform Your Meh Fiction Idea To One Readers Rush To Buy Read More »
