With the coming lifting of COVID restrictions in our province, plus Canada Day family gatherings, the house cleaning that comes beforehand, month-end tasks, month-start tasks, and a whole lot of new health challenges and appointments that need to be scheduled, my daily routine of writing first thing in the morning, and leaving the afternoon for […]
When Your Daily Routines Aren’t There Read More »
You’ve probably heard before about writers reaching that sublime state of “flow” where nothing exists but the story they’re telling, and they feel a deep satisfaction when they’re done. But if you’ve never reached that state of flow yourself, you might not be sure about what it really means. I can reach a state of
How Do You Know You’re in Flow? Read More »
Just a quick post this week as I’m doing the great catch up and writing like a maniac. Despite the endless writing, I’ve managed to squeeze in a few how-books lately that I found particularly inspiring, The last one is actually responsible for me getting my ass back in gear and writing lots–but more on
A Few Books To Inspire You Read More »
Quick. Yes or no? Have you ever had to wait for something exciting–a live concert, a movie, a favorite meal, a new purchase–say, a new piece of technology, or new clothes or a grown-up toy like a new car? Something that you really, really wanted, that you had to wait for, and while you were
A Big Bat for When You REALLY Need Help to Write Read More »
I found myself in the ER of my local hospital early last week. It ended up that all the really scary possibilities hovering over me while I waited to see the doctors didn’t happen (and my lord, ERs in the middle of a pandemic are scary places!!). What did happen was that I learned…I suspect
How to Reset and Recover from Life Rolls, Disasters, and Bouts of High Resistance Read More »
This is not a post to harangue you and make you feel guilty because you don’t exercise. But it IS about exercise and movement, and some of the unexpected benefits for indie fiction authors. I’ve ducked writing a post of this sort since I set up the Productive Indie Fiction Writer site, mainly because I’m
Why You Might Want to Start Moving More Read More »
Michael Crichton is my hero. I only just found out. Here’s why: I get a lot of email from authors asking how many words a day they should be writing. I confess that the question puzzles me and I’ve hedge and hummed and fumbled to find a useful answer because the real answer is: “Whatever
What Your Daily Word Count Should Be Read More »
For a long time, now, I have spoken of “Just Starting” (here and here and a lot of other posts, too) as a way of overcoming your resistance to getting into a writing session. The basic approach I have, whenever Resistance shows up, and if I don’t fall prey to it, is to tell myself:
Just Start — Let’s Revisit This Idea Read More »
There is a class of Indie author mindset out there that promotes prolific writing, using Kindle Unlimited, launching hard, making sure your Amazon Also Boughts are clean, and writing absolutely to market as the only way to make serious money writing fiction. I did buy into that approach for a year or so. It seemed
Another Factor That Might Change Your Mind About Writing to Market Read More »
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” ― Flannery O’Connor From <https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/315733-i-write-because-i-don-t-know-what-i-think-until> There’s a lot of hype around journal-writing for authors. Julia Cameron, in The Artist’s Way, calls journaling ‘Morning Pages’ and credits them with nothing short of creative miracles. In the early twentieth century, authors and writers
Diaries, Journals, Notebooks. What’s the difference? Read More »
