PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION

The Artisan Author Movement and the Myth of Slowing Down

/ Creativity, Prolificacy, Publishing & Production / 5 minutes of reading

The Artisan Author movement is gaining momentum—and for good reason. Writers are burning out chasing algorithms and churning out books to appease invisible markets. But here’s the catch: slowing down your writing isn’t the solution for everyone. For some of us, our best, most joyful pace is fast. Not frantic. Not desperate. Just flow. The key isn’t to slow down. It’s to find your best pace—and protect it fiercely.

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Review of The Artisan Author by Johnny B. Truant

/ Attitude, Creativity, INDIE PUBLISHING, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Prolificacy, Publishing & Production / 6 minutes of reading / 3 Comments

At its heart, this book offers a liberating proposal: don’t play the game as it’s currently defined. Walk away from algorithm worship, punishing release schedules, and the grind of selling at 99 cents to churn-hungry subscription readers. Instead, write what you want to write, at the pace that suits you, and charge a fair price for your work.

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Why Writing Feels So Damn Hard (Sometimes): It’s Not You, It’s Physics

/ Discipline & Motivation, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION / 2 minutes of reading / 2 Comments

Creative inertia is real. Whether you’ve stepped away from your novel for five minutes or five months, restarting always feels harder than continuing. It’s not a personal failing—it’s physics. Here’s how to beat the resistance and get back into flow, one “Just Start” at a time.

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If Your To-Do List Stresses You Out, You’re Doing It Wrong

/ PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Project & Task Management / 3 minutes of reading / 2 Comments

Most writers think they’re breaking down their tasks—but if you’re still staring at “Revise novel” on your to-do list and feeling stuck, you’ve got a project, not a task. Here’s how to break your work down into do-able chunks that actually get done.

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

/ Scheduling & Tracking / 2 minutes of reading

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

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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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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