Perfectionism
If We Could Turn Back Time: Cher Models Nonperfectionism!
I’ve always loved Cher’s tweets: they’re so playful and sincere, even when she’s making a sharp political point, which she does often. So naturally, I loved this New York Times piece about her Twitter style: She pays little to no attention to rules of grammar, like punctuation or sentence structure, and she capitalizes many words…
Read MoreHow John Scalzi Meets His Deadlines
This week, bestselling author John Scalzi blogged about how he’s going to meet his 2016 deadlines: “For me, the major problem is not writer’s block or plot issues or anything structural involving the novel; I generally don’t have problems with those once I start, and with this new novel, thankfully, I didn’t have any real…
Read MoreHow to Get Out of a Slump
I got a lovely note from a reader that included this passage (reprinted with kind permission): “For the last one and a half week I have been in kind of in a slump, disappointed after a school assignment I had trouble finishing. I thought I finally had my writing problem under control, but ended up…
Read MoreThe Problem With Daily Word Counts
This list of the daily word counts of famous authors has been making the rounds. The top producers, by far, are the late thriller writer Michael “Jurassic Park” Crichton and the late British historical novelist R. F. Delderfield, who both apparently wrote 10,000 words a day. Then we’ve got one 6,000-word-a-day chap (thriller writer John Creasy), a…
Read MoreLively Interview on Writing Productivity and Overcoming Perfectionism (30 mins)
Check out this fun 30-minute interview I did on boosting writing productivity and overcoming perfectionism. The interviewers were the lively and knowledgeable Dr. Bob Wright and Christine Wright of StressFreeNow:
Read MoreWell Paid New York Times Writers Have Interesting Theoretical Discussion on Whether Poverty is Good for (Other) Writers
“Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It?” This was the dingbat question editors of the New York Times Bookends column considered worth debating this week. I’ll share my full comment on the piece in a moment, but first: can you even imagine asking this about practitioners in any non-arts field? I can’t! Gives you…
Read MoreWhy a Course on Weight Loss for Writers?
I will soon be starting my next SavvyAuthors’ exclusive Weight Loss for Writers class. To my knowledge, you won’t find another class like it anywhere. But why a class on weight loss just for writers? Well, for one thing, writing is a sedentary occupation, so it’s easy for writers to gain weight. For another, overweight (yes,…
Read MoreYou Can Literally Do the World’s Toughest Rock Climb and People Will Still Find Something to Criticize
So after seven years of planning and preparation, and nearly three weeks of grueling effort and inspiring teamwork, two guys succeed at literally the toughest rock climb in history and some people can still find something to criticize. When I first spotted the critical comments alongside the New York Times articles on Kevin Jorgeson and…
Read MoreThe 14 Rules of Prolific Writing
The proper goal for all writing projects should be to “Get it done.” (Not fabulousness, comprehensiveness, to create a best seller, “revolutionize my field,” impress my advisor/family, make a fortune, etc. See Rule #13 on Quality, below.) Use a speedy, free-writing, free-revising technique. Aim for a large number of quick drafts where you make a…
Read MoreMeet Compassionate Objectivity, The Antidote to Guilt
“I should succeed at this job despite the fact that we’re severely under-resourced and my boss is chronically disorganized. If I don’t, I’m a loser.” “If I don’t sacrifice everything to my kids, I’m a terrible parent.” “If I don’t get my hour of exercise in every single day, I’m just a lazy slob.” “If my book doesn’t…
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