Category Archives for Articles
When Life Happens: A Totally Doable Morning Routine for Writers
You’ve probably read dozens of them—articles with titles like “Morning Routines for Writers,” “Daily Habits of Successful People,” or something else along those lines. They’re full of great advice that would probably enhance your morning if you followed them to a T.
But those articles assume a lot: that you’re healthy, have money, and can afford to take your time in the morning. Think about it—who actually has the time, money, and motivation to get up at 5am, run six miles, and then grab Starbucks every single morning?
Professional writers are busy. We’re trying to cram in blog posts and 1,000 words into our novel and answer all the emails in our inboxes, all while managing families, houses, possibly a non-writing job, and whatever else life throws our way.
At first glance, a lot of the advice in this article may seem like something you’ve read before, but take a deeper look. For each piece of advice, I’m going to give you a variation that’s faster, easier, and much more realistic, so you can still feel like you’re accomplishing something in the morning even when life happens.
Because, as we all know, it does.
Rejection Hurts, But It’s Not as Bad as You Think
I’ve been rejected a lot in my life. Chances are, you can also relate.
There’s something about rejection that makes us afraid of taking chances and, strangely enough, being ourselves.
How is it that two words from someone else, even someone we have no connection to, impacts us to the point of self-judgment?
Perhaps it was a rejection letter from a company where you were really hoping to work. Or maybe that book manuscript you’ve been working on for the past four years got rejected by a third publishing company.
Whatever it is, the truth is this: Rejection hurts.
How to Write WAY More Words Per Hour (Without Sacrificing Quality)
Writers’ speeds vary … a lot.
Some writers would consider 100 words an hour to be a perfectly productive rate. Others would be disappointed by 1,000 words an hour.
Obviously, a fair part of this difference is to do with the type of writing they’re undertaking (literary novels tend to be considerably slower, per word, than genre fiction or chatty blog posts), but whatever type of writing you do, you can improve your speed.
Here’s how I know. When I was in college, I wrote a lot. I wrote essays, which I was fairly quick at because I had a good batch production system for them. During the (ridiculously long) vacations, I wrote fiction.
Now that I have two children and a packed life, I can’t quite understand why I didn’t produce a dozen novels while I was at college. (I managed one!) But a big part of the reason is probably because it often took me a whole day just to write 1,000 words.
These days, I can regularly hit 1,000–1,500 words per hour.
6 Tips for Crafting Effective Newsletters
Newsletters can be painful to think about and difficult to write, but they don’t have to be.
Many people tasked with writing a regular newsletter feel that it’s difficult to find fresh content. Others don’t have the time to think through their content.
Then there are instances where there’s so much information that can be added, it gets difficult for entrepreneurs to streamline content for the best impact.
My experience with newsletters has been with nonprofit organizations and service providers, so in the following tips, those are the types of clients I most often refer to.
However, any organization that sells products, services, or support for a cause can use newsletters both as an effective marketing tool and method to stay in touch with customers.