Category Archives for Writing
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.
Using Constraints to Boost Your Creativity
For most people, creativity seems to have closer ties to freedom than constraints. You may have the idea that creativity is something that happens best when the possibilities are endless—when anything goes and you have all the time and resources you could possibly need.
This sounds like the ideal scenario for completing any creative project, but that’s where many are misinformed.
Going at a project no holds barred is counterproductive for a few reasons. Having too many possibilities can make it difficult to know where to begin, come up with seriously creative ideas, or even just to get it done.
This is actually good news. In the professional world, all projects come with constraints, be it time, budget, audience, or format. These may feel restraining at times, but trust me, you’re much better off with them than without them.