We Were Creative Once… And Young
Children act creative. Most adults don’t. Children let their ideas bubble over, making up stories and games as they go. Ask them to think of how to do something, and they’ll likely come up with several ideas. Adults don’t act like that. When children are in groups,...
Writer’s Block: Name It and Tame It
When my friend Rick asked me if I ever had writer's block, I gave him my standard response: “No, not really.” Then I thought about it for a bit. Some knowledgeable people don’t believe there’s such a thing as writer's block. Dr. Robert Boice spent a career studying...
How To Produce More Great Work With the Wallas Cycle
We all want to write better. We strive to produce more great content more easily. That’s more likely to happen if you have a reliable writing process, and that writing process is more likely to be effective if it’s based on tested methods and scientific validation....
How To Make Progress on Your Book When Life Intervenes
Joe, Judy, and Mike were all working steadily on their books. Then life intervened. A crisis in Joe’s business claimed his time and attention. He won’t be able to continue writing every morning at the same time and in the same place for an hour or two. Judy has a...
How To Become a Thought Leader
“You can see by our outfits that we are both cowboys. If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too.” Nope. You don’t become a cowboy just by getting an outfit. And you don’t become a thought leader just by saying you are one. Declaring yourself a thought leader...
Getting the Most from Your Reading: Using Kindle Flashcards
Students have used flashcards for years to learn all kinds of things, from multiplication tables and Hebrew vocabulary to matching names with faces. But there’s a slightly different reason you should use them to get value from your business books and research. People...
5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Write a Book
Yes, everyone does have a book in them. That doesn’t mean that getting it out will be easy. You may imagine getting your book out as akin to opening the door to a cage and letting a bird fly away. Alas, it's more like mining ore, ripping it out of the ground, refining...
Time to Make Your Summer Reading Plan for 2024
We’ve seen the Flower Moon, the last full moon of Spring. Summer officially starts on June 20 this year. Maybe you think it “really” starts earlier, on Memorial Day. That’s the start of “psychological summer” for me. It’s time to make up your summer reading list....
The Road To Writing a Book
I’ve been a ghostwriter and book writing coach for over twenty years. During that time, I talked to dozens of people about the book they wanted to write and noticed a common pattern. They seem to take similar roads to writing their books. If you think you might want...
If You Want To Write a Great Book, Interruptions Are the Devil
“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.” ~ Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil.” Over the centuries, the devil has gone by many names. Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles come to mind. But if you’re a writer you know the only one that matters. It’s...