How to Build an Author Platform from Scratch
Lynn McGinnis helps self-published authors build and grow their platforms, gain visibility, and reach their unique author marketing goals through coaching, consulting, and done-for-you marketing services. I asked her to write this post because I get lots of questions...
The Lifelong Impact of a Book
Books change lives. This is the story of one book and how it changed my life. I was a 19-year-old Marine when I responded to an ad offering three books for $1 from the Walter J Black Classics Club. One of the club’s selections was The Autobiography of Benjamin...
3 Ways Keeping a Journal Will Help You Write Better
Call it a journal, a writer’s notebook, or an idea file. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Keep it on a computer, loose sheets of paper, or in a bound notebook. That doesn’t matter either. What does matter is that journaling is a practice. It’s not simply writing...
How to Get the Most from Your Writing Talent
In 1989, Daniel Chambliss wrote about the making of Olympic swimmers. He coined the phrase “The mundanity of excellence” to describe how the best swimmers get that way. Sure, they have natural talent. Yes, they have a great work ethic. But there’s more. The very best...
Let your brain play!
Dog walking time. It’s good for me. It’s good for my dog, Toto. And it’s good for my brain. When you’re writing, you may be tempted to bear down and focus hard on the project. That’s necessary, but so is giving your brain time to play. That’s when your brain does some...
2 Simple Writing Momentum Hacks
My clients are what I call “semi-pro writers.” Writing isn’t their day job. Instead, they need to squeeze it into a calendar that’s already stuffed full of obligations. They need to make every writing moment count. You probably know all about eliminating distractions...
Enemies of Great Writing
Writing a book takes time, energy, focus, and sacrifice. You must also defeat or subdue the enemies of great writing. Here are five of them, along with ways to subdue them. Distractions Distractions are the devil. They pull you away from the focus you need to do great...
4 ½ Things You Don’t Need for a Productive Writing Session
If you’ve got plenty of time to write, this post is not for you. I’m not like that. My clients aren’t like that. We must squeeze our writing into days chock full of other things. That’s why we need to make every moment count when it is time to write. Here are four...
Take a Little Time
It’s almost New Year's, one of those days that psychologists call “temporal landmarks.” Here’s how researchers from Wharton described New Year’s in the journal Management Science. “The beginning of the year is widely documented as a time when millions of people commit...
Writing conversationally: why it’s hard and why it’s worth it.
For many years, I made a good portion of my income by giving speeches. Fifty or more times a year, I d hit the road to speak to an audience I'd never spoken to before. One challenge was learning enough about the industry to understand the driving forces and critical...
