There are a lot of good things about freelancing: You can do errands in the middle of the day. You (probably) don’t have a daily commute, and you can work in coffee shops. You make more money by hustling, not by relying on the whims of upper management. Occasionally, you […]
Sometimes, you just don’t have it in you to write another word. I started writing (for work) this morning at 7 a.m.; I wanted to prep for meetings this afternoon. The meetings went well, but I was mentally exhausted at the end of the day. I thought I’d chill out […]
This weekend, I have a lot of writing to do. I’m a tiny bit behind on this month’s blogging challenge (I drove to Pensacola and back yesterday for a quick visit with my parents and didn’t get a chance to post yesterday), I have a big post planned for later […]
I’ve never been much for writing on my cell phone. Okay, maybe Instagram posts or text messages — but nothing approximating real work. Not my book, not blogs — I don’t even write emails using my phone if I can help it. But there are good reasons to try using […]
It’s hard to find music to listen to while writing. Sometimes, silence is the best soundtrack to a solid writing session, but not always. Music can put us in the “zone” of writing more easily so we don’t have to fight for focus. Because music has such power over our […]
Ever since reading The Power of Habit a few years ago, I’ve found it helpful to create rituals around the things in my life that cause me anxiety or that I tend to avoid. By “ritual,” I really just mean routine — a short series of actions that put me […]
November, apparently, is the month for writing bonanzas. There’s Nanowrimo, where the goal is to write an entire novel (well, a draft of one) in a month. And my friend Javacia runs this wonderful writing group called See Jane Write; every November, they do a promotion called Blog Like Crazy […]
I can’t stand when someone tries to look over my shoulder while I’m writing. I don’t want anyone to see my mistakes and false starts and the cheesy stuff that comes out before the (hopefully) better work replaces it. I’m under no illusions that my finished work is perfect, but […]
Not so great at keeping up with your blog lately? Yeah, me either. When you’re in the rhythm of blogging and you’re on a roll with a topic you’re excited about, getting up in the morning to write and publish a blog is exhilarating. Okay, maybe not exhilarating, but at […]
Even outside of this blog, I talk a lot about blogging, and I write a lot of blogs. Some of those blogs I can’t ever share because they’re ghostwritten (that is, I write them and agree to let other people put their names on them; this is mostly for companies […]
In my experience, blogging — or, really, any sort of writing — is never exactly easy. But having a routine to help you get your thoughts down can really help. Here are a few tips that I share with clients to make the process a lot easier and help the […]