[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] No matter how exciting your career is, there are days when going to work just feels like a job. You just can’t always be doing the exciting stuff. I mean, sure Han Solo spends a lot of time chasing parsecs records and shielding Kylo’s lightsaber from the elements, but I’ll…
Tag: writing terms
Delegate to Improve Your Writing — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] One of the most important things any of us can do to become more productive is to simply cut out activities that don’t bring any return on our time investment. That’s why there is an emphasis on “Stop Doing” lists around the new year, and writers would do well to…
Prioritize Your Writing EVERY DAY– Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] What are your writing priorities for tomorrow? That is, when you’ve finished at your day job or cleared away your chores or settled in for some late-night creating, what will you be working on? (And if you don’t already have your writing blocks scheduled, you better get to it.) Dabbler…
Schedule Your Writing Time and Hold It Sacred — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Do you ever miss work because “there just wasn’t time”? How about your kids’ soccer games or piano recitals or school drop-offs? Do those get squeezed out by more important events very often? Unless you’re a crappy employee or parent, then you almost surely answered, “NO!” to all of these…
Exploit Peak Writing Times — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Sometimes you don’t have much choice about when you can write. If you work two jobs and are a single parent and have to schlep three kids around to after-school events every night, you’re going to squeeze in your snippets of prose wherever you can. If that means dictating into…
Use Gap Reading to Beef Up Your Knowledge Base — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] The single most important key to writing more, and writing better, is simply to get your bottom in the chair, belly-up to the keyboard, and actually write. Do it a lot, even if you don’t have much time per session. Eventually, all of those minutes and hours will turn into…
Learn to Make Quick Writing Decisions — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Life is full of decisions, and they can eat you up if you let them. Where should we eat for dinner? Should I apply for that job on the west coast or not? What color socks should I wear with my new shorts? Many times we get caught up quibbling…
The Pareto Principle for Super Productive Writing — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] You might be familiar with the Pareto Principle, named after Vilfredo Pareto and which basically says, “Eighty percent of your results will come from just 20% of your effort.” In other words, about four out of five things that you do — or four out of five hours you spend…
Try Early-Bird Writing to Conquer the World — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] No matter how enthusiastic you are about your career, you can’t work all the time or your health and personal relationships suffer. That’s why we have weekends and hobbies. But what happens when your hobby starts to take over all your free time and causing you stress? Hobby Anxiety It seems…
Write Faster, Die Happier — Quick Writing Tip
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] One of the insights that NaNoWriMo has imparted to the writing community is that it’s possible to write fast. I mean, if you’d have told me a few years ago that I could write a novel — even “just” a first draft — in a month, I would have clutched…