Three Lessons James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’ Offers Authors for Reaching Their Writing Goals Jen B. Green Since it was published in 2018, James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, has sold over fifty million copies and been translated into fifty languages. The book offers tips for any adult looking to improve their lives with better habits, but […]
For Three Authors and Their Partners, a Writing Career Offers a Chance to Show They Care In the solitary world of indie authorship, where the journey of crafting words into stories is often a lone endeavor, the role of a supportive partner becomes immeasurably valuable. Beyond the quiet hours spent typing away at keyboards and […]
Having coached more than six thousand individual authors, I see burnout on a daily basis. The biggest cause of burnout in this industry is not overwork. It’s unrealistic expectations. Let’s look at the mental math involved. One work equals one outcome in our brains—sort of like how if I plant, water, and weed one plot […]
For Creatives, Doing ‘Nothing’ Can Be Essential to the Process Can you tell the difference between wasting time and giving an idea space to develop? Creativity coach and poet Mark McGuinness has a simple rule of thumb. “Procrastination happens before hard work,” he writes in his book Productivity for Creative People, and “incubation happens after […]
Now that we’re more than six months in, can you say you charged into this year replenished and ready? With a barrage of external stressors, including political divisiveness, inflation, weather-related tragedies, and health concerns, it would be easy to guess that affirmative answers to that question are low. Compound that with the flurry of life […]
A thought came to me the other night while I was down on my knees. Alas, I was not praying but cleaning out the litter box, and while ten percent of my brain pondered the eternal verity of dust to dust, the other ninety percent was in a fit of frustration after a misunderstanding with […]
What to Consider When ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’ Threatens Your Work-in-Progress Having a surge of creativity can be a great feeling. Everywhere you look, you seem to find new ideas. But while this can be exciting, it can also make it draining to progress in your current work. Your half-written drafts will be dropped. You may […]
When Building a Relationship with Your Fans, It’s OK to Share About Life Beyond Your Books Authors everywhere want fans to love and purchase their books. We spend every day marketing our books to readers and potential readers, but sometimes we forget we need to market ourselves to our readers as well. Fans want to […]
Turn on the news. Read a paper. Scroll through social media. No matter where you go, it’s hard to avoid today’s world. It seeps in through your pores even when you try your best to switch everything off. Go to the grocery store, and mawkish headlines greet you near the entrance. On the radio, advertisements […]
It’s All Been Done Before. But Only You Can Do It Your Way. What makes a story original? The question seems simple enough until you try to answer it. Plot alone certainly can’t make a book feel unique. Most writing resources agree that the world’s stories can be distilled into one of a distinct set […]
Angie Martin When dealing with mental illness, it’s often hard to power through the low points, let alone write your next book. But there are several things you can focus on during these times, as well as every day, to bring normalcy to your life as much as possible. The National Institute on Mental Health […]
Angie Martin With one in five Americans dealing with mental health problems, mental well-being is becoming a bigger and more important topic than ever before. Mental illness has been suggested to share a link with creativity, with famed cases such as Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain, and Stephen King, and a plethora of […]
When your creative career is designed solely around stability, you may be tempted to resort to strict word counts, long hours, and crushing deadlines. That’s a classic make-more-to-earn-more model. A creative career works best when it’s diversified. Steady, eddy, income–however small at first–is a worthy goal. But how do you make it grow? Once you […]
Four R’s to Find Your Essential Work . . . Instead of Rabbit Holes! You’ve heard people talk about creating a minimum viable product. How about a minimum viable process? Your time and energy are valuable—and limited—resources. How much work do you really need to create and market your books? Use these 4 R’s to […]
The Power of Slow in the Writing World The indie author life can easily swamp authors with opportunity. The writing life can turn into a weary slog that never seems to bring success any closer. What if there was another way to supercharge your career? Rest—Rest is the key to making connections, gaining insights, and […]
Practice Gratitude Instead of comparing yourself with others, try comparing yourself with where you were a year ago. Focus on how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go, and you’ll realize how successful you already are. We’ve all been there. We’ve all done it. We’ve all compared ourselves with others. We look […]
We can’t escape it—we all lead busy lives, and we only have a finite amount of time and energy to fit everything in. It’s little wonder our writing ends up getting pushed further and further down the to-do list. So how do we give it the priority it deserves in the time we have available? […]
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Gill Fernley Indie authors have so much to think about and learn, and that’s before you even tackle the world’s most enormous to-do list. There’s writing, editing, finding beta and ARC readers, social media, emailing your list, and on and on. Oh yes, and having a life! So how do you get it all done […]
Changing Hats to Match Your Mindset Elaine Bateman What hat do you wear to start your working day? No, I’m not asking about your workwear fashion choices; this is about mindset. It’s about being in the moment and training yourself to focus on the right things at the right time. It’s well documented that the […]
The “What Next” of NaNoWriMo Merri Mayweather December is finally here, and we have crossed the NaNoWriMo finish line. First, and foremost regardless of the final word count, congratulations! This is where we take a self-inventory. How are we feeling? Do we want to celebrate because we’re happy? Or is there a strong urge to […]
The Psyche of a Psychological Thriller Angie Martin We’ve all heard of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and Shutter Island, among others. We open the front cover of those heart-pounding, nail-biting books with trepidation and shaking fingers as tension floods our veins. We know we’ll be up all night because we simply cannot […]
Arm Yourself to Beat Imposter Syndrome In this final article on imposter syndrome, we’re going to take a deeper look at the psychology behind it and offer a tool kit for healthier thinking. Everyone has a mental filter, built from our experiences, our personality, and our environment. It’s this filter that leads us to unknowingly […]
In last month’s issue, we looked at what imposter syndrome is; now we’ll examine what it might look like, why we have it, and what we can do about it in order to better understand it. Identifying Individuals react and respond differently to their experience of imposter syndrome. Researchers found five common types; they are […]
We’ve All Seen The Quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” – Will Durant (Not Aristotle) Habits are funny things, aren’t they? In Atomic Habits, James Clear defines them as “a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.” There are good […]
Recognizing Imposter Syndrome This is part one of a three part Mindset mini-series focusing on imposter syndrome. You may or may not have heard of it, you may or may not have experienced it, but it’s said to affect seven out of ten people. Defining It’s a term first coined by psychologists in 1978, and […]
Resetting and restarting By the time you reach the editing stage, you’ve been working on your project for a long time. Your creative brain might be tired. Maybe you have doubts, distractions, overwhelm, or you can’t see your way forward. Give yourself a fresh start with this M.I.N.D.S.E.T. check-up: Motivation—In the editing stage, you are […]
How to survive and thrive during the editing process One of the greatest challenges of becoming an author is getting your book edited without having a panic attack around, “Is this good enough?” and the even harder question, “Am I good enough?” I have three tips around conquering crippling criticism during the editing process: #1 […]
Being an author is often considered a lonely existence. But secluding yourself to write feverishly and drink yourself to angst-ridden death is now terribly out of fashion. The authors of today are a new breed. We have Facebook groups and accountability groups, and meet at book fairs, Clubhouse rooms, conferences, and writing retreats. At any […]
When the shine of a new story idea fades and the muddy middle beckons, it is easy to lose interest, especially with a shaky or problematic plot. Giving up would be easy to do, so how do we keep going? The actions in the middle often depend on the story’s outcome. When the two cannot […]
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