Run away from anyone who tells you they have The Foolproof Way to write a book. Especially if they don’t know you. Read this first.
Just Getting Started?
These articles are all about what to do if you're just starting out on your Author Adventure: planning, preparation, and dealing with your Inner Dickhead.
Stop Trying to Find Your Voice
We want to be good writers, right? *Great* writers? Entertaining writers? Writers that move people? Then write.
You already have a voice, and the only way to find it is to use it.
We Need to Feel Seen
If you’re suffering from a writer’s block, could it be your inner reader? Let’s find out…
Maybe Your Imposter Syndrome is Right
This is a sonnet to laziness, idleness, loafing—a spirited rejection of the Puritan Work Ethic and all it implies. Read on and discover why idleness should be part of YOUR life.
You are not a sofa
Stop. Breathe. Listen.
Then pick a thing and do it.
Commit no nuisance
Our whole society is geared to keeping us quiet, keeping us in line, and not making a fuss.
Going Through the Motions
What would happen if I let go of this need to be impressive, and instead focused on feeling and thinking on paper? What would happen if I played around with different styles, and wrote questionable poetry, and fictionalised some of my experiences?
The morning monster cure
If you want to write your book, you need to build a good writing habit or you’ll never manage it.
What are you struggling with? What feels horrible?
What if, instead of saying you’ll write 500 words a morning, all you have to do is make a cup of tea, open your document, and scribble down what you’re going to do next?
Make it easy and make it attractive.
What do you want to do?
Don’t let anyone shame you into ridiculous productivity.
Don’t be pushed into doing more than you want to.
It’s okay not to be okay.
Living with purpose
My purpose is to write. To share my stories and other people’s stories – especially those people whose voices are muffled and marginalised. People who stand up for humanity and thoughtfulness and against oppression and cruelty and blind adherence to a doctrine that makes no sense.
What Does a Book Coach Actually DO Tho?
People worry a lot about writing a boring-ass book.
And when I say people, I mean me. I worry. About everything, all the time—but specifically, right now, about writing a basic-bitch book.
Check out these 8 mistakes to avoid…
A Nice Cup of Tea
What do you want your new world to be like?
Your life? Your business? Your relationships?
Writing Advice from Professor Sir Terry Pratchett
10 pieces of writing advice from my favourite author. Don’t be put off by his fiction status; this is relevant to all writers everywhere.
How To Think Up Your Big Book Idea
The flash of inspiration you’re waiting for? It ain’t gonna happen. It is a myth; a myth that has stopped good writers from writing since humans first scratched their shopping list on the cave wall…
Writing lessons from Beetrice ?
Remember this next time you’re stuck. Remember it when something threatens to derail your plans to write. Be more like Beetrice, focused on writing your book.
Roast potatoes for brains
Post-festive-sludging and I feel like my head is stuffed with roast potatoes.
I am struggling to form a coherent thought, let alone write about one.
This is extraordinarily vexing to someone who writes for a living.
Will Writing A Business Book Make You Rich?
Occasionally, business owners tell me they’re secretly dreaming of rolling around naked in piles of cash like Scrooge McDuck. Perhaps you think a book could make you filthy rich…
Write Your Book’s Introduction In 3 Simple Steps
Think of your introduction as a sales letter for the rest of your book. Your reader is thinking, subconsciously, “What’s in it for me? Why should I give up my valuable time to read this book?” You need to convey that in your introduction. Here’s how…
Asking The Right Questions
Knowing what questions to ask when you start to write your book is the hardest part… We spend so much time looking for answers, we rarely stop to think if we’re asking the right questions. And sometimes we don’t know which questions to ask at all…
Writers Block: 10 ADHD-Friendly Brain Tricks to Get Started
Sometimes you really really really want to write your book but brain just keeps bouncing off task. Or avoiding completely. Here are my top 10 tricks, tools, and tips that get me started.
Lusty Books: The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing a Book
Michael Stipe was right, eh?
Oof. What a few days, eh?
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
Why do I always procrastinate?
Are we asking the right questions?
I don’t always ask good questions. I ask obvious ones.
Like, “Why do I always procrastinate?”
Atomic Habits: My Book of the Year in 2019
Want to know how I’ve gone from a chaotic cranefly who couldn’t get out of bed to a 6 am person who writes every day and sometimes eats like a healthy adult?
The Virtues of Idleness
This is a sonnet to laziness, idleness, loafing—a spirited rejection of the Puritan Work Ethic and all it implies. Read on and discover why idleness should be part of YOUR life.
Time Travel & Proof that Humans Don’t Change
There are some people who do not have a fear response. In the face of danger, they laugh and run towards it (literally).
How Talking To Your Clients Helps You Beat The Blank Page
Ever had insomnia? Not just a little trouble sleeping, but the twitchy, panicky, staring into the void teetering-on-the-edge of madness insomnia?
Every now and then, it feels like you’re poised on the knife-edge of sleep—so you grab at it, wildly, desperately, only to feel sleep slip away, leaving you grinding your teeth.
To me, that’s what the Blank Page Of Doom feels like sometimes. When I have the seed of an idea I can’t quite hold onto—or too many ideas, boiling across my brain too swift to catch.
29 People, Places, and Things to Inspire You
Feeling uninspired? Well, inspiration comes from within ourselves—but we have to go outwards to find it. This article contains a bunch of stuff that I love—hope you love some of it too!
100 lbs lost – real self found
Whatever you want to achieve, it’s what you do every single day that counts, not the one-off grand gestures.
Representation Matters and So Does Your Story
Representation matters and our stories matter, not only because our stories help other people like us to feel seen and understood, but because they improve people’s wellbeing and literally save lives.
Make the Uncomfortable Comfortable
There are some people who do not have a fear response. In the face of danger, they laugh and run towards it (literally).
The 8 Deadly Sins of Basic Ass Nonfiction Books
People worry a lot about writing a boring-ass book.
And when I say people, I mean me. I worry. About everything, all the time—but specifically, right now, about writing a basic-bitch book.
Check out these 8 mistakes to avoid…
? we need tiny beetle steps not giant leaps
The thing about tiny beetle steps is, eventually they add up to great big leaps.
We get hung up on the great big leaps. We strive for massive improvements, to become an overnight success, and wish for miracles to happen fast.
Turn Off Your Reader
If you’re suffering from a writer’s block, could it be your inner reader? Let’s find out…
Information water-cannon overload
Does going online feel a bit like you’re being water-cannoned with well-intentioned but overwhelming information?
Should You Imitate Your Favourite Writers?
Imitate away—just don’t beat yourself up when you don’t sound like they do. Read this article to find out what to try instead…
? The lowdown on lockdown ?️
6 top tips for working from home.
A ridiculously small pin-head
Our Inner Dickheads hate change. They love the status quo (not the band).
There’s no point trying to silence that voice, either; it won’t go away. It’s a part of you.
How to Choose a Book Coach
The short, sweet, and comprehensive guide to choosing a book coach who understands how to get your Big Book Idea out of your magical brain and onto paper
Harness Your Inner Toddler + Start Asking WHY
I’m not gonna throw a bunch of time-saving, productivity, hustle-butt, “I DID THIS SO YOU CAN TOO” hacks at your face because frankly, the internet has enough of that shit floating around.
How Do You Come Up With All Your Ideas?
Ever look at those snazzy business owners in your inbox and on the internet and wonder how on earth they come up with all their stories, emails, articles, and podcasts? Wonder no more—you can do that too.
? Dead before you even start
Attitude is everything. Everything I do happens inside my head before it happens outside: and that goes for business and life.
That escalated fast…
Well, that escalated fast.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking and mulling over and wondering what to write (and resisting the urge to make terrible jokes because too soon?).
So today I’m going to share what I’m doing while the world goes into lockdown.
Like Wholesome Cocaine for Your Soul
None of us has any control over a global pandemic or other people’s behaviour or thoughts or actions. I don’t think we’ve ever lived through a time of such uncertainty. And yet I was trying to control it anyway. Perhaps you were, too. That’s what humans do; we try to control stuff.
Which is, quite simply, exhausting.
Start Your Book with a Reader Journey
Snakes on a Plane is a terrible film for many reasons, but part of that reason is total lack of reader (or watcher) journey. Don’t be like Snakes on a Plane.
Take it like a writer
Criticism and feedback can feel like eating kiwi fruit with the skin on: uncomfortable, even painful, leading to shortness of breath.
But only for a few minutes. Maximum 7 minutes. Then I have to pull myself together and crack on.
Never has pain felt so exquisite
Yesterday morning, I rigged my shiny new trapeze – the birthday gift my wonderful husband gave me back at the end of March, 4,380 years ago – and hung upside down from my feet.
the 1%-ers
We think that unless we can make giant leaps forward and see enormous and sudden improvements in what we’re doing, we’re not doing anything.
It’s hard to keep going when keeping going is hard (and boring).
Why I Haven’t Written My Book Yet…
Why haven’t I written my book yet?
I have my reasons. Here are 26 of them…
Writing Advice from Neil Gaiman
Every now and then I like to grab a favourite writer of mine (metaphorically speaking I do not assault authors) and share some writing advice I love.
This week: Neil Gaiman!
Recruit friends to help you
Habits are easier to keep when people are cheering you on.
Sometimes your words will be crap
For the past three days, I have sat at my laptop first thing in the morning and cried tears of frustration.
Every word I’ve written has been dragged out of my brain with forceps and no pain relief – and arranging those words on the page has been torture.
Almost everything I’ve written has been total crap by my usual standards.
Choose Rage
Choose rage. Choose a tantrum. Choose a big shouty rant.
Because in a world of “positive vibes only,” scented candles, and a monomaniacal focus on finding the bloody joy in every shitty thing that happens, sheer incandescent rage can be quite the fun ride.
How I stopped drinking alcohol
Since Christmas 2018, I’ve probably had fewer than 20 alcoholic drinking occasions – and when I have had a drink, it’s generally been one small one.
And it hasn’t been a struggle.
On Finding Mudita
Of all the negative emotions, after shame, I think envy takes the biscuit: it seeps into everything we look at and it keeps us stuck.
Writer’s Block Is A Big Hairy LIE
Have you ever been stuck? Staring at the Blank Page of Doom in despair?
Yep, me too.
Have you ever blamed it on “writer’s block”?
Yep, me too.
Here’s the thing, though: there’s no such thing as writer’s block.
It’s a made-up myth, a lie we tell ourselves to get out of doing the work.
“I’m the kind of person who…”
The reason we fail to make the changes we want and achieve the results we desire isn’t willpower or laziness or lack of ability; it’s because what we’re trying to do is at odds with who we believe we really are.
The Messy Middle vs Sexy Hot Takes
In a world of hot-takes and kneejerk reactions, how do we introduce a little nuance? How do we reclaim critical thought and—yes—creativity?
? long train journeys are the best
The thing about tiny beetle steps is, eventually they add up to great big leaps.
We get hung up on the great big leaps. We strive for massive improvements, to become an overnight success, and wish for miracles to happen fast.
Choking the onions
I’ve put off weeding that veg bed for a bunch of reasons, none of them good. And so I’ve wasted more time worrying about the onions than it took me to just do the bloody weeding.
The Two Voices in Your Head
Want to know why we say things to ourselves we’d never say to others – and how we can be a little kinder to ourselves?
Start Writing Your Book Today
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