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.

Want your book to be as good as it can possibly be? These articles are all about writing skills, editing like a pro, and how to write with a little more outrageous flair.
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.
Stop. Breathe. Listen.
Then pick a thing and do it.
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?
If we wanna do a thing, we have to make time for it.
And look: I don’t hold with this idea that we all the same 24 hours in a day.
We all have 24 hours, for sure—unless you’re reading this on Mars or something in which case HI PLEASE CONTACT ME BECAUSE WE NEED TO TALK.
But our 24 hours are not the same. I don’t have children or a third job.
Be grateful for what you can do.
Your body and mind (which are inextricably linked) are incredible. What you can do with them is wondrous.
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?
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.
It’s a magical talisman, the first draft. It allows us to let go of our self-consciousness, let go of expectations, and play. And from it, we can make the thing we want to make.
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.
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…
Our brains are wired that way, to always see the bad – the problem – rather than the good. It used to keep us alive back when we lived in caves.
Writing is a source of great anxiety to a lot of people – including me, sometimes. Just because I’m a writer doesn’t mean I have all my shit together.
If you’re suffering from a writer’s block, could it be your inner reader? Let’s find out…
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.
It’s up to us to persuade the right people that our books are worth investing in.
Nobody else is going to do it for us – and that’s a really cool position to be in because it means we’re in charge of our own destiny. We get to make our own successes (and failures) without relying on (or blaming) others.
One of the best books I’ve read on how to beat resistance and procrastination is The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield. Here’s my review…
Too much of anything is a bad thing – and that goes for writing, too. Gluttony can squash your book. Don’t let it…
Your title is one of the most critical parts of your book. If you write a crap title, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of your book is, most people won’t read it…
“Tell me about yourself”
Four little words guaranteed to strike terror into most people’s hearts, especially if we’re standing in front of a roomful of people.
In today’s video, I ramble on about why writing like you speak is dumb and leads to badly written books.
Are we asking the right questions?
I don’t always ask good questions. I ask obvious ones.
Like, “Why do I always procrastinate?”
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 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).
Ever seen a burlesque show?
Burlesque is all about the tease: fun, dancing, a little bit naughty…
Think of your Table of Contents like a burlesque dancer. Stick with me, I promise I’ll make this metaphor make sense…
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.
Seth Godin calls it making a ruckus. Which I like.
But I call it being a shenanigator.
You are not your business. You are not your art.
Take the criticism. Allow the reaction. Then examine it carefully.
Is there a lesson you can learn and use to improve? Take it.
Whatever you want to achieve, it’s what you do every single day that counts, not the one-off grand gestures.
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.
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.
Attitude is everything. Everything I do happens inside my head before it happens outside: and that goes for business and life.
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?
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.
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
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…
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…
Michael Stipe was right, eh?
Oof. What a few days, eh?
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
There are some people who do not have a fear response. In the face of danger, they laugh and run towards it (literally).
“Aargh! I hate writing my about page!”
Yep, we all do, toots. We all find it tough.
How do you strike that careful balance between “hilarious, kind, and helpful” and “obnoxious douchecanoe”?
Tricky.
Luckily, I have a quick tip for you
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.
Much as it’s tempting to just set fire to the world and start again, that’s probably not practical
Perfectionism keeps us all stuck, and it may well drive us into an early grave.
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.
Back in March 2020, it was like the entire world took a giant swig from the DRINK ME bottle, as we hurtled down the rabbit hole. I.e. the world shrunk. And individually, I shrank. Like many people, I retreated into my head, made a blanket fort, and hid there… and I stopped writing. I had nothing to
Within the haze of end-of-year parties and admist the overindulgence of the festive feasting period glows an ember.
The glimmer of an idea.
The hope that perhaps this year will be different.
Maybe this will be the year we’ll write our books or run that marathon or start that business or go after that big contract.
6 top tips for working from home.
If you’re suffering from a writer’s block, could it be your inner reader? Let’s find out…
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.
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” — Jodi Picoult
Well yes, Jodi, that’s true of course. I 1,000% agree with you.
But it’s easier said than done, amiright?
When I’m sitting there in front of my blank page, head buzzing with static, fighting the urge to clean the bathroom or peel all the skin off my lips, this statement always makes me feel like shit.
So let’s sort it out.
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.
Does going online feel a bit like you’re being water-cannoned with well-intentioned but overwhelming information?
What do you want your new world to be like?
Your life? Your business? Your relationships?
Whether your project is a giant railway infrastructure, a cottage renovation, or writing your book, it will inevitably take way too long and cost much more than you budget. It’s because you suffer from the planning fallacy — with a healthy dose of optimism bias and overconfidence thrown in.
Our brains are wired that way, to always see the bad – the problem – rather than the good. It used to keep us alive back when we lived in caves.
What do you want your new world to be like?
Your life? Your business? Your relationships?
Michael Stipe was right, eh?
Oof. What a few days, eh?
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
Michael Stipe was right, eh?
Oof. What a few days, eh?
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
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.
Right now we could all use a little more joy, and fun, and space to do something just for ourselves, just because we want to.
Not because it will be useful or profitable or productive, necessarily.
But for the sheer joy of it.
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!
I'm on a mission to create 1,000 business owner-authors and help them transform their lives and businesses. Join us: get started with the 29-Day Writing Challenge. Fill out the form below and get writing...