Write a blog people will read logo

How to be a better writer. (Hint: It takes work.)

by Leave a Comment

thAs a writing coach and creator of the Write A Blog People Will Read course, here’s a phrase I hear regularly: I want to be a better writer.

Most of us want the same thing – and those of you who don’t, i.e., those who think your writing is already perfect, are probably kidding yourselves.

Earlier this year I wound up offering advice to someone I encountered someone on a writing website. Specifically, I offered to give feedback on a couple of her articles. She was delighted and sent me several short essays.

Well.

 

[Read more…]

What’s the point of blogging?

by 5 Comments

th(I’ve decided to re-publish articles now and again in honor of what the kids call Throwback Thursday. Enjoy.)

Some days writing feels more “like digging ditches than casting spells,” as author Chuck Wendig puts it. Today is one of those days.

A note I’d scribbled earlier saved me: “It’s amazing how the information that I read seems to come to me when I really need it most.”

That sentence came from a reader e-mail, and I wrote it on a scrap of paper because I knew it would come in handy.

It has.

[Read more…]

Should you hire a writing coach?

by Leave a Comment

th-1A while back freelancer Susan Johnston Taylor was stuck in a rut, feeling “uninspired” and unable to come up with ideas for her regular clients. Hiring a writing coach fired her back up.

Although she bounces questions off fellow freelancers and freelance forums, Taylor will still set up a coaching session now and then.

“Sometimes I find that seeking advice from one person I trust is better than getting a chorus of conflicting opinions, especially when it’s a more personal or complicated issue,” she notes in an article on Contently.

She quoted author and coach Rochelle Melander, who suggested at least two times a writer might want to reach out:

 

[Read more…]

Two essential tools for writers.

by Leave a Comment

th-1Long time no blog! Sorry about that. I’ve been working on a book.

Full disclosure: I’ve also been working on enjoying the Alaska summer, providing some fill-in child care, spending a week at a theater conference, hanging out with my life partner (he and I particularly enjoy the built-from-scraps greenhouse) and my BFF, being a writing coach and helping my daughter promote her book.

Both of us are personal finance writers, so it’s no surprise that both of our books have personal finance underpinnings. Abby’s is called “Frugality For Depressives: Money-Saving Tips For Those Who Find Life A Little Harder,” but it’s not strictly a PF how-to. She writes from painful personal experience about the ways she tried and failed to follow the frugal hacks with which she was raised, and how she (and later her husband) manage their money in the most sustainable ways.

My book also springs from painful experience, but in an odd way: To become a personal finance writer, I had to go broke.*

 

[Read more…]

A writer’s leap of faith.

by 2 Comments

thRecently I attended the 8 x 10 Alaska Playwrights Festival, an annual event that showcases homegrown talent. Writers submit 10-minute plays for blind judging, and the best eight works are presented as an evening of short attention span theater.

The Fairbanks Drama Association reports that the number of entries grows each year. That’s exciting, but what I think is even cooler is the fact that several of this year’s winners had never written plays before. How’s that for getting out of your comfort zone?

Learning to write in a new medium might have been exhilarating, but I expect some terror was involved. Isn’t the roller-coaster ride part of being any kind of writer?

 

[Read more…]

60-second tip: Forget exclamation points!

by Leave a Comment

th-3F. Scott Fitzgerald allegedly said that using exclamation marks is “like laughing at your own jokes.”

Believe him!

It’s pretty simple, really: The exclamation point connotes “a high degree of surprise, incredulity or other strong emotion,” according to the Associated Press Stylebook, which strongly suggests that you “avoid overuse.”

Yes! Please do!

 

[Read more…]

Freelance survival skill: Napping.

by Leave a Comment

thIn my late 40s I went back to school to earn the degree that was interrupted by single motherhood and the need to make a living.

At the same time I was undergoing a drawn-out divorce (after a long-term abusive marriage), managing an apartment building, babysitting and writing three times a week for MSN Money. Tired? Always.

Without naps I probably wouldn’t have made it through, let alone graduated magna cum laude. Kept snoozing even after graduation because I was traveling regularly and taking on freelance gigs in addition to the MSN job.

Turns out I was in good company. According to an article by productivity author and coach Michael Hyatt, the list of famous nappers includes Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison.

Naps feel luxurious, even when you’re taking them because you know you’ll be pulling an all-nighter. Especially when you know you’ll be pulling an all-nighter.

 

[Read more…]

What stories will you tell?

by 2 Comments

thNot that long ago, people without access to publication (newspapers, magazines, books) would never have a chance to be heard. These days, blogging and social media let “lots of different marginalized groups” share their stories, according to Canadian blogger Anne Theriault.

The Toronto-based writer tackles some difficult subjects on her website, The Belle Jar. The toughest one was her first essay on postpartum depression, because she hadn’t done mental-health posts before.

Although worried about the potential reaction, she found – and continues to find – that posts about mental health issues get tremendous positive feedback.

“Allowing myself to be vulnerable creates a safe space for other people to be vulnerable,” Theriault said in an interview on WordPress Discover.

Think about that for a minute. About how putting yourself out there – being real, being honest – can make a difference in someone else’s life.

 

[Read more…]

8 things to do before blogging.

by Leave a Comment

th-1

Recently I invited my newsletter subscribers to contact me with their blogging questions, issues or stumbling blocks. (I’d like to extend the same offer to blog readers, but more on that a little later.) First, I’d like to share one of the reader’s questions.

It sounded something like this:

“How much do you need to have pre-written before you start up a blog? I feel like I need a lot of them done in advance.”

The subscriber wants to buy the blogging course* and also hire Grayson Bell to set up a WordPress site for free.** However, she didn’t want to do either one until she felt more ready.

Naturally I want more people to sign up for the course. But I didn’t push her to get started now-now-now. Here’s why.

 

[Read more…]

60-second tip: The phantom deadline.

by Leave a Comment

thToo tired or uninspired to start writing? Maybe a little pressure will do the trick. I call it “the phantom deadline.” You can do this in a couple of different ways.

1. Make believe that you have an editor. Specifically, pretend that he’s an editor screaming for copy. Choose a topic, sit down and start writing. You should get into the flow within a few paragraphs and be able to create something readable.

And if you don’t? You’ve got something to edit later on. Point is, you’ve got something.

 

[Read more…]