In 1953 a fledgling business called Rocket Chemical Company set out to create a rust-prevention solvent for use in the aerospace industry. It took them 40 attempts to get the formula right. Voila! WD-40, which stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. I find that inspiring! What if they’d given up on number 39? Then I […]
Month: June 2015
For Writers Needing Some Fun, Try the Unschedule
I have a tight deadline, and I’m tired of working. I could also use some fun in my life. Can I have both? Yes! Back to What Works! Last year I tried the “Unschedule,” a technique for breaking through procrastination found in The Now Habit, a book by Neil Fiore. According to my notes in […]
How Fit is Your Writing Life?
Ever have a pig-out weekend with a wake-up call on Monday morning? I did yesterday. After reading a few motivational articles online for getting myself back on track, it struck me that getting fit and getting published have a lot in common. The Writing-Fitness Team The problems that derail our writing goals and our fitness […]
Too Much Housework = Too Little Writing
Summer is upon us, so it’s time to remind the mom/writers out there about something. I recently re-read parts of an old favorite If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland (originally published in 1938). Reading some of her comments, you’d think she was writing in the 21st Century. Chapter Ten has a lengthy title: […]
Motivate Yourself Overnight!
Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins, discusses taking on your characters’ inner lives (their emotions and motivations) in order to write believable story people. If you first get inside them, you become those characters. What if you could use this technique to become the motivated writer you want to be? […]
Writers Running on Adrenaline
What fuel are you running on? Many writers these days are frantically running from place to place, working too many hours, volunteering for too many projects, working nights and weekends hoping for approval. On top of that, in order to write, they are fueled by sugar, caffeine, cigarettes and adrenaline to keep going. Long-Term Damage […]
Success Without Self-Promotion?
Not a week goes by that I don’t get an email asking this question: “I don’t have enough time and energy to do the self-promotion and platform building that is required now. It drains my creativity, sometimes stifling the muse altogether. Is there a way out of this?” Some authors and business leaders are now […]
Shorter Focus = Successful Writing
I read a very surprising study recently on the differences between marathon runners who finished the race and those who didn’t. All the runners were equally fit and trained and healthy. So what was the deciding factor in whether they were hardy enough to finish the 26-mile run? It depended on where they placed their […]