Power Writing

Reading time: About 4 minutes When we started to downsize, I had no idea I’d get a series of writing lessons from the exercise…. My husband and I are far from being hoarders. Friends and visitors often comment on how neat and tidy our house looks. What they don’t see […]

Reading time: About 4 minutes Without a writing routine, it’s probably pretty close to impossible for you to get a substantial amount of writing done… I taught a two-week course on research last month. It turned my writing routine upside down and required me to spend oodles of time responding

Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you ever thought about the world being divided along maker vs manager lines? It’s a useful metaphor — one that gives you tips about your own time management… If I ask you whether you’re a maker or a manager, do you know what I

Reading time: About 4 minutes If you’re delaying writing because you’re waiting for perfect writing conditions, you’re making an enormous mistake…. Are you waiting for perfect writing conditions? A quiet space. No scary projects looming over your shoulders. No need to look after family or friends. No other big demands

Reading time: About 1 minute Today, I’m saying thanks to my readers and asking for a bit of special help (not money!) in return…. This post marks my 935th blog and my 18th year as a blogger. Where the heck did all that time go? If you’re a long-time reader,

Reading time: About 3 minutes It’s sometimes surprising how much we can learn about writing from our animal friends… My husband was in our back yard last week doing some gardening when he spotted a cat-sized, big-eyed mammal. It spotted him, too, and it quickly dived under our deck. “Whoa,”

Reading time: About 3 minutes If you don’t learn how to tell better stories, you’re at risk of losing your clients to the ChatGPT monster… We had 13 people over for a big, celebratory dinner last night — the most I’ve hosted since the start of the pandemic — and

Reading time: About 2 minutes A broken treadmill doesn’t help anyone. But fixing that treadmill can teach you a useful lesson for later in your writing life… My favourite piece of writing equipment is not a special pen or notebook or even keyboard. It’s my treadmill desk. I get 20,000

Reading time: About 3 minutes Some tasks — like writing — can be hard to do. That’s why it’s important for you to start feeling comfortable with discomfort… Does the act of writing ever make you feel uncomfortable? Perhaps it bores you just a little. Maybe it makes you feel

Reading time: About 3 minutes Writing can be difficult work. But you can make it more palatable if you always start with the easy stuff first… An arresting — and amusing — argument rages in the productivity community. It’s all about how we should tackle our work — whether writing