​If you've ever needed the motivation to get your life down on paper then look no further. I'd like to share 6 great reasons why writing your life story might be the best thing you’ll ever do.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about it, or maybe your children or grandchildren are nagging you to do it.

Whatever the case, you now have 6 more than compelling reasons that will make you want to put pen to paper, or hand to keyboard, straight away.

1. Leave A Legacy For Your Family

This is often the reason that resonates most with older people.

Writing the story of your life will ensure that you’re not just a name on a family tree. Think of it as achieving your own little piece of immortality.

The generations that follow you will know and understand who you were, what shaped and influenced your life, and what life was like in your era.

It’s a fundamental human need to know our past, how it links to the present and where we fit in.

By writing your life story you’ll be helping your descendants to understand where they come from and to know themselves better.

2. You Gain A Sense Of Purpose

Telling your story can give you a goal to aim for - a reason to get up in the morning.

You will feel that you are making a contribution to your family and society, that you are part of something that extends beyond yourself.

Older people in particular sometimes feel aimless, and that their life is not of much value or worth to the rest of the world.

Writing your life story is the ideal remedy!

But what if writing your whole life story is too much?

Maybe you could start with a memoir, which covers a particular time or event in your life.

3. Ignite Your Creativity

Writing your life story gives you a chance to be creative.

Transforming your life into words is one of the most creative pursuits you can engage in, and brings a terrific sense of achievement.

You don’t have to be a great writer - even if you’ve written nothing more complicated than a shopping list since you left school, don’t worry.

Just start and learn along the way.

You may surprise yourself, especially if you’ve been an avid reader all your life.

People who read a lot usually have some sort of ability when it comes to putting words on the page, because they’ve subconsciously picked it up from the books they’ve read.

It can be easier if you have a mentor to guide you.

They can help with such things as planning and structuring the book, the writing process and editing, or all three.

Purpose Publishing offers a coaching service for those who are keen to write their own life stories and I offer an obligation free discussion about the best way to approach your book.

If you want your life story written but don’t want to do it yourself, we offer ghostwriting services too.

With this service, our team will write the book for you the way you want, but you are credited as the author.

4. A Boost to Your Health

Writing your life story uses a lot of your mental resources.

Digging deep into your memories, creating the structure of the book and the process of writing it all help to keep your brain active, especially important as you get older.

And being involved in something that you find fulfilling contributes to your overall physical and mental well-being.

5. Cultivate a Connection

Storytelling is one of our most basic forms of communication and we are hardwired to respond to stories.

Through telling your story, you find parts of yourself that are mirrored in others, and vice versa.

As Michelle Obama said, ‘When we share our stories, we are reminded of the humanity in each other.

And when we take the time to understand each other’s stories, we become more forgiving, more empathetic, and more inclusive.’

When others read your life story and make comments such as, ‘I can relate to that,’ or ‘That’s exactly how I felt when that happened to me,’ it gives you a feeling of connection to that person.

Sometimes you think you’re the only person to have reacted in a certain way to an event, or to have had particular thoughts and feelings.

To discover that others have had similar experiences is gratifying - often a relief - and helps you to appreciate being part of humanity as a whole.

6. Understand You, Even Better

Socrates said, ’The unexamined life is not worth living.’

Often it is not until you put your stories down on paper and evaluate the highlights, milestones, struggles and disappointments, that you can put things in perspective and see the big picture.

While we’re in philosopher mode, Danish philosopher Kierkegaard said, ‘Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.’

Writing your story enables you to acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses, lessons you’ve learned and how you’ve overcome obstacles.

You can see patterns in your actions and behaviors which perhaps you hadn’t noticed before.

You'll see how everything that has happened in your life, good and bad, has led you to where you are today.

This kind of clarity and insight can only be achieved from reviewing your past can also result in changing your future.

You may decide to go on a long-desired trip, write that novel or take those art classes, visit the friend you haven’t seen in 20 years.

The feeling of accomplishment in getting your life story into print is indescribable.

It's an achievement that you can be reminded of every time you look at your bookshelf. If you need help, schedule a call with us now. We are here to help.

To Your Success,

MG

There can be benefits to using a pen name, but I believe there are many more downsides to using a pseudonym than upsides.

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it here or if anyone ever asked. But I thought I’d take a little time to discuss a few notes on using pseudonyms as authors. I read about Nora Roberts, the author of more than 150 romance novels, when asked why she writes romantic suspense novels under a pseudonym. Her answer: “It’s marketing.”

She says that writing quickly makes it difficult for her publisher to publish all of her work with an appropriate amount of time between each release, so she writes works which are “edgier” than her romance novels under the pseudonym J. D. Robb. She says, “Putting it under a pseudonym helps brand it for the reader.” Children’s writers often separate their real names or their “other” writing names from their children’s work to keep work intended for children untainted.

All these reasons are absolutely valid, and there are many more. But I believe there are many more downsides to using a pseudonym than

Now, this is just my take on it and of course, you’ll personally have to weigh the pros and cons for your title and your career, but keep in mind that Ms. Roberts has a powerhouse publisher and marketing department to help her navigate the difficulties inherent in using a pseudonym.

If you are considering using a pen name, here’s 6 things you should know:

1. It is difficult to keep a pen name secret. Everyone knows who Kristie Leigh Maguire is, for example, but most know that it is a pen name. Once they know, the author has lost the privacy value of using a pseudonym.
2. If people didn’t already know that “Robb” was Nora Roberts’ pen name, most of them do now since Time magazine let the cat out of the bag in a featured interview. The magazine also revealed (big time) that Nora Roberts is also a pen name! Suddenly, I don’t feel the same affinity for her as a person or an author. I don’t even know her name. In one fell swoop her pen name lost some of its branding value.
3. It is very hard to promote a book in person when you use a pen name, especially if you choose an opposite-sex pen name. In fact, promotion of all kinds can become touchy. You may lose authenticity. That loss must be balanced against whatever reason you are using to convince yourself it’s a good idea.
4. Consider this, how hard it is to be a good liar? It requires having an amazing memory and as well as a deceptive nature. Most authors struggle enough learning to nurture the marketing, publicity, TV, radio, and speaking skills they had no idea they’d ever need when they started writing. Trying to remember all the little white lies (or big whoppers) you may find yourself telling may not be worth the effort. I mean, Nora Roberts finally gave up on the biggest fib of all: that she uses pen names. In the Time interview, she discarded pretense and became herself.
5. Then there’s the technical, time-consuming – and potentially expensive – mire of branding yourself over and over again for every pen name you have. Consider everywhere you publish your brand- websites, blog posts, email accounts, and social media exploits. And even worse, think how much less effective those efforts will be because they are diluted since you only have so much time to devote to branding each of those names. If you think you will never have to do that, that you never expect to change genres or run into a marketing misstep that forces you to return to your real name, you may be mistaken. Many multi-genre authors didn’t expect to do that when they wrote their first book. And, like the kid getting his driver’s license at sixteen, most of us don’t expect to have marketing accidents.
6. Using a pen name isn’t necessarily an effective barrier against lawsuits. But do ask your attorney.

Just a little food for thought. Of course, at the end of the day your book your name. Whether you choose your birth name or a name you birth, you’ll still have the responsibility of doing everything you can to market, promote and sell your book.
 
To your Success,
MG

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People are highly visual creatures, and this holds true when we are reading. We don’t see the images in the book, we form them in our minds. Pack in brilliant verbal imagery and your readers will enjoy and remember your book.

Drawing powerful verbal imagery is a skill that defines natural-born writers, but it can also be learned. Here are five things to think about with respect to using the power of the pen to draw images.

1. Be aware of visual imagery
The first step is heightening your awareness of verbal imagery and how it works. When you read a new book, or write, take note.

We think of words as words – black ink on a white page. But they are more: they paint colorful pictures from the action, people, and settings of a story world. Check it out for yourself. Take a paragraph from any book you are reading and do an image “density test.” Count all the images that form in your mind as you read along. Is it a large and diverse number?

It depends on what you are reading, but in many books, it’ll be each sentence, or even each phrase — e.g. “Silent, he nodded and looked out the window at the windmill by the still lake.” That sentence evokes four images – a man nodding, a window, a windmill, and a lake scene.

2. Actively write in images
Many authors say they see events unfold in their own minds and then they write them down. This is a great way to get visual writing. You can heighten this by purposefully engineering memorable images into your work.

Whether or not you remember the details of any of the Godzilla movies, you know what Godzilla looks like. Often, it’s a useful technique to render an abstract idea into symbolic imagery to give it punch or make it easily understood and memorable. The scar on Harry Potter’s forehead is a brilliant example. It represents his past, his link with Voldemort, and his fate. Harry just has to show it or touch it in pain for readers to know something big is about to happen.

3. Keep the quality of your visual imagery in mind when you edit
If you can’t form an image about what is being described, likelihood is you probably don’t know exactly what is going on. So how would a reader know?

Have you ever tried editing expressly for visual content? Doing so can bring surprising rewards. You might find new ways to express abstract ideas. If you read a phrase or sentence and fail to clock an image, you might find that it wasn’t fully imagined. Editing to improve visual interest is often about making abstract things more concrete. This is ubiquitously thought of as a good thing in terms of writing advice. Why say “his car got keyed,” when you can say “his usually pristine black Porsche 911 had an ugly, uneven scar that stretched from the driver’s side mirror to the tail light.” The second one is not only a stronger image, you wince harder. Great writing is about giving a reader enough detail to let them see the world you are presenting – without overdoing it. At best, they need some wiggle room to see your story world as they want to.

4. Understand why key types of information work better as a picture
Some things just work better visually. This is because they depend on having all the knowledge at once, on some form of complex structure in space or time, or the linkages between entities. Such information clusters are hard to render in words – no matter how many you use or how artfully you arrange them on the page.

Think about a map or a family tree. These are common images printed in books – words just can’t do them justice – or fit into equal space. If you do need to describe difficult images, it’s about getting out the most important information first – the structure and the types of connection. Then come the relevant details, which a reader can now map onto a visual framework they are holding in their head.

5. Use imagery to your best advantage
We all know the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The trick of images is that they present all their information simultaneously. You might want to linger over The Mona Lisa to take in her finer details and soak in the mood, but it’s all there as you lay eyes on her.

Now imagine the many words it would take to describe The Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile to give detail equivalent to seeing her in person. It’s likely not possible, no matter how meticulously you picked your words, how artfully you ordered them, or how many you allowed yourself.

So, flip this and use the power of visual imagery to your advantage. Humans have a huge range of cultural images. Save 1,000 words every time you use an apt image. Purposefully pack your writing with attention-grabbing visuals and your writing will be memorable. There won’t be any incomplete ideas or passages full of filler. It will be more fully realized and accessible to the reader.
 
To Your Success,

MG
 
 

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​For business leaders, writers, and everyone in between, allowing yourself to be human, and vulnerable, goes a long way toward establishing trust. That doesn’t make it easy.

You’ve been a business professional for quite a while now and have learned a lot in your time as a leader in various organizations. Your years of experience and education and your expertise and innovative ideas are what other impassioned leaders need to attain the success you’ve achieved. But do the people you serve know who you really are? They know you are a leader, but do they realize you’re human and no different from them when the veil is pulled back? Have you ever considered that the only way to establish a genuine connection with others is to be vulnerable?

Wearing my nonfiction book coach hat, I speak from experience. It wasn’t until I got real about my true self and who I really am that I began to attract a sustained influx of clients. Because I chose to be vulnerable, it encourages my clients to do the same and its one reason they want to work with me. It isn’t easy, but I propose it could be necessary to the success of your business — and your book.
 
As Brené Brown teaches in her TEDx talk (See the full TedX talk here), “The Power Of Vulnerability,” the gateway to intimacy is via being vulnerable about your imperfections. If you try to sugar coat your story, you miss out on the sense of connection with another human being that you can only attain when you’re letting someone see your warts and your big ugly tail. Every time you expose those imperfections — even because of those imperfections — you gain trust (or as Brown calls it, you “put marbles in the jar”). Over time, the intimacy you feel with other people depends on how many marbles are in your jar.
 
What business leader doesn’t want to establish trust amongst her staff and the customers her business serves? When trust is established with your subordinates and counterparts, success in all of your departments is guaranteed. People want to work with and for someone they trust and can relate to. The beauty of vulnerability is its ability to establish a connection with people from all different walks of life. People can connect with someone who knows how to get real.

David K. Williams, author of The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, describes vulnerability in business in this Forbes magazine article (see the full article here): “Vulnerability is a natural condition of the work that we do — it isn’t a choice but a consequence. To declare oneself ‘not vulnerable’ would be inauthentic and would leave a leader living in a perpetual state of denial and stress. So it’s better and more courageous for every leader to acknowledge the fact that vulnerability is there.”

As a business leader, you don’t need added stress to your life. Let go of your pride and expose your vulnerability.

Showcase your vulnerability through writing

You know deep down that you are a true leader. Writing a book not only helps to establish yourself as an expert, but it’s another way to expose your vulnerable side. Business leaders write books for a number of reasons:

• They have something to share that will benefit others.
• They want to leave a legacy that will impact the future.
• They see others struggle and have learned how to overcome obstacles.
• They want to showcase their businesses and their paths to success.
• They want to expose themselves as “real people” to their audiences.

 
In business and in life, trust is a must.
 
To Your Success,
MG

February being the month of love, I thought I’d share with you about the genre of love in books. You can write a love story outside the romance genre. Romance is a staple of all types of literature. So when is it a “romance” and when is it just a book with a love story? Usually, it’s obvious.

Romance is in the air. So much so, the romance genre dominates the book industry. Following a big bang in the 1980s, romance publishers and sub-genres exploded. Today, love stories enjoy the lion’s share of the market: this infographic shows a full 40% of Amazon’s eBook sales are in the romance genre.

If you thrive on tales of love, writing them can bring big rewards. As an author, you call the shots. Conjure the heroine and her hero. Crush their love with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Mold the perfect HEA, or “Happily Ever After.” You might also draw a paycheck.

For love affair connoisseurs, you’ll know the style of romance book you like to read. Maybe you see a gap in the market and you’d like to try to fill it by bringing a new voice to the fray.

Maybe you’ve watched the documentary Love Between the Covers. The makers of this film rounded up romance authors and devotees to discuss their close-knit community and found that many of the best romance writers joined “the movement” to put stories they wanted to read on the shelf for the first time. Someone had to write the first paranormal romance.

Romancers are quick to point out that this genre foots the bills in the fiction industry. To keep up with demand, leading romance authors leapfrogged from penning one book every two years to producing two to three titles a year. The industry is innovative: embracing eBooks early on, for example, to help sate the voracious appetites of audiences.

Perhaps you’ve been to a Romance Writers of America convention, or a similar event. These are the meet-and-greets of the industry, and you can pick up tips on everything – from editing to cinching up corsets.
 
Given the regularized patterns of commercial romance novels, you’ll want to figure out where you fit in. Romance has clear and demanding genre expectations. Readers reward creativity, but key rules are etched in stone. You must concoct a great hero and heroine, confound them with obstacles, and make sure love conquers all. No deviations allowed. You must have an HEA.
 
In the end, romance is still the same old “boy-meets-girl” story. Actually, it’s better described as “girl-meets-boy” as the majority of romance book writers and readers are female. And it’s girl-meets-boy with a big twist: the romance genre is defined by hindrances. Sacrifice – personal, financial, professional, or otherwise – is essential, and don’t think to let it fall on the shoulders of the woman alone. Partners must equally bear the cost of overcoming.

While not overly realistic, seemingly impossible challenges make for compelling fiction. It’s like the whodunit puzzle in a murder mystery. How can you fall in love with the man who bought your family farm and turned it into a shopping mall? How do you fall in love with the son of your family’s sworn enemy – or a soldier from the enemy army? Seeing the road love travels to conquer all is why they’ll pay the price of admission. Everyone knows the ending, which makes the journey the thing that really matters.

The battle for love can be played out in any background: past, present, or future; reality-based or fantasy. You can have any type of couple from any walk of life, just make sure you fit into a sub-genre or risk trying to become the exception and create your own.

You’ll want to check the requirements for any publishers you are interested in approaching. For example, by convention, romances are written in the third person, past tense.

Ask the question, Is it a love story?

Of course, you can still write a love story outside the romance genre. Romance is a staple of all types of literature. So when is it a “romance” and when is it just a book with a love story? Usually, it’s obvious.

Twilight is an epic love story but not a romance. Why? Bella and Edward face the obstacle of his past: he’s a 117-year-old vampire who finds her smell intoxicating. They overcome this relatively quickly, and there is so much more to the story, along with werewolves and marauding vampires, for it to count as “only” romance. This blockbuster is a fantasy with a very memorable love story inside it.

Fifty Shades of Grey is equally focused on a couple but exceeds the boundaries of “romance” because it strays too far from the formula. It puts Christian and Anastasia together at the get-go.

It is also a deal-breaker to kill off the hero – or the heroine. With death, you’re back to love story. The need for an HEA is inscrutable.

So, given that you know the story you’re panting to tell, get on with it: Fill the world with love.

Looking at the data, we see 40% of Amazon’s eBook market share belongs to romances, and the genre grosses a whopping $1.14 billion a year. A quarter of bestsellers are romances, and romance novels are the type of book most likely to be read to completion.

We know the length of your book should be 375 pages. On average, each sentence will contain 9.3 words. In 1811, when Jane Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility, the average was 23.7, but times have changed.

For profession, lawyers and detectives rank top for protagonists. So, our couple can be a lawyer-detective duo. The numbers dictate the protagonist be female and America the setting.

But, what if you are a thriller writer? Then you should write a thriller, of course. Just know you’ll potentially meet the tastes of a smaller section of the reading populace. Unless you write a romance thriller that crosses over and grabs romance readers as well…

But of course, this is all academic, and mostly just for fun. In the end, the answer is to write what you are best suited to write, bearing in mind the facts about what this might mean for sales and the size of your readership. The world of traditional publishing is propped up by a huge infrastructure built over decades: going “insider,” when it works in your favor, means traveling on a freeway. Landing on a niche, however small, might mean less competition and a rabid readership.

Though you’ll have difficulty finding a more rabid fan base than in the romance genre. Those folks love a good love story.

To Your Success,

​MG

Eating healthier, working out, making more time for friends… these are, even for us indie writers, common New Year’s resolutions. Which is to say, the resolutions that will soon go by the wayside.

But for writers, there’s one resolution of the utmost importance to us: finally finishing and publishing your book. This year — with the right preparation and planning — you can follow through on this goal.

I place emphasis here on “finishing and publishing” because if you’re just now typing “Chapter One,” it’s going to be hard for you to both finish and publish that book before the year’s over.

So, let’s assume you’ve already put in a lot of work — say, you’re halfway to your target length of 60,000 words. If you’ve made it that far, you can and will publish your book in 2019… IF you follow this checklist.

June: Finish and edit your first draft

The first step here is to finish writing your book. This will likely require some sacrifice. Cancel that Netflix subscription. Put a lock on your home office. Stay loyal to a writing schedule in which you write and make progress every single day.

Within a few months, you should be done with your first draft. But, that doesn’t mean you’re done writing. Next comes the rewriting. This is when you kill your darlings and shave down the story and the prose so only that which is essential and moves the story forward remains.

With focused effort, you can have this done in the next few months. The goal is to have a tight version of your manuscript which can serve as the foundation for what comes next.

July: Hand your manuscript to a professional editor

Are you done after you’ve finished your self-edit? Nope. Next, you should find a professional editor to edit your manuscript. Yes, this can be expensive. But it’s necessary and worth it to invest in a professional to take a second or third look at your every sentence, word, and syllable. At Purpose Publishing, my team and I tell all our writers the same thing: edit or regret it.

That’s one reason why we offer all our writers editing services. But keep in mind, a professional editor will need 2–3 weeks to do a thorough job, so make sure you’ve found an editor closer to the beginning of the month than later.

August: Editing is complete

Your next step is to read the edited manuscript to make sure you agree with the changes your editor has made. This is important, so take your time. Some authors accept all the changes and rush through this process blindly. Don’t do that! This is your book, and you get the final say on how it reads.

September: Prepare for publication

By September, you should have an edited manuscript ready to go. Next, you’ll need to take steps to make your book look and feel professional.

The best way to do that, outside of partnering with a traditional publisher — which for most people doesn’t make monetary or logical sense and isn’t really feasible to begin with — is to partner with a full-service self-publishing company (I recommend Purpose Publishing!). Your next steps include:

Cover design. The cover of your book is of the utmost importance. It will be the first thing new readers see when they come across your book. It must be both arresting and professional. It pays, then, to hire a professional cover designer. Your sister-in-law who knows a bit of graphic design won’t cut it. You want your book to look like the real deal.

Promotion plan. Next, you’ll need to start thinking about how you’re going to inform the world about the existence of your book. Savvy authors know that such promotion must start early — long before your book enters the marketplace. Will you hire a publicist? Solicit book reviews? Try social media ads? September is the month to make all these strategy decisions so when it comes time to implement them, you know exactly what to do.

Publishing plan. This is also the time to decide how, exactly, you’re going to deliver your book to the world. Are you going to use Print-On-Demand services? Will you create eBooks? There are many distribution options for eBooks, including Amazon. Another option is to partner with aggregators (Purpose Publishing provides such services) who can handle distribution for you.

October: Pre-sale

Once you hit October, it’s time to put things into motion. The first step? Pre-sale.

If you’re distributing your book online, that means you need to set up a pre-sale period for your book with the various online marketplaces and retail stores you’re utilizing. This is, arguably, the most important part of your book launch.

Mid-November: Time to hit the marketplace!

If you’ve followed all the steps above, your book should be available for pre-sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc. in time for the holiday and the end of the year.

If all this sounds like a lot of work — you’re right. It is. To get there will require discipline, patience, and grit. Here are some general rules to follow to help keep you on track.

Plan for good and bad days. You can expect to have some good days — when creativity flows and the words spill out without effort — and bad days. Life is full of distractions, after all. The important thing is to plan accordingly so you can get even a little bit of work done every day.

Turn off the TV. Television (and YouTube) is the biggest book killer known to man. So turn it off. There’ll be plenty of time for binge-watching this fall after the hard work is done.

Ask for help. Turn to your friends and family and tell them you’re living out the dream of writing your book. Ask for their forgiveness — and space — while you complete this mission.

Deadlines aren’t everything. Don’t beat yourself up if your manuscript isn’t done by June. A rushed book is never a good book. Publishing a book of quality takes time, just commit to the process and work until you’re done.

I look forward to reading your book this time next year!

To Your Success,

​MG

Here are a dozen ways to come up with Book Ideas From Your Experiences

Coming up with the right book idea can be a serious challenge regardless of how experienced you are as a writer.

Whether you’re a brand new writer or a seasoned author ready for a new writing project, it can be incredibly difficult to find the inspiration you need, in order to commit to an endeavor as arduous as writing a book. I’m a firm believer that the best book ideas must come from within.

However, the ways in which you find and cultivate the story ideas that have the potential to turn into a book idea (or best seller) you’re passionate about writing, are plentiful.

As a writer myself, I’ve gone through a lot of creative ups and downs. For this exhaustive list of potential book ideas, I’m pulling straight from my personal list of ways to find inspiration for my own writing process, when I’m lacking motivation.

Over the years, this list has grown with ideas and inspiration I’ve gleaned from a handful of my favorite experimental storytellers like Tim Ferriss, Dan Carlin, Alex Blumberg and others who’ve created some of my favorite dynamic podcasts.

These techniques to finding inspiration as a writer, come from pushing myself outside of my comfort zone with trying new experiences, conducting massive amounts of research on topics I’m interested in, running massive lifestyle experiments, taking a deeper dive into my thoughts and dreams, and so much more. Let’s dive in.

Here are my a dozen ways to come up with the best book ideas that’ll help you hit the ground running as a new writer.

1. Write About What Bothers You Off Most.

I could write endlessly about the mistakes entrepreneurs tend to make with their first businesses. It doesn’t quite piss me off, but I care so much about this topic and want to help others avoid the most painful mistakes I’ve made myself, that it fuels my ability to write ad nauseam on the complexities of how to start a business. What gets you most heated?

Take that topic and write about it without any creative restraints whatsoever. Let the words meet the page, don’t judge your ideas, and then structure the content later. This approach has fueled many of my best blog posts that could easily turn into book ideas in the future.

2. Do Something Remarkable, Then Write About It.

Imagine the story you could tell if you made a trip like Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman did on their 20,000 mile bike crossing 12 counties and 19 time zones in 2004. Of course, these were celebrities taking time off to raise money for charity. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably not in a position to travel unpaid for 115 days. However, there are still many smaller-scale remarkable endeavors that you could do, that’d be worth writing about.

3. Start a Blog and Write Chapters One Post at a Time.

This works particularly well for niche topics. Gain a loyal following writing a series of blog posts on something you’re interested in. Once you have built up a quality library of posts, you can repackage them into a book.

4. Create a Podcast and Write a Book Based on What You’ve Learned from Guests.

Did you know that one in four Americans ages 12-54 listened to a podcast last month? In fact, according to Jay Baer of Convince and Convert with an assist from Edison Research, the same number of Americans listen to podcasts each month, as use Twitter. One of the most popular podcast formats is to invite an interesting guest onto your show and interview them for your audience. Entrepreneur and CreativeLive instructor, Lewis Howestook this exact approach when he wrote his New York Times best-selling book, The School of Greatness, which shares everything he’s learned from interviewing hundreds of the world’s top creatives.

5. Write a Book and Publish One Chapter at a Time with Amazon Kindle Singles.

If the thought of writing a full-length novel is too intimidating, then one very real option is to break your book into smaller chunks that you publish one at a time. You would be in good company if you did, Charles Dickens wrote The Pickwick Papers, his very first novel, as a series of short stories in the 19th century. With easy-to-use blogging platforms, the Internet now makes this a very easy task. As an added benefit beyond publishing all of the stories at once, you’ll have the opportunity to adjust your writing style for the later chapters in response to feedback you get early on.

6. Ask Your Friends What They Like Reading Most, Write Something for Them.

Your friends are already a captive audience. Ask them what they like reading about, chances are there are more people out there who have similar tastes. Write your book imagining that your friends are your target readers. Of course, your friends are unlikely to be fierce critics if the first draft of your book isn’t up to snuff, so make sure you elicit honest (sometimes brutal) feedback on the first versions of your book, in order to avoid them just telling you what they think you want to hear.

7. Write About What Makes You Laugh Hardest.

This could easily tie in with the activity above, but I’ve found that it’s often more fun to expand upon just one instance when you laughed hysterically in the past. To me, laughter is a sign of a truly great story, and it’s usually highly contagious. Of course, you might be embarrassed about what makes you laugh most, and it may not be politically correct. However, the more outlandish or embarrassing the story, the more likely you are to attract an engaged audience for your book idea.

8. Write About the Most Upsetting Experience You’ve Ever Had.

One of the stranger quirks of the human state I’ve come to observe, is that we’re drawn in to read, watch and consume traumatic stories that highlight the difficulties others have triumphed over in life. While you may struggle to tell the world about your most upsetting experiences, it’s likely that people would benefit tremendously from hearing how you’ve gone through unfortunate circumstances or failures, and what you’ve learned on the other side.

9. Write About the Person who’s Had the Most Impact on Your Life.

Have you had a mentor that’s left a lasting impression in your personal life or within your career? Maybe it was your best school teacher, youth leader, business advisor, or simply an older friend or family member. Think about how they’ve impacted your life, pull out specific lessons they imprinted on you and dedicate the book to them as the ultimate thank you. Gratitude is contagious, and this format makes for an incredibly empowering book idea.

10. Take Inspiration From Your Favorite Songs and Musicians.

You could choose to write about your favorite musician from a fan’s perspective. Perhaps you’ve been to one their concerts and could write about the experience. If you have a good music collection, perhaps you could choose to write about the songs they have released, possibly looking at the messages behind them. Alternatively, you could examine some song lyrics, and see if these can inspire you to tell a tale. Here’s an example: a few years ago we took a girls trip to Vegas for my sister’s 40th birthday and went to the Michael Jackson show. After the show, I tasked each lady (there were four of us) to write a short story using the title to one of Michael Jackson’s hits and I’d publish it in a collective book about what Michael Jackson songs meant to each of us in our life. Uncovering a correlation between positive social changes in that time period and the positive music that rose in popularity would undoubtedly stir up a readership. Needless to say, we didn’t do it but it was still a good idea and one you could use when thinking about writing your book.

11. Write About Your Career Experience Within Your Industry.

Most of us have built up a wealth of life experiences. Many books have been written by people telling tales from within the industry in which they work. Have you been working in a job long enough to build up a series of anecdotes that might interest or amuse potential readers? How about teaching them something that’ll accelerate their path to becoming an expert within your space? I’ve done exactly this by chronicling my own personal journey of becoming a subject matter expert within the content marketing world, and have written a series of posts about how to start a freelance business, that have attracted a large readership.

12. Write About the Biggest Problem Facing Your Industry (and Potential Solutions).

Discuss any major problems or issues that you can identify within your industry and thoughtfully propose new solutions. If you’ve tested these solutions yourself, even better! This will be particularly useful if you can come up with practical and cost-effective solutions to the challenges other businesses in your space are facing, and will help you position yourself as an expert, one of the major reasons people decide to write a book in the first place.
 
Try at least one,
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MG

THE REAL REASON PEOPLE DON’T WRITE THE BOOK INSIDE OF THEM

I’ve had people tell me they wrote a book in less than 24 hours, although of course I wouldn’t recommend that. I am also aware of a realistic approach to balancing the time it takes, but Carl Boyd worked with me and finished his book within 60 days.

And then, I’d say factoring in trying to schedule in writing time if you have a full-time job or family to take care of.

I could give you examples that show, no matter how you do it, you DO have time to write a book. Sometime between now and 365 days from now.

The reason you haven’t written a book, clearly has nothing to do with time. There is all the time in the world to write this book.

So what’s the real reason?

You are afraid to write the book.

WRITING A BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING
It’s true, writing a novel is scary. And the reason you are experiencing writer’s block or writing avoidance is because YOU ARE AFRAID TO WRITE THE BOOK.

Fear is a very strong motivator. It also is very good at wearing disguises.

You might read this and shake your head and say, no, no, I’m not afraid to write the book. It’s just I have to take care of my family/walk the dog/go to work/pay the bills/insert-any-reason-or-excuse-here.

The subject of fear is perhaps not the book itself, but you DO have fear in some other place.

Fear most often disguises itself as guilt. If you take 3 hours a week to write the book instead of spending time with the family, you might feel guilty.

The fear in that case is fearing that you aren’t a good spouse/parent/child/sibling/friend.

Maybe you are afraid that no one will read the book when you finish it. Maybe you’re like me and are actually afraid people will read the book once it’s done. After all, we can’t have critics if we don’t have an audience.

If you aren’t writing, but you want to be, it’s a good idea to think about your fears. We’ve just proven there IS time to write that book – and you can do it, once it becomes something you are not afraid to prioritize.

Writing a book also does not have to be any sort of crazy all-for-nothing-all-at-once dash. Balance is key, and as we all know from reading Aesop fables, slow and steady wins the race.

Don’t be scared, write!

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MG
 

6. WRITE FIRST, EDIT LATER
 
One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is to edit while writing. Don’t worry about making your first draft perfect – this can be done in the revision stage AFTER the first draft is complete.
Try to avoid reading what you just wrote and just keep moving forward. You can always edit sentences and cut out scenes or add scenes later.


7. WRITE FAST

If you’ve set a deadline, writing fast will help you reach your goals. It also helps you stop second-guessing your work while you are in the process of writing.

Write from a stream of consciousness where you just write whatever comes to mind about your story. Don’t worry so much about it making sense. The important thing is to get words down.


8. CONNECT WITH OTHERS

Writing can be lonely. Joining a writing group can give you a lot of support! Your group can be the place to ask questions, stay accountable, and share tips and resources with others to keep you motivated and encouraged.


9. TAKE CREATIVE BREAKS

Writing is a creative process and sitting in one spot all the time staring at a screen does not do much for exercising the creative muscles.

Try drawing, painting, sketching or go for a walk or take your notebook to a coffee shop or park. Getting out and doing something will help you greatly in re-energizing you to keep writing.

10. DON’T GIVE UP!

You’ll feel like quitting many, many times. But persistence and diligence is key in finishing. Stick to your deadline and writing goals and keep at it. You CAN do it!

Now get going.

To Your Success,
​
MG

We know writing a novel can seem like a daunting task at first. Just starting can seem intimidating!

​Fortunately, there are many ways you can simplify writing a novel to make it easier. This list of 10 novel writing tips will help you stay focused, motivated, and organized throughout the writing process.


1. CHOOSE YOUR DEADLINE AND WRITING GOAL
When there’s no deadline or goal to finish, it can be very hard to complete your project.

This is why this is the #1 rule on the list: Set a measurable deadline and writing goal.

Most novels are between 50,000 and 100,000 words. Because it’s easier to add words than cut them out, it’s often better to set your word count goal lower than 75,000 words for your first draft.

To determine the best writing goals and deadline for you, think about how many words you can write in a day. I can generally easily write between 2,500 and 4,000 words a day, so setting a goal of 75,000 words in 30 days is reasonable for me.

A deadline will push you to your limits and write even when you’re not motivated to write.


2. PREPARE BEFORE YOU WRITE
While some writers just sit down at the keyboard to write with no plan or idea, it can be difficult to keep a story going or you may hit writer’s block. By preparing a basic synopsis, mind map, or outline for your ideas, you’ll have something to reference to anytime you come across a roadblock while writing.

There’s many different ways to prepare for writing a novel.

Here’s two examples for ways you can prepare:

• Write a 1-2 page synopsis of the novel
• Create an outline for your novel
  
  

A little prep work can go a long way in helping you stay focused and on task while writing. Having all your research and ideas in one place can also be very beneficial for keeping thoughts and ideas organized.


3. KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS

The better you know your characters, the easier the writing will unfold. Get to know your characters as well as you would know a close friend.

You don’t have to write every little detail about your character in the story – but the more you know about your character the more you will be able to imagine new scenes and develop the story.

Need help creating strong characters? See our list of Character Development Questions and How to Develop Strong Characters in Your Novel.


4. USE THE RIGHT TOOLS WHILE WRITING YOUR NOVEL
 
If you’re using Microsoft Office or Open Office to write your novel, you’re likely going to get frustrated during the process. While these programs are great for some writing projects, most professional writers use software specifically made for writers.

There are a lot of great programs and tools that can help you easily write your book. The key is to make sure that whatever you use is productive, reliable, and efficient.

Beyond just software and hardware, there are a lot of other important things – like being comfortable while you work! Never underestimate the importance of a good Ergonomic Office Chair!


5. SCHEDULE TIME TO WRITE – AND ACTUALLY WRITE!
There will never be a perfect time to write. Waiting for when you have more time is a surefire way to never start writing your book. Finding motivation to write may not be easy, but sometimes scheduling time is just as hard!

Schedule a time during the day when you can write with minimal distractions and sit down. Try to disconnect from the internet if you can and force yourself to write. Do it one word at a time. Making time for writing will help you complete your novel.

To your novel success,
​
MG

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As authors advance in their skill and understanding of social media and marketing, one of the things that seems to come curiously late for some is a question of credit—crediting authors, or each other, that is. At times, I’ve used the hashtag #creditwriters to try to help folks remember this simple courtesy. Help your fellow writers.

Journalists notice the problem right away. Why? Because we journos know that The New York Times has never written a word. CNN has never done an on-camera interview. NPR has never broadcast a report. In every case, that work was done by people, reporters. And yet you routinely see a story tweeted or posted to Facebook with just the medium’s name, right?

•           “Great story!” with a link and “via @WashingtonPost.” But who wrote it? You can find out if you’ll just check the byline.
•           “I got a super review from the @NYTimes!” No, you got a super review from a critic at The New York Times and that critic has a name. Just check the byline.
•           “Cool author blog post on outlining your novel!” By? Just check the byline.
But wait. What if there isn’t a byline on that author’s cool blog post about outlining your novel?

It turns out that this is a two-way street.

Writers fail to credit each other all the time, but just as frequently, authors aren’t thinking to put bylines on their own posts. And remember, if a visitor to your author website was linked to your post without any credit to you, that visitor may have no idea whose site he or she has landed on.

That’s why bylines are important. Here’s what I recommend:
•           On each blog post you write—yes, including on your own site—use your byline.
•           List not only your name but also your Twitter handle or your Facebook link—whatever social account you use the most. Like this: By Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson). Try to make every mention of your name work for you by linking it to a pertinent spot.
•           If you have guest posts on your site, follow the same pattern: always byline them and include a social media handle or link for them, too.

The point is to make it easy for your site’s visitors—who, we hope, will become your books’ readers—to be certain of who you are. And you want them to credit you and help others find you through social media. If they have to search for your handle or Pinterest account—or for your name on your own site (you’d be surprised how hard it is to locate that info on some sites)—then there’s little chance that your site’s visitors will have time to do anything about crediting you. A visitor impressed with your latest blog post is likelier to give you the courtesy of a credit if you make it a breeze to know who you are and how to reference you in social media.
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Is it more blessed to credit than to be credited? Probably! But you’re likelier to be offered the same kindness if you make it simple for your colleagues to share your work with your name attached. And after all, if writers don’t credit each other, who will? Help your fellow writers.
 
 Live by the philosophy that a candle loses none of it’s shine by lighting another candle.
To Your Success,
MG
 

Writing isn’t an easy job. While you’re typing away at your manuscript, your mind is balancing storyline, an important message, dialogue and more. For many authors, the technical aspects of writing are on the backburner. There’s nothing wrong with having less than precise writing in your manuscript. In fact, many authors purposefully disregard proper spelling and grammar to focus on content. Their editing process starts later, when authors send their manuscripts off to a trusted friend or use editing services to perfect their work.

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Before another pair of eyes reads through your manuscript, proofread it yourself for technical writing errors. Specifically, there are five mistakes almost every writer makes that you can fix before your book hits the editing process.

CLICHÉS
Old habits may die hard, but clichés will clutter your writing. Clichés are dog tired; readers will look over them and miss the good content underneath. Try starting your own clichés. Create fresh similes, metaphors, and idioms.

WORD REPETITION
Have you read a book and noticed the author repeated a certain word throughout it? Many authors have a crutch word they consistently use. Check for your own crutch word and use a thesaurus to diversify your manuscript’s vocabulary.

TOO MANY ADVERBS
You have probably heard to “show, not tell.” Cutting out adverbs can help you do this. Adverbs like quickly, very, and incredibly can be written out with more visual descriptions put in their place. Instead of writing “Incredibly, the runner ran very quickly,” write, “The runner was a speeding bullet. Her feet pounded the ground and propelled her forward as she sped ahead of the others.”

COMMAS
When concentrating on developing your story and perfecting your message, your commas might get misplaced. Ask yourself the following questions to make sure commas are where they need to be.

• Do you have commas inside quotation marks? For example, this is incorrect: "Hello" she replied. This is correct: "Hello," she replied.
• Do you separate modifying clauses with commas? For example, this is incorrect: Sally a very polite girl held the door open. This is correct: Sally, a very polite girl, held the door open.
• Are introductory clauses separated by a comma? For example, this is incorrect: If she wants ice cream she should ask her brother. This is correct: If she wants ice cream, she should ask her brother.
• Are you consistent with how you use commas in lists? For example, all lists could have a comma after the last word before "and," like this: I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. All lists could also go without the comma after the last word before "and," like this: I like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Both are correct as long as they're used consistently.

Technical grammar problems
Comma mistakes are common, but there are other grammar errors authors make when writing their manuscript. Here are a few grammar mistakes that come up frequently:

• Vague pronouns make writing easier, but can be confusing to readers. When proofreading, make sure you can attribute every pronoun to the noun it describes.
• Its/It’s, than/then are commonly confused because most word processors can’t catch them if they’re used in the wrong context. If you need a quick refresher, “Its” shows possession and “It’s” is the contracted form of “it is.” “Then” shows a progression, while “than” is used for comparisons.
• Sentence fragments and run-ons can also be hard to catch. Make sure each sentence has a subject and verb, but doesn’t use “and,” “but”, and “or” to link sentence after sentence.

If you want a professional to help you perfect your writing, contact Purpose Publishing at www.PurposePublishing.com

To your Success,
​
MG.

“The more product you have on the market, the greater the chance that readers will find you. It's the simplest way to market your work and the one most suited to writers.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Discoverability
Writing a series, or books aimed at a similar audience is one of the smartest things you can do to market your books.

This is an excerpt from How to Market a Book Third Edition, available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.
1.      Repeat customers are much easier to reach than new customersA survey carried out by International Thriller Writers (ITW) found that readers tended to search for books by a specific author that they knew when they wanted to buy a new book.
It also takes between three and four books for a reader to remember the name of an author and become a fan, so if you have a series (and even a three-book boxset), you are more likely to be remembered next time. As anecdotal evidence, I pre-order books from a few of my favorite authors because I'm a fan of a particular series.
The rise of binge consumption on Netflix and online streaming means that people want longer entertainment experiences. Some readers will not even commit to a new series unless there are multiple books available so they can immerse themselves.
2.      Series make more money for authorsMark Coker reported in the Smashwords 2016 Survey that “when we compared the average sales of the top 1,000 bestselling series books against the sales of the top 1,000 stand-alones, the series books had 195% higher earnings and their median earnings increase was an impressive 127%. Readers love series!”
3.      It's faster to write books in a seriesFor fiction, you know the characters and the world, so you just need a new plot. For non-fiction, you know your target market, and what they need, so you can write more books to suit them.
You can use branded covers to create a look and feel for your series. This can also make book cover design more cost effective, as the title and images need changing for each book, but the overall design will stay the same.
 
All the online stores use Series fields to link books together in a series. This means if a reader buys one in the series, they will likely get recommendations for the other books in the series.
Series can be used for non-fiction, too. Just link books for a similar audience together using the series field. For example, this book is part of my series Books for Writers.

When a new book in the series comes out, you can do price promotions on the first book in the series, or make it perma-free in order to drive traffic every day. You can also use a pre-order to get early sales for the book.

If you’ve got a series, let us help you. Contact us at www.PurposePublishing.com

Since we rarely see errors in our own writing, it’s important to solicit the help of professional editors. But there are things we can do to improve the manuscript BEFORE sending it to an editor.
Grammerly is one of those useful tools that can sort out the basic errors, enabling you to improve your writing and learn as you go. It can also help with emails and online writing, where paying a pro editor isn't cost effective.

Why consider a tool like Grammarly?
As indie authors, we are 100% responsible for producing books that are not only readable and entertaining/informative but also ones that are mistake-free. When readers are distracted by misspellings and grammatical errors their reading experience is going to suffer. And that means your reputation as an author is going to suffer as well.

The Kindle also has a function for readers to report typos and if you get too many of these in a book, you're going to get a quality notification.

For this reason, we always want to use professional editors and proofreaders when we're publishing our books. Nothing can replace the editing and proofreading of a human being, especially one who specializes in your genre.

However, the messier a manuscript is when you send it to a professional for proofreading or editing, the more it's going to cost you to improve and fix.

Grammarly is an automated proofreader, and a grammar and plagiarism checker.
It scans your text and makes suggestions about where changes should or could be made. It even monitors word usage and will comment on sentence length (watching for those pesky run-on sentences that happen when we're writing fast). You can either use it in your web browser or install the Microsoft Office add-on. And you can even tell Grammarly whether you're writing in US or UK English so it will know how to support you.

As with most apps and plug-ins these days, there a free version and a paid one. With the free version, you can log-in and paste your text into a Grammarly document, wait a few seconds, and then see the feedback it's giving you about the possible mistakes in your text. When I ran this article through Grammarly's editor, even though Scrivener had already corrected my spelling in a few instances, Grammarly found several punctuation mistakes I hadn't caught, as well as a case where I'd typed ‘with' instead of ‘will'. Impressive!

Here are six ways Grammarly can improve your writing.

(1) You can learn from it and make fewer mistakes next time
Obviously, Grammarly is a tool for checking your grammar, spelling, and punctuation, something that both Word and Scrivener already do. One difference with Grammarly is that it will tell you why it's making the suggestion. This enables the writer to make an informed decision and perhaps even learn a bit along the way. As well, there is a free, online handbook about English, sorted by topics like style and mechanics, where you'll find articles about everything from how to use an apostrophe to the correct form of abbreviations.

(2) Discover your writer tic, or the words you use too often
All writers are guilty of using the same word too frequently.
And yet, as the author of the book or story, we're often so close to the manuscript, and we've read it so many times, that we can't see this. Grammarly will alert you to this type of problem. It will also allow you to see definitions of words and suggest synonyms if you want to change the word you're using.
In this way, it's like a thesaurus combined with a spelling and grammar checker.

(3) Learn to break up your sentences
“Bestsellers are about shorter, cleaner sentences, without unneeded words.” The Bestseller Code, Jodie Archer & Matthew L. Jockers
Data analysis of bestselling books indicates that shorter sentences characterize bestsellers, but we all know how hard that can be to do in practice.
Grammarly will comment on sentence length when it detects long or run-on sentences. This is another great feature for when we've read a manuscript so many times we can't see it any longer. Grammarly can act like a second pair of eyes, pointing out problems we wouldn't see otherwise.

(4) Take your manuscript one step closer to perfection
We all know how valuable our editors and proofreaders are. As I mentioned in the intro to this article, nothing can replace the skill and human touch of a professional editor/proofreader. However, if with Grammarly's help you've made your manuscript as clean (i.e., error-free) as possible, your editor is going to have an easier time catching every remaining correction. In a way, Grammarly can support your editor to take the manuscript even closer to perfection.

(5) Plagiarism checker
If you're a non-fiction writer, you'll love this next feature.
You can click a button and Grammarly will compare your text to over 8 billion web pages, checking for duplication. This is an amazing feature to prevent a potentially embarrassing mistake if you've accidentally copied text from an article on the web to refer to in your own writing, but have forgotten to include a citation.

Even if you're writing fiction, it's possible to add research material into a manuscript with the intention of putting it into your own words, and then forgetting. Grammarly will prevent any such accidentally oversights from happening.

(6) Use it for social media and email as well as your manuscript
Grammarly also provides a free plug-in for Chrome or Safari (although not for Scrivener, sadly). The plug-in will monitor your posts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, ensuring you don't make any spelling and grammar mistakes. This can take the worry out of presenting a polished image to your readers and fans even when you're rushing to send out a quick Tweet.
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So if you're feeling a little under-confident in your grammar, check out Grammarly here for your next piece of writing.

So today, here are some of my tips on productivity for writers and a resource I think at least some of you will find useful.
 
(1) Schedule your timeWe all have 24 hours in the day, and we all have to balance the real life stuff with the writing. Before I was a full-time author-entrepreneur, I would get up at 5am and write, then go to work. After the day job, I would come home and get on with building my online business. We got rid of the TV so I would have more time to create, and I spent every weekend working. I was so focused on leaving my job that I cut out everything that got in the way. I was driven to schedule my time incredibly well in order to fit everything in.
 
Now, as a full-time publisher and community relations manager, I still have to schedule everything. I blog, podcast and speak professionally, as well as writing books. It’s still hard to get everything done, let me assure you!
 
So I’ll admit to being a chronic scheduler! But seriously, it is the only way I get anything done. 
I use Google Calendar schedule my time. It doesn't matter whether you use an old school paper system or the latest app, but you have to schedule your writing time! I write down blocks of time for writing, speaking prep and delivery, for podcasts, recording audio and other phone meetings.
I block out time for writing, speaking engagements, for podcasts, recording audio and other phone meetings.
 
(I never answer the phone unless a meeting is scheduled!)
 
Of course, I have slots for personal time with my husband or family trips, medical stuff, friends and ‘real life,’ and of course, sometimes I get things wrong. But overall, I rely on this kind of scheduling to get everything done.
 
After all, you schedule time for your kids' play dates, meetings at work, and your yoga class – so why not schedule your writing time? How important is it to you?
 
(2) Reward yourselfThose of you with children may have used behavior charts, where they get a star or a sticker every time something good is achieved. Rewards for good behavior can actually work really well!
 
Well, that’s what I do for myself these days!
I have a wall calendar on which I write my word count or pages edited every day and I get a sticker if I go over 2000 words. It’s just a paper calendar – nothing fancy – but seriously, it works!
 
 
  (3) Become accountable
This blog has kept me accountable since I started writing it in Dec 2015. Every year, I have posted my goals and what I’ve achieved.

Then I have an accountability partner who has a completely separate kind of business, and we challenge each other on content like the blog, as well as overall financial goals. We even have a competition now, where the loser has to pay for a spa day – now that’s motivating!
I also have a coach who I have calls with several times a year, when I want to take things to another level.
 
Time goes by so fast that if you don’t schedule these kind of check-points into your life, you won’t achieve anything.
 (4) Set deadlinesIf you sign a traditional publishing deal, you will have a timeline for your drafts, revisions and then for publication. You know what you have to do by when.
If you are going the indie route, you need to set these for yourself.

When I wrote my first book, I set a deadline for my birthday. I wanted to hold my book in my hand on a specific date. I made it by a month later, but having that date in mind helped a LOT for getting things done.
Since then, I have speeded up the process somewhat, but I still set rough deadlines. On my wall I have one page A4 that has the priorities for each month roughly planned out.
For example, one particular month has:

• Publish Give Your Intentions some Attention in ebook and print
• Finish first draft and edit Writer’s Boot camp. Send JVP documents to cities by end of Dec
• Finalize workshop road show & map.
• Start pre-production on Strive 2019 with authors.

If I haven’t done all these by the end of the month, then I am behind on my deadlines for each project. 
(5) Spend more hours in the chairWe all know what we have to do. It’s simple but it’s not easy. Like diet and exercise.
More hours in the chair actually spent WRITING will produce more words on the page.Dean Wesley Smith is one of the most prolific writers out there, but he points out that he doesn’t do anything spectacular in terms of word count per hour. What he does is spend more hours in the chair, and he does it every day.
 
This relates to point 1 – you need to schedule the time, and then you actually need to get it done. Get black on white.
 
I like to write in cafes and if you find a quiet one, they are usually happy to let you sit as long as you buy a coffee every hour. I put on my BOSE noise-cancelling headphones – which are amazing! – and play Rain & Thunderstorms on repeat. Then I write and I don't get up until my allotted time for writing is complete.

BONUS (6) Decide what you really want.Perhaps this is the most important thing.
At the end of the day, we all have 24 hours in the day. We all have people we love, that we want to spend time with. We all need to pay the bills. We all need to eat and exercise, and clean and do chores and see friends … and … and …
 
But you get what you focus on in life.If you really want to write that book, you will make the time.
If you want to prove that you can finish a manuscript, you will make the time.
If you want to be a full-time author and make a living with your writing, you will have to make the time.

If you’ve always dreamed of being the next Hemingway or Vonnegut (or even Grisham), or perhaps if you just want to write better essays for school or posts for your blog … you need to sharpen those writing skills.

Becoming the best writer you can be isn’t easy, I won’t lie to you.
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It takes hard work. But it’s worth the effort. And if it seems like an insurmountable task, there are some concrete things you can do today that will get you on the road to improvement.
Personally, I’ve been a fiction, newspaper, magazine and blog writer for 17 years now, writing for a variety of publications … and I’m still trying to improve. Every writer can get better, and no writer is perfect. I think I’ve grown tremendously as a writer over the last couple of decades, but it has been a painful journey. Let me share some of what I’ve learned.
No matter what level of writer you are, there should be a suggestion or twelve here that will help.

1. Read great writers. This may sound obvious, but it has to be said. This is the place to start. If you don’t read great writing, you won’t know how to do it. Everyone starts by learning from the masters, by emulating them, and then through them, you find your own voice. Read a lot. As much as possible. Pay close attention to style and mechanics in addition to content.

2. Write a lot. Try to write every day, or multiple times a day if possible. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Writing is a skill, and like any other skill, you have to practice it to get better. Write stuff for yourself, write for a blog, write for other publications. Write just to write, and have a blast doing it. It gets easier after awhile if you practice a lot.

3. Create a writing ritual. Find a certain time of day when you can write without interruptions, and make it a routine. For me, mornings work best, but others might find lunch or evenings or midnight hours the best. Whatever works for you, make it a must-do thing every single day. Write for at least 30 minutes, but an hour is even better. If you’re a full-time writer, you’ll need to write for several hours a day, as I do. But don’t worry! It helps you get better.

4. Just write. If you’ve got blank paper or a blank screen staring at you, it can be intimidating. You might be tempted to go check your email or get a snack. Well, don’t even think about it, mister. Just start writing. Start typing away — it doesn’t matter what you write — and get the fingers moving. Once you get going, you get in the flow of things, and it gets easier. I like to start out by typing things like my name or a headline or something easy like that, and then the juices start flowing and stuff just pours out of me. But the key is to just get going.

5. Eliminate distractions. Writing does not work well with multi-tasking or background noise. It’s best done in quiet, or with some mellow music playing. Turn off email or IM notifications, turn off the phone and your cell phone, turn off the TV, and clear off your desk … you can stuff everything in a drawer for now until you have time to sort everything out later … but don’t get into sorting mode now, because it’s writing time! Clear away distractions so you can work without interruption.

6. Experiment. Just because you want to emulate the great writers doesn’t mean you have to be exactly like them. Try out new things. Steal bits from other people. Experiment with your style, your voice, your mechanics, your themes. Try out new words. Invent new words. Experimentalize everything. And see what works, and toss out what doesn’t.

7. Be concise. This is best done during the revision process, but you need to edit every sentence and paragraph and remove everything but the essential. A short sentence is preferred over a longer one, and a clear word is preferred over two in jargonese. Compact is powerful.

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” — Voltaire

Its that time of the year when I start preparing for the year ahead. I ask myself a few questions like: 'What did I do this year? How did the year turn out? Successes/ Failures? What do I want to do in the coming year?' I ask myself, answer truthfully, and look at the results. This is what helps me determine how to spend my time, my focus and my energy,  going forward. So, as I examined my year end results so far. We did some good things. But for 2019, we are going for great!! I see good people go from good to great all the time.  It’s not magic.  It’s passion, purpose, and more important than those two is ACTION.


They find their path, they have a purpose, and if they get knocked down, they get up again.  They keep asking better and better questions that get them closer to their goals and they continue to find the people and resources that support them on their journey.  They turn resistance into growth and they fully immerse themselves in the experience. I’ve boiled down the pattern I see into 10 ways.


10 Ways: Going from Good to Great

Here are 10 ways I’ve seen people go from good to great:

Find your compelling “why.” Find your one thing. Become a dream machine, turn your dreams loose, and envision the end in mind. Your “why” is your drive and you find your “why” by answering the question, “Why do you do what you do?”  To find your compelling, find the answer that connects with your passion and plucks at your heart strings.  That’s the power of purpose in action and it’s what crusades are made of.  Launch your own crusade.

Become a force of one.  Get out of your own way and stack yourself for success by channeling your thinking, feeling, and doing.  Think the thoughts that serve you, feel the feelings that empower you, and do what you know needs to be done.  Disciplined thinking combined with disciplined action is an unstoppable force, and it’s yours for the asking.

Model the best. The best do it with models.  They find the best examples of what they want to accomplish, and they learn from them.  You can find role models or success stories or case studies and work backwards from there.  Success always leaves clues and you can play detective.

Give your best where you have your best to give. This is you unleashed.  The best play to their strengths.  They spend more time doing the things that make them strong, and less time doing the things that make them weak.  This builds energy and momentum and instead of getting drained, you get charged and you grow where you can grow best.

Find your best arena.  Don’t be a fish out of water.  Find your element.  Going from good to great means finding where you can play your best game.  Maybe you’re a mediocre developer, but a phenomenal project manager. Maybe you’re an OK doctor, but an incredible actor.  Take your skills to the job or place where they make the most impact.

Execute.  Taking action is how you make things happen.  Throw massive action at whatever you need to do.  Even if it seems like you’re only taking baby steps at a time, you’ll eventually hit your stride.  When you keep taking action, you learn faster.  Each result teaches you another way how to do something, or how not to do something.  Sometimes, the only way to get past some problems is to overwhelm them with action.  To paraphrase Voltaire, I would argue no problem can withstand the assault of sustained action.

Stick with it.  If you fall down six times, stand up seven.  Remember The Little Engine That Could?  Well, whenever you think you can’t, you’re working against yourself.  It starts with belief.  Think you can, then prove yourself right.   Find your eye of the tiger.

Learn and respond.  The best take action, learn, and respond.  They are always failing forward.  NLP teaches us that there is no failure, only feedback.  The great ones use the feedback to improve their approach.  They stay adaptable while they are finding their way forward.  Be your won best coach, not your own best critic.

Let it go.  The best let it go and move on.  They don’t carry baggage.  They focus on the objectives and they measure against effectiveness.  Either their approach is working or it’s not.  If it’s not working, they let it go, and find a new way forward.

Team up.  The best of the best team up with people that amplify their impact.  They also team up with people that provide more deliberate feedback and that help them find their blind spots and get unstuck.

Putting it all together, you can stack the deck in your favor by playing to your strengths, living your values, and finding the best arena for your greatest results.

To Your SUPER Success,

MG

PS. HERE IS A SUPER SUCCESS TOOL: Book 

GOOD TO GREAT Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins (over 3M copies sold)