But getting past the writer’s block hurdle isn’t impossible. Let’s look at five ways you can beat writer’s block and get back to being the most productive version of yourself. 

1) Read More

Sometimes, the best way to start writing is to start reading. I’m talking about reading books in the genres you love–not books on craft.

When you enjoy reading, you rekindle your love for books and writing in general. And you might find that ideas come to you while reading other books. This can help you overcome obstacles in your own writing. 

That said, it’s important not to take too many notes here or focus too much on what the author is doing right or wrong. Just try to completely immerse yourself in a good book and make the enjoyment of the story your main focus. 

Beating writer’s block isn’t so much about pressuring yourself to write more, but about remembering what you love about reading and writing in the first place. 

2) Research 

Research is a great way to get inspired. After you’ve spent time reading and relaxing, you might want to seek inspiration to get yourself writing again. Understanding what other authors have done right is a great way to go about this. Once again, it’s not about pressuring yourself, but researching what works and what doesn’t and how you can improve. 

For instance, if you were writing serial killer thrillers, you’d find a great selection of bestselling books in the genre that you could use as research starting points. You can read them or just check out their covers and book descriptions for more inspiration. Write down common themes and even the similarity between their covers. This information might just spark a new idea or breathe life into an old one. 

You can also take an online class about structure or plotting to give yourself a clearer direction for your book. 

3) Free Write

This is meant to be no pressure writing that helps you unblock the parts of you that are stuck on your current work-in-progress. Just to be clear, you won’t actually be writing anything you plan on publishing. You can free write using prompts or just about your day-to-day life. Anything that gets you putting fingers to keys or pen to pad again. 

Here are a couple free-writing ideas you might use: 

1. Write a letter to your future self. Be positive! 
2. Write a poem about an event. 
3. Have a conversation with yourself. 
4. Scribble down your feelings. 
5. Write a journal page documenting your feelings. 
6. Write a private review of the books you’ve been reading. 

Remember, though, that this is no pressure writing. Nothing has to come of it, so don’t worry about it being perfect or editing it or re-writing anything. Just sit down and scribble! 

4) Interact With Other Authors 

Humans are social and it’s important to relate to others who might have the same issues as you do. If you’re unable to meet with authors in person–especially since most of us are practicing social distancing–social media is a great way to connect with writers who have the same issues with you. 

Head over to Facebook and search for groups of like-minded authors. There are plenty of support groups and author groups that will allow you to share your thoughts and feelings and sympathize with the problems other authors are having as well. 

Also, seeing how other authors handle their issues will help you solve yours too. 

5) Listen to Music 

This is all about getting in the zone to write and getting inspired. When you’re free-writing or when you’re ready to sit down and get to work on your novel again, creating a playlist that encourages you might help you overcome your fears. These songs can also be inspired by a particular character, setting, or scene you’ve envisioned in your outline. 

Also, you can find a few playlists on Spotify created by writers for writers. Here are a few you can check out: 

1. The Writer’s Playlist
2. Pensive Tunes to Break Your Writer’s Block 
3. Write Your Way Out 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, these tips will put you on the road to mental recovery and get you in front of that keyboard again. Remember to take it slow and not to place too much pressure on yourself when writing. Have fun! 

Cheers! 

Dave Chesson is a book marketing obsessive who has consulted for various NYT Bestselling authors. He shares his latest ideas at Kindlepreneur.com, such as his recent guide to book writing software, and also hosts The Book Marketing Show podcast.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways You Can Beat Writer’s Block appeared first on DIY MFA.

How you manage your time will be a deciding factor on how successful you are as an author. Some authors might waste countless hours checking emails and updating the color scheme of their website, where others will find the time to get their most important tasks done.

In this article, we’ll go over five things every writer can do to increase their productivity. 

1) Create an Outline for Your Books

The first one seems obvious to those who do it, but a lot of writers don’t properly outline their books. I know that outlining a book is difficult, but it’s a great way to stay on track when writing.The better your plan is, the more effective your writing time will be. 

Not needing to sit and think about what you’re going to write or where your story is headed will save you ample time every day. Instead, you can sit down and start writing, immediately. It’s like when you buy furniture from Ikea. Sure, you can try putting it together without the instructions, but it’ll take three times as long without those guidelines. 

I’m not saying you have to have an outline. Even a rough write-up of what you want to happen in each scene or chapter will help you get words down faster in your writing blocks each day. 

2) Get Advice from Other Self-Publishers

As self-publishers, we are in a fortunate position where we can learn from other successful authors for free. It may sound counterintuitive, but spending time away from your work and learning from others can help inspire you to become more productive–especially if the advice they’re offering is about productivity. 

You can pick up a range of different tips on productivity and workflow management including:

• Blogs: Many successful self-publishing authors have their own blogs where they discuss the writing process. 
• Podcasts and YouTube: If you’re time-poor and can’t read blogs, then you can get a lot of great advice from YouTuber channels or podcasts for authors. What I love about these mediums is the accessibility. I can listen to a podcast or the audio from a YouTube video while doing something else.
• Mastermind Groups: Masterminds are great. They’re a set time to chat with other authors in a similar situation to you. You work together to help solve one another’s problems and grow.
• Discussions With Other Authors: If you can’t commit to a set time, then make sure you have friends in the industry who you can bounce ideas off. Many other authors are in the same spot as you and would love someone to connect with. 

Just remember, we are trying to be more productive here… so don’t get stuck down the rabbit hole reading blogs for hours. Actively search for information that will help you be more productive. 

3) Exercise Regularly

A healthy writer is a productive writer. You won’t be surprised to know that being a self-published author isn’t exactly the healthiest job out there. It turns out sitting in front of a computer all day isn’t great for you.

In her book, The Healthy Writer, Joanna Penn discusses health and being an author, mentioning some common health problems that writers face and how to better look after yourself in this line of work. 

So, being a writer, it’s incredibly important to focus on your health. That means you need to get active. Daily exercise can improve your mood, along with helping your focus and memory–all very important if you want to stay productive throughout your work day. 

Don’t worry though, daily exercise doesn’t have to be anything too strenuous at the start. In only thirty minutes of daily exercise, you can do a lot of good. If you’re not at the stage where you can do that, start with five or ten minutes of workout. Every little bit helps.

4) Try the Pomodoro Method to Help Yourself Focus  

Have you ever spent a day writing, but ended without much to show for it? With all the available distractions, it can be difficult to get words down on the page. 

Instead, try blocking off specific periods of time to tackle specific parts of your book. Try to keep blocks of time down to around 25-minutes, as this follows a timekeeping strategy called the Pomodoro Method. 

Basically, the Pomodoro Method comprises a 25-minute productivity sprint followed by a five-minute rest. Now, when I say a productivity sprint, I mean it–your sole focus for that 25-minute block is to write, write, write! 

That means you don’t answer phone calls, check emails, make coffee or head to the bathroom– that’s what your break is for. Every four or so cycles, or when you feel your productivity level dropping, have a longer break of thirty minutes. As a general rule of thumb, take a longer break every hour. 

There are plenty of great tools you can use to keep track of your time, many of which are specifically adjusted for Pomodoro timing. I don’t like to keep my phone next to me as I work because it can be a distraction, so I keep TomatoTimer open in the background. 

By blocking out your writing time into Pomodoro-sized blocks, you’ll be able to work less and get more done. Start slowly though–you don’t want to burn out! 

5) Create a Writing Routine

We all get the same 24-hours every day, it’s up to us on how we spend it. We all have various commitments and things that take time out of our day. Family, friends, hobbies, work and other commitments all take time away from writing, so you need to use your time wisely. 

If you want to achieve as much as possible in your days, plan ahead. It is wise to plan your day the night before. Each night before you go to sleep, write a quick summary of what your day will look like tomorrow. You can do it in a notebook, diary, or even the calendar on your phone–you need to get your day planned so you wake up with a set routine. 

If you don’t already plan your day, it’ll shock you how much more you’ll get done.. And sure, a lot of the time you won’t be able to completely follow your plan, but having a plan and changing it is a lot better than not having one at all. 

Final Thoughts

Productivity is vital for being a successful author, now more than ever. Use these five strategies to get the most out of your day, and stay hopeful and healthy! Have fun with your writing and get those words down. 

Dave Chesson is a book marketing obsessive who has consulted for various NYT Bestselling authors. He shares his latest ideas at Kindlepreneur.com, such as his recent guide to book writing software, and also hosts The Book Marketing Show podcast.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways Every Writer Can Achieve Peak Productivity appeared first on DIY MFA.

In this article, we’ll look at five writing tips–or, depending on how you operate, editing tips–to become a better author. 

1) Use Adverbs Sparingly 

One of my favorite authors, Stephen King, has a saying, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs”. While you may not be paving your road to hell by using adverbs, you’re certainly paving yourself to a boring writing style. 

Back when we took early English classes, your teachers would have told you that an adverb describes verbs and adjectives. On the surface, this sounds like a great tool to use in your writing. 

Here’s the truth: adverbs weaken your writing. Rather than carefully constructing a sentence, you’re taking the easy way out and using an “-ly” word to add a quick description. 

But there’s hope. You can do something to improve your prose. Look for the adverbs in your writing and ask yourself if they deserve to be there. In most cases, you’ll be able to add a more descriptive verb. For example, instead of the dog “barking loudly” it can “howl” or “roar.”  

Am I saying to never use an adverb? No. Here’s an example of Apple using one on a sales page, and Apple has obviously been very successful.  

I’m just saying that your writing will be better once you remove unnecessary adverbs and replace them with stronger verbs or more descriptive language. 

2) Get Rid of Crutch Words

Crutch words are those words and phrases that you rely on too much in your writing. Sometimes, you reach for your crutches when you don’t need them…

You’re probably most familiar with conversational crutch words we lean on when we’re speaking:

• Like: “I was, like, going to ask if you’d like to go to lunch.”
• Well: “Well, that was a lot better than I thought it would be.”
• You know: “It’s not up to me, you know.”
• Literally: “Today was literally the slowest workday.”
• Obviously: “I’m obviously very happy with how everything is going.”

When you’re thinking on your feet in a conversation, these crutch words are handy conversation fillers. In writing though, they’re repetitive and can annoy readers when used outside of dialogue. Here’s a list of common crutch words that authors use if you’d like some examples. 

Crutch words are usually redundant, and they’re often unique to an author. It all depends on your voice. A few examples of mine are: 

• Still 
• In fact
• Very much
• My way
• Just 
• Halt
• Eye
• Gaze
• Laugh
• Clearly

If you’re writing a conversational blog post, there is a bit of scope to use crutch words–after all, you’re trying to make the article read like you’re having a conversation. When you’re writing a novel though, you need to be aware of every word you add and consider its relevance. 

Once you know what your go-to crutch words are, make sure you aren’t using them too much. I like to ctrl+f and search for my crutch words in my first draft. Then, I can consider re-writing those sentences and using stronger word choices. 

3) Start Your Story With Action, Not Backstory 

One of the things I love about being a fiction author is creating an entire world of my own. Each character has their own individual background and story to tell. Talking about it now makes me want to start writing again! 

If you’re like me, you’re probably bursting at the seams to tell your reader about the characters you’ve created. It’s so tempting to start a story by giving the reader a huge infodump of background about the characters or the setting. However, it’s a far better strategy to start your novel with some action to hook the reader in.

The main reason you want to start your story with action is to engage your reader as soon as possible. The earlier you hook the reader in, the more likely they are to keep reading. For self-publishers, this is more important than ever for a couple of reasons. 

• For starters, all Kindle books sold on Amazon have a ‘Look Inside’ feature. This option is shown above the cover image of the book. 

When a potential reader clicks the link, they’re shown a preview of the book, which is usually around the first 10%. A compelling first page will turn browsers into readers.

With Kindle Unlimited (KU), you want to generate as many read pages as possible. There are a lot of KU subscribers that simply grab three or four books at a time and flick through a few chapters before deciding which one is worth reading. 

You don’t want to waste your first impression by giving your reader backstory that will slow the book’s pace down. If you need to get that history down on the page, write an entire chapter of it before you start your story. Then, you can intersperse parts (or all) of the background chapter throughout your story when you see fit.

Of course, the action must be related to your character’s conflict or pain point. Action for action’s sake won’t work.

4) Remove Redundant Words

Similar to your personal crutch words, when you’re writing, there are other words that should hit the cutting room floor. These are redundant words that add nothing to the novel. Removing them will make your writing sharper and easier to read. 

Diana Urban has a super list of redundant phrases to cut from your novel.

• Really, very. These are useless modifiers. Instead of these words, use stronger language choices. 
• That. “That” is a word you can delete if a sentence makes sense without it. For example “It was the best movie that I’d seen all year,” can easily read “it was the best movie I’d seen all year.”
• Then. When I see a passage that includes overuse of the word “then,” I imagine a five-year-old telling you about their day. “First I woke up then I had breakfast, then I had a bath.”
• Totally, completely, absolutely, literally. Rather than use words like these, use stronger language. Instead of saying the character was “completely sure,” you can say they were “positive.”
• Definitely, certainly, probably, actually, basically, virtually. In the same way to the last point, these words don’t add anything. Remove them or use stronger language. 
• Rather, quite, somewhat, somehow. These words make you appear less confident in your work. You don’t have to call something “rather boring,” you can just call it boring! 

Forge on Medium also has a great list of redundant phrases where two words are used when only one is needed. For example, you don’t need the phrase “end result.” When else will the result be? And unless you start falling upward, you probably don’t have to use the phrase “fall down.”

Once you’ve got a list of redundant phrases you use, run a ctrl+f search on your document and highlight the words so you can check if each one is needed or not. 

5) Avoid Cliches Phrases

We’re all familiar with cliched phrases used in writing:

• Play your cards right
• Read between the lines
• It’s an uphill battle
• The grass is always greener on the other side
• Better safe than sorry
• Ignorance is bliss
• You can’t judge a book by its cover
• Bring to the table
• Low-hanging fruit

These sayings have been used so many times over the years, they’ve kind of lost all meaning. Common cliches don’t evoke a mental image when you’re reading. Not only that, but the use of cliches is lazy writing. When I see an overuse of cliches, I notice it and so do many other readers. 

Find new ways to say things. The use of specific language and examples in your writing will add to the mental image the reader is putting together, not take away from it as a cliche does.  

There is an awesome list of cliches that you should look at from my friends at ProWritingAid. Check what phrases you use in your work, and replace them with alternatives. 

Final Thoughts

Simple changes to your writing can make a world of difference, making your book easier to read and strengthening your story. Follow these tips as a way to engage fans with your work and stand out from all those other books on Amazon. 

And remember, you don’t have to get all of these things right while you’re writing. In fact, you’ll write much faster if you don’t worry about them at first. You can always fix them while you’re editing. 

Dave Chesson is a book marketing obsessive who has consulted for various NYT Bestselling authors. He shares his latest ideas at Kindlepreneur.com, such as his recent guide to book writing software, and also hosts The Book Marketing Show podcast.

The post #5onFri: Five Writing Tips For Levelling Up Your Craft appeared first on DIY MFA.

I’m a big believer that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, and there is no need to blaze your own trail when many others have successfully walked the path before you.

That’s not to say you can’t be original. After all, you are unique, and have irreplaceable experiences accordingly. However, we have much to learn from those who have succeeded in areas we wish to. So today, I’d like to share five of my favorite lessons from authors who have walked the walk and experienced serious success along the way.

1) Feel Liberated Like Geoff Dyer

Perhaps the most reliable indicator of someone who is worth your time is someone who has the respect of their peers. That certainly applies to Geoff Dyer who has been described as “one of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself, and one of our most original writers.”

Do you think that’s the kind of person you could learn from? If so, consider the following quotation on the need to feel unburdened:

“The fact that stuff’s been written about before liberates one and frees one from having to do the donkey work of conveying facts and stuff.” — Geoff Dyer

The takeaway message from Geoff is that there is no need to approach things objectively. Instead, give your own unique take. While it’s true that there’s nothing new under the sun, you certainly are equipped to offer your own unique perspective.

2) Rely On Yourself Like Reza Aslan

Reza Aslan is one of the most highly-regarded intellectual writers of our era. He has helped bridge the gap between different systems of belief at a time when to do such a thing is most needed. About independence, and personal desire, Aslan has the following to say:

“In the end, your success as a writer depends almost wholly upon your own tireless efforts to promote your book and make sure it gets the attention it deserves.” — Reza Aslan

Notice how this doesn’t suggest you need to be some uniquely talented artist with a gift from the heavens? Instead, success comes down to effort, self belief, and self promotion.

I’ve always stated that I’m not the best author, but I am a bestselling author. So many talented writers with far more skill, at least in terms of craft, than myself, give up far too early.

Too many people fall into the trap of thinking that their writing will speak for itself. Even if you are among the top 1% of writers among everyone alive, you have seventy-four million competitors at the same standard.

3) Draw Inspiration From The World Like Stuart Nadler

“A fact: You will always feel like your work isn’t good enough. As a salve, or simply as a way to stay sane, be in the world.” — Stuart Nadler

I’ve rarely come across a writer with a huge deal of confidence in their own work. Ultimately, we can all fake it until we make it. However, deep down, there is an inner critic who isn’t in a hurry to be quiet.

Writing is a solitary activity by definition. However, we don’t do anything in isolation. Everything in our life influences everything else to one extent or another. Locking yourself in your office and getting stuck in your own head won’t do you any good. Instead, for the sake of your own inspiration, not to mention sanity, go out and take a walk. The sunshine and fresh air will put that slow word count back into perspective.

4) Understand People Like Adelle Waldman

“I recommend that you practice creating fictional characters by trying to describe, privately, the people in your life. See if you can describe their characters without being so general that they could be anyone. Then check back in a few months. If your description has radically changed, you have a ways to go.” — Adelle Waldman

Think about your favorite ever novel. Chances are, it’s the characters, as much as the plot, that stand out in your mind. Special characters stay with us in special ways.

Think about how many people draw upon fictional heroes for inspiration. This is often due to the fact that the author’s skill has made the character seem more human and more believable in the eyes of the reader.

Thankfully, we all have a rich well of inspiration to draw from when crafting characters. The idiosyncrasies, foibles, and quirks that make real humans so memorable can be applied to the characters in your fiction.

5) Be Persistent Like James Patterson

“I got rejected by 31 publishers before my first book got published. It’s hard work, but worth it.” — James Patterson

Can you imagine the heartbreak and pain accompanying rejection by 31 publishers?

And this wasn’t in the day where anyone could publish to anyone else via Kindle Direct Publishing. In Patterson’s day, the publishers were the gatekeepers. It was their way or the highway. The highway to failure, to be precise.

“But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” — Rocky Balboa

Ultimately, success in writing is about brushing the dirt off your shoulder and moving forward.

Ask James Patterson’s accountant if you don’t believe me.

Dave Chesson is a book marketing obsessive who has consulted for various NYT Bestselling authors. He shares his latest ideas at Kindlepreneur.com, such as his recent guide to book writing software, and also hosts The Book Marketing Show podcast.

The post #5onFri: Five Lessons from Legendary Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.