What if the writing life you’re working so hard to create is only one of several writing lives available to you? As writers, we can become very attached to a particular picture of what the future is supposed to look like. Finish this manuscript. Find an agent. Get published. Write another book. Build an author […]
What happens when you still want to finish your book, but you have absolutely no motivation to write? You open your manuscript and the energy simply is not there. The excitement that carried you through the beginning has faded. Your characters feel quieter, the idea that once occupied your thoughts all day feels further away, […]
How long does it take you to decide whether something online is worth your attention? A few seconds? You’re scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or an online store and your brain is making tiny decisions constantly. Pause here. Keep scrolling. Click that. Ignore this. Read the caption. Watch the video. Move on. Then you pick […]
Have you ever written a sentence, barely reached the full stop, and immediately heard a voice in your head say, “That’s terrible”? Perhaps it tells you the scene is boring. Your characters feel flat. The idea has already been done. Or anybody who reads what you’ve written will realise you have absolutely no idea what […]
Have you reached a point in your manuscript where the plot seems to have stopped moving? You have scenes. Your characters are doing things. Conversations are happening, discoveries are being made and complications are appearing. Yet when you read the last few chapters, something feels wrong. The story drags. A reveal lands with less impact […]
You made a writing plan. You looked at the week ahead, chose your writing sessions and decided what you wanted to work on. Perhaps you even felt a small surge of relief because, finally, you had a clear way forward. Then the sessions came and went. Life became busier than expected. You arrived at the […]
Mindset Monday explores the inner work of writing, including resistance, procrastination, self-doubt, perfectionism, creative confidence and the deeper patterns that shape how you show up to the page. Most writers begin the week with a sincere hope that they will find time to write. They think, “I’ll write when I get a chance,” or, “I’ll […]
There may be a book calling to you, deep in your heart and soul, that you desperately want to write. Perhaps the idea has stayed with you for years. Perhaps you have already begun writing it several times. You feel excited whenever you imagine the finished book, yet something inside you pulls back as soon […]
Planning your chapters can sound beautifully practical until you actually sit down to do it. You open your laptop, create a new document, maybe type Chapter One at the top of the page, and tell yourself, “Right, I’m going to map this book properly.” Then something strange happens. Either you stare at a blank table […]
When the Joy of Writing Goes Quiet Have you ever opened your manuscript and realised the spark has gone quiet? You still care about the book. You still want to finish it. You may even know, deep down, that the story still matters. But the little rush of curiosity, delight, excitement, or possibility that first […]
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