April Challenge – Week 3 Recap – Write Slow

April 22, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

It’s hard to believe that there are only 10 days left in April, isn’t it? Where does the time go? What have I accomplished? Why isn’t my book done yet? This week of intense writing has taught me something extremely valuable, something for which I think I’ll be grateful for a long time to come. […]

April Challenge – Have You Ever Eaten Four Bananas?

April 8, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Early mornings, late nights, a trillion words written, loud music, standing desks, and bananas – week 1 of the April challenge was a massive success. If you haven’t read my post about what I’m doing this month, check it out here. As a quick recap, I promised to: Write 90,000 words in April (3,000 a […]

How To Fly Stress Free

April 5, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

We writers are stressed out, jumpy folks, don’t you think? Some of us can be downright irritable. We can be argumentative and contrarian. A lot of us aren’t very good in crowds. We get anxious a lot. That’s the stereotype, I know, so I apologize if any of you are different. I can just see […]

Why To Make A Change – April Challenge

April 1, 2017.Reading time 9 minutes.

Write 90,000 Words. Step Up At The Gym. Quit Drinking (Temporarily). It’s time to make a change, and have some fun while doing it. Over the past few years I’ve been getting better and better at self-motivation, productivity, and juggling the multiple things I care about (friends and family, fitness, work, writing, etc.), but I […]

Why You Should Wake Up Early

March 25, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Divisive post, I know, especially to a group of people that (probably) mostly consists of night-owls. Here, I’ll post your reply for you: “Shut up, Dave, I work better at night. Don’t tell me how to live my life!” But I’m here to tell you that if you’re looking for an extra boost, that surge of productivity that’ll […]

Day Jobs and Creativity

November 21, 2016.Reading time 8 minutes.

You know the scene; you live in this picture every day. Rows of desks march down an open floor plan; coworking spaces nestle in niches and corners; LED computer screens add their eerie white glow to the ceiling lights set overhead. Fingers click on keys and mouses brush against tables; conversations float at eye level, […]

Keep It Simple

March 25, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

Keeping things simple is one of the most important things a person can do in life, at work, with friends, when making plans, and (shocker, I bet you didn’t think I was going to go here) in writing. You’re probably thinking that I’m stating the obvious, that keeping things simple is intuitive, that your nine-year-old […]

Why You Should Keep A Journal, Author Voice, And Other Stuff

February 7, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

I’ve recently come to believe that keeping a journal is one of the most important things a writer can do. Over the years I’ve been on and off about writing in a journal – I kept a journal in high school, abandoned it, picked up it back up in college, started to think it was incredibly […]

Break The Rules

September 18, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

I’ve been trying a new writing method lately, and it goes against one of the main tenets of writing gospel. You know what I’m talking about – the writing gospel, the two, three, five, or ten basic principles that the productive, the famous, the brilliant writers of the world preach to amateur writers who are […]

Take Out Your Headphones And Look Around

August 14, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

I have a pretty great commute to and from work every day. It involves a ten minute walk from my apartment to the metro, a fifteen minute metro ride, and a five minute walk from the metro to my office. On the way back, if it’s nice, it involves a five minute walk from my office […]