Each of us must do things we don’t like in our jobs. Effectively doing things that you like is pretty easy. But if you’re going to be successful, you’ll need to do unpleasant things well, too. So: here are some thoughts on doing unpleasant things well, from a person who had done thousands of unpleasant…
I got some interesting responses to yesterday’s list of what tasks to do for your book and in what order. One editor’s response on LinkedIn was typical: I’m fascinated by this list. It seems incredibly counterintuitive to me. Spending time on a title, subtitle, marketing copy, and worrying about who your editor might be before…
I use a variety of tools to plan writing projects. These are usually based on intermediate deliverables and milestones, like plans and treatments. They’re great tools — but they’re only tools. Optimizing the intermediate deliverables is a wasteful fetish. Useful planning tools It’s a big mistake to begin a book without careful planning. Here’s a…
The typical business writing process is a disaster. I’ve seen it; I’ve lived it; I’ve picked up the pieces afterwards. And bad process creates bad results. For better quality with less angst, you need the discipline to work in three distinct stages. The 3 P’s will mess you up This advice is for writing projects that take a…