There are two common ways to craft a substantial piece of writing (like a 1200-word essay or an 8000-word book chapter). No one taught me either of those techniques, and as a result, I developed my own method: Characteristics of sequential incremental revision I didn’t deliberately invent or refine this method, but having written perhaps…
Perfectionist tendencies are often the writer’s biggest obstacle. In the last few days I’ve met a memoirist who was stuck polishing her first chapter over and over and a thought leadership author who kept backing up and revising his primary model idea based on feedback from whomever he spoke with last. These writers seem intent…
If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Michael Pollan, Isaac Asimov, or David Sedaris, should you copy them? Should you try to write like them? No. You are you. But you should copy their best practices. How to learn from successful authors If you like what you’re reading, take a moment to examine…
The idea that you would just sit down and write a beautiful draft is deluded. The best writers do this on the best days; you, on the other hand, have to work even when you are not the best writer and it is not the best day. You can solve this my way — with…
There are two challenges with writing anything — flow and impact. The flow problem is this: does each sentence lead into the next, and each paragraph lead into the next, in a way that draws the reader along? The impact problem is this: does the piece take you with ironclad logic to a place where…
Every nonfiction author feels it. That moment when you think “I can’t do this. I am not an author. I am helpless. I can’t move forward.” That’s crippling self-doubt. It’s so common, it deserves an acronym. CSD. Do you suffer from CSD? Please have hope. I’m here to help. First, here’s what doesn’t help This…