A plan for the penultimate draft: taking your book from good to great

A plan for the penultimate draft: taking your book from good to great

When your book is complete but not done, you have an opportunity. You can make it excellent. Or you can stagger across the finish line and spend the next few months dealing with unnecessary bullshit. This post is about how to crush it on that penultimate draft. This advice is for writers of non-fiction books,…

A writer’s life: What I did for clients in 2017 (and could do for you, if you want)
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A writer’s life: What I did for clients in 2017 (and could do for you, if you want)

I made a pretty decent living as a writer this year, and I’m grateful — not many writers can say that. I thought it might help other writers and whatever friends and fans I have out there to peek into how I did it, so here’s a retrospective of a writer’s life in 2017. I…

Why you should read Academia Obscura instead of actually working
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Why you should read Academia Obscura instead of actually working

Instead of actually completing his Ph.D., Glen Wright has wasted his time writing a book called Academia Obscura: The hidden silly side of higher education. The result of this effort is to reveal in a funhouse mirror every possible idiotic and ironic aspect of academic life and publishing. I heartily recommend that you waste your money on…

Art and craft
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Art and craft

Here are a few words on what it feels to successfully create art, and why we can never really understand it. This weekend I attended “The Fabrication of Imagination,” a show put on by the Arts League of Lowell, Massachusetts. The people there were fascinating. I met Judith Wombwell, an artist originally trained as a choreographer…

For me, writing is about maximizing happiness, not income
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For me, writing is about maximizing happiness, not income

I just want to write for the rest of my life. Is that so much to ask? Despite my training as a mathematician, my first job was as a writer. I’ve written everything but fiction: software manuals, online help files, newsletters, press releases, interactive tutorials, books, newsletters, reports, articles, proposals, ads, memos, emails, speeches, blog…