Writing Tools Review- How Scrivener Changed My Writing Life

While Super G is off galavanting through New York, doing writerly things and hobnobbing with the big muckety mucks on Avenue of the Americas, she has given me the keys to WI. It is always satisfying when my relentless charm and Charlie Brown good looks lure yet another female into trusting me with her career. [...]

How Not to Waste Your Writing Time

If you‘re a busy writer with other thing on your agenda, then it’s important not to waste your writing time. Here are 3 simple ways to help you be more productive when you write. Go with the Flow I’m not talking about the words that should flow from your fingers. I’m talking about the crazy [...]

Feeling Overwhelmed with Your Work Load?

First drafts, research, edits – it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There are steps you can take to get through it. • Write it down – I often make lists of everything that’s causing me stress. There is something about getting it from your mind to paper that helps keep it in perspective. • Start with [...]

Putting the WORK back into Work-at-Home Mom

Once upon a lifetime I worked as a Financial Analyst at an worldwide HR firm. It sounds far more prestigious than it actually was. Sure, I had specific degrees of stress, but I managed it all with elaborate spreadsheets, lists and calendars. I was good at my job. That was nearly ten years ago before [...]

4 Practical Ways on How to meet a Deadline

The first time I wrote a book on a deadline it was both exhilarating and scary. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to meet a deadline. 1. Banish self doubt. There isn’t time to constantly second guess every decision. If an editor had faith that you could deliver, have that same amount of confidence in [...]

Procrastination Nation

Hello, my name is Julie, and I’m a procrastinator. It’s something that I struggle with often. I have a short attention span, which isn’t helpful when you’re writing novels. I’m the mom of a four-year-old and have a full-time job. If I procrastinate, I’m not going to get it all done. It has forced me [...]

Hurricanes of Excuse

I said I would do it. I said I would deliver the project on time. I said I would be faithful. I said I would be there. And then Sandy hit. The funny thing is that Sandy didn’t derail my life. Sure, we lost power and the kids missed two weeks of school, but in [...]

Project ADD? Why It’s So Hard to Finish

Is there such a thing as project ADD? If so, I’ve got it! Probably had it all my life. I remember when I was little my mom saying I always start things, but never finish them. I see that in my adult life now as I look in my office with piles of writing and [...]

I Do My Best Writing in the Shower

The key to a more productive writing life, for me, may be an increase of distractions. I’m not kidding. I can sit down in a quiet house, long hours stretched before me, all allocated beautifully (according to my DayTimer) for writing. Nothing happens. My fingers idly tap the desk. I take another sip of coffee [...]

The Evolution of Distractions (and Wasted Time)

My distractions have evolved many times over the course of my writing journey. At first they were obvious: toddlers. I had two kids under the age of two and clearly could not write while either were awake. This offered a crisply defined line between writing and everything else. Naptimes provided neatly packaged blocks of time [...]

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