A little while back I saw this post in the BookCamp Facebook group: This caught my attention, so I reached out to George to hear more of his story. It turns out, George, his wife, and four children live in Burundi, a very poor country in East Africa just south of Rwanda. They’re missionaries who […]
Blogging is a great way for writers to build an audience, but how do you get people to pay attention to your posts? There’s nothing more demoralizing than working for hours on a post only to hear crickets after hitting “publish.” Having blogged professionally for five years now, I’d like to offer my top seven […]
Do you know about the book Write Better: A Lifelong Editor on Craft, Art, and Spirituality by Andrew T. Le Peau? I recently led the BookCamp community through this book and strongly recommend it to any writer. Below I offer my top 10 takeaways from Write Better: 1. When you start, don’t worry about where to start. […]
I rarely get eater’s block. If I want something to eat, it doesn’t take long to satisfy the urge. That’s because my family keeps a grocery list. Whenever or just before we run out of an item, we write it on the list. Then once or twice a week, one of us goes out to […]
A couple weeks ago I took my son downhill skiing for the first time. Everything went really well, and after five hours of skiing, the perfect way to cap off our adventure, I thought, would be two piping hot cups of hot chocolate. After returning our equipment, I asked one of the rental staff employees, […]
Recently I heard from a writer who said, “I feel like I get so bogged down with building a platform, I don’t have time to write!” That’s the cry of so many writers I’ve worked with. Here’s another one: “I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels. I forget why I got into this in […]
As I’ve worked with writers over the years, I’ve come to believe about 95 percent of the work of any creative is cultivating the right mindset. If we get the mental game right, everything else tends to work itself out. Obviously there are multiple facets to the mental game. I want to talk about just […]
I’ve been writing down and pursuing goals for about five years and have seen some wonderful results, including: Running my first triathlon Losing 50 pounds Starting my own business and transitioning to fulltime self-employment Becoming someone who prays and meditates regularly The list goes on. But my list of goals achieved is, of course, not […]
In many ways we’re living in a golden age for writers. The path to a sizeable audience for your story or message has never been more accessible. But as I’ve worked with thousands of writers over the past twenty-plus years, I’ve become aware of ways writers can be their own worst enemies. Certain mindsets cut […]
Recently I sent out a survey to writers in our BookCamp community and asked them, “When it comes to the whole process of writing, building an audience, and getting published, what’s the biggest challenge, frustration, or obstacle you are struggling with?” The top response by far: building an audience. Here’s what I posted in our […]
