For writers, disappointment is inevitable. Maybe that’s a negative belief, but you’d probably agree that most writers experience disappointment at some point—especially if they take risky steps to realize their publishing dreams. But you don’t have to allow disappointment to stop you from continuing to move boldly toward your goals of writing and publishing successfully. I know this well. As a writer and author, I boldly send query letters to agents and publishers concerning the book projects I intend them to help me publish. And when I get rejection letters in return, I feel disappointed. As ..read more

There is a way to make changing or developing new writing habits easier. Change your environment. When you alter the context in which you write, developing new behaviors becomes simpler. Your current environment supports your everyday writing habits. For example, if your desk sits in a dark corner of the house and is covered in bills, dirty tissues, and books, you won’t find it conducive to writing. In fact, every time you show up at your desk to write, you’ll feel the need to clean up first–and, since you don’t want to do that, you’ll walk away without ever turning on the computer. But suppo ..read more

You’ve heard the advice: Get out of your comfort zone! Indeed, life takes on a different quality when challenging yourself to go beyond what feels easy now. And if you have writing goals and publishing dreams, you probably realize that achieving them requires stretching past your current competence and confidence levels, and that can feel uncomfortable. It’s no wonder many writers prefer to remain in their comfort zone—one where things always remain the same, they don’t have to do anything different or hard, and they don’t have to show up big. It’s just…well…comfortable. And comfortable equat ..read more

Our society perpetuates the belief that you must overcome numerous obstacles to succeed. These might include high levels of skill or knowledge, large amounts of time, vast quantities of money, and connections with the right people. While some of this may be true, only one real obstacle blocks the way to your success in any life arena–including writing, publishing, and authorship. If you remove it, the other hurdles become easy to overcome. Can you identify the obstacle? You. You are the only obstacle you need to overcome to succeed at anything you want to achieve, including your writing and p ..read more

Have you ever felt like your hands are tied, and you can’t reach for your writing dreams? If you have, you may realize that the restrictive feeling you experienced comes from lack and fear, both of which stem from your thought processes. Let’s say you believe you lack time to write. This belief brings up fearful thoughts, such as “If I write for an hour, I won’t get other important things done.” And that thought leads to another, like, “If I don’t get those things done, I’ll feel overwhelmed. And my (boss, partner, children, or parents) will become angry at me.” Your mind doesn’t focus on pot ..read more

Achievement of your writing ambitions requires sustained motivation. So, if your motivation level regularly waxes and wanes, you’ll make slow and inconsistent progress toward your publishing goals. However, a consistently high level of motivation means you can move quickly and consistently toward your aspirations as a writer. So, how can you sustain your motivation long-term? You must understand how ambition and motivation work together and what other elements, such as purpose and inspiration, create sustained motivation levels. Defining Ambition and Motivation Let’s start by looking at what ..read more

If you find it challenging to become the person you want to be—a nonfiction writer or author, consider developing an alter ego. This “alternative self’ might be just what you need to begin showing up at your computer with the characteristics, behaviors, and mindsets you desire—and know you need to succeed at a writing and publishing career. Simply defined, your ego is that portion of your personality experienced as the “self” or “I.” It is the conscious mind or consciousness of your own identity that distinguishes itself from others and the external world. Your alter ego is a different versio ..read more

I cannot tell you exactly how many writers suffer from overthinking, but I know it’s a considerable number. I’ve seen myself get stuck in it, as well as many nonfiction writers I’ve coached. Sometimes I think overthinking is a pandemic. Simply defined, overthinking means thinking too much. It’s a “condition” that keeps all sorts of people, including nonfiction writers, mentally going round and round about a topic, event, or decision. Overthinking is like having your mind stuck in a thought loop, unable to reach the end of its mental discussion. When you overthink, you analyze the simplest of ..read more

You want to change, yet you continue to point out all the reasons why you can’t write consistently or productively. You may already realize this, but fighting for your limitations is a broken strategy—if you want to transform yourself into the nonfiction writer you know you can…and want…to be. Every time you say, “I really want to____ (Fill in the blank with your desired change, like “write daily,” “submit my work to agents,” “query magazine editors,” or “build my platform.”), but I can’t because____ (Fill in the blank with your reason or limitation, such as “I don’t have the time,” “life get ..read more

When committing to your writing and publishing goals, you’ve probably heard the age-old advice to “give 110 percent.” Yet, how often do you commit to working on your current work-in-progress—but not entirely. You say you are committed to writing, but only about 90 percent (or less). Think about the times when you weren’t fully committed to writing. How difficult did it feel to keep that commitment, like to write daily? Now recall a time when you were fully committed to your work-in-progress—or even starting and finishing a book, blog post, article, or essay. How easy did it feel to follow thr ..read more