Imagine your book is in the world, and it’s something of a masterpiece. It keeps getting heralded as a breakthrough in its space, a gift. Now imagine that everyone who buys your book sits down with it and starts reading.
A few weeks ago, I typed two words into ChatGPT: “Feeling overwhelmed.” Between a busy summer season, organizing a writer’s retreat, and delivering on promises to clients, not to mention the daily work of being a husband and father to
William Zinsser, writing professor and author of the million-copy classic On Writing Well, would probably tell you this sentence is too long. He’d also tell you the hardest decision any writer makes is how to begin a piece. “Your lead
If you’re a writer who is struggling or could use some inspiration, you could do a lot worse than making Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art your soundtrack for the next two weeks, or longer. Whether you listen to the
This past May (2023) marked five years of fulltime self-employment as a writing coach. I’d like to mark the occasion by sharing some reflections on my experience so far. Listening to Clients and Customers When I went out on my
You’re likely aware of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” The poem ends with the famous line “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” Nice idea. The problem is that the
Sometimes when I’m working with writers, a question comes along that pierces me. I was leading a group of writers a little while back when one of the participants wrote in the chat space: “I struggle with making myself write—even
In The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel reports on the work of Angus Campbell, a psychologist who studied what makes people happy. Campbell wrote, “Having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings
Do you know what’s even better than a great book? A great book that recommends another great book! That’s exactly how I came across Write Useful Books: A Modern Approach to Designing and Refining Recommendable Nonfiction by Rob Fitzpatrick. AJ
My latest obsession is the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. I like the show for a lot of reasons, but here I want to focus on how well one scene captures a particular feeling with which many of us are
Writing is emotional work in that people can respond to what you write in a way that actually hurts. This is worth pondering for a minute. Other kinds of work like, say, washing dishes or taking out the trash, are
Recently I surveyed writers about their biggest challenge, and the following response caught my attention: Some days . . . all of it. I feel totally lost at times. How do I build an audience, know my work is where