Advice for Writers
from Ellen Daly
Five Tips for Sustaining a New Year’s Writing Resolution
Did you know that as many as 40% of Americans make New Year's Resolutions, but fewer than 8% will actually succeed? While it doesn’t figure in the Top 10 most common resolutions, one of the resolutions I tend to hear from people I meet is “I’m going to get my book...
Planning Your Writing Retreat Part III: Choosing the Perfect Place
When you think “writing retreat,” do you dream of a secluded cabin in the woods, miles from anywhere? A beachfront condo on a tropical island? Or perhaps a mountain refuge, high above the world and its distractions? Unfortunately, options like those are not always...
Planning Your Writing Retreat Part II: Making the Best Use of Your Time
In the midst of our busy lives, many writers dream about getting away to some secluded haven with nothing but a laptop and a pile of books. If only we could escape all the distractions, we imagine we'd be blissfully focused and creative from dawn to dusk. The reality,...
Planning Your Writing Retreat Part I: Why It’s a Good Idea
Do you struggle to find the time or energy to write amidst the demands of your busy life? Do you wonder when you’ll ever have the space to finish your book? For many of us, juggling work, family, and some semblance of a social life barely leaves time to catch up on...
3 Ways to “Slow Down” Your Writing
I had lunch today with a new client who was having trouble writing on his blog. He had no shortage of ideas and was good at explaining them person-to-person, but found that when he sat down to write, the results were dense, hard to follow, and inaccessible to people...
Is the Publishing Industry Thriving?
This month's issue of the New Republic is dedicated to the theme of books, with a special feature section entitled "The Book Industry Is Thriving! Somehow." It's well worth a read for anyone who cares about books, and presents interesting evidence that the book has...
5 Ways To Start Building Your Platform Today
Following my last post, What Is An Author Platform?, here are some low-cost, practical tips for how you can start platform building. Map Your Network This one’s fun. Get some sticky notes, and find a big empty surface (I prefer a large whiteboard, so I can draw on it...
What Is An Author Platform?
If you’ve even dipped a toe into the waters of publishing, you’ve likely heard the word “platform” being thrown about. Publishers don’t buy books anymore, we’re told. They buy platforms. So what exactly is a platform, and how can you, an aspiring author, build a...
Of Myths & Misattributions
I recently went through the rather painful process of rechecking the endnote citations for the second edition of a book I worked on many years ago—back when I was younger and more naive about the veracity of things found on the internet. As I suspected, some of the...
