A year ago today, I was laid off from the longest job I ever held. I planned to leave last summer; they unknowingly moved the date up 6 or 7 months. The year following every layoff I’ve ever had has always been productive and fun. This past year has been the best! The Year in […]
Archives for December 2010
The Best Productivity Tip I Know
There’s a huge industry based around productivity. I only have a couple productivity books, but I follow many blogs that discuss productivity in passing. I can see the allure of constantly revising one’s system for being productive. (It’s kind of like revising a story or article if you think about it.) I see reviews for […]
Head Over to Social Media Examiner
I recently wrote about a LinkedIn traffic trick that helped get more traffic from my LinkedIn profile to The Juggling Writer and my other sites. In the last paragraph of the entry, I mentioned that I answer questions on LinkedIn when I feel I can help somebody or add to the conversation. I recently answered […]
What to Do When You Finish a Novel
You’ve finished a novel. So what? Many people feel like creating something big is enough, that in finishing a novel they’ve done all they need to do. If you write for yourself — and I’d argue there’s no better reason to write — you really have done all you need to do when you complete […]
Does Writing Make You Happy?
Does writing make you happy? Should writing make you happy? I’ve talked with other writers and the results are mixed. If It Makes You Miserable One thing I hear even more than whether writing makes writers happy is how miserable it makes them. I’ve encountered writers who talk about how they have to write, even […]
The Tool in Your Head
I was hired at most of the jobs I’ve had for no other reason than I know certain programs or how to use certain tools. I’ve run lathes, made molds, drove forklifts, and used other machinery; I’ve taught myself billing systems, piles of Microsoft products, piles of Adobe products, and many other programs. The sad […]
Having a Writing Backup Plan
I’ve known writers who were bombarded with, “What’s your backup plan in case it fails?” when they made the leap to writing full time. People who say, “You need a backup plan,” to writers are right — we all need backup plans…including people in day jobs. Their Plan The funny thing — most people with […]
The Effects of Hurrying
As a writer, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes worry about people’s lack of focus. People seem to rush about in a blur — I hear more and more people say they don’t have time to read. I see people reply tl;dr (short for “too long; didn’t read”) in comments on blogs […]
Words You Shouldn’t Use in a Writing Pitch
Yesterday while working out, I listened to a podcast about business and work. Each time the interviewer asked a question meant to allow the interviewee the chance to talk about what he was selling, the interviewee said: “So yeah…it’s like blah blah blah. Basically, it’s a thing that will blah blah blah…” Those little lead-in […]
The Exceptions
People say stories like this one about a single father rising from poverty to e-book publishing success are exceptions. And they are. But bestselling novelists are also exceptions. If you aspire to becoming an exception, there’s more than one way there, now.
How To Get Things Done
How do you find time to write; how do you get things done? For many people, they buy a book about productivity. And another… And another… They read productivity blogs, and they attend productivity workshops. They buy new systems to keep them organized and decluttered. They buy books about organization and reducing clutter. They buy […]
LinkedIn Traffic Trick
I recently did one little thing that increased traffic from LinkedIn to my websites almost three fold: I customized my link descriptions. Before and After My link descriptions used to read “Personal Website” and “Blog” — the standard LinkedIn defaults (along with “Company Website”). Also, I never used the third slot LinkedIn allows for links […]
Hooray for Failure
It seems that failure’s received a good rap lately. While there are still those who are terrified to take a step toward the things they want to do for fear of things not working out perfectly, most people in the creative community have come to accept that getting better takes some failing along the way. […]