If you’re working and trying to write, or if you’re trying to balance your own writing with paid writing or family commitments, you’re probably stressed. You’re trying to keep track of a thousand different responsibilities, ideas, appointments and tasks, juggle friends and family and actually have a life. When your head is full of [...]
Author Archives: Charlie
Devon writing retreat: the March report
Every time I go to Devon I love it more, despite the apparently endless rain. I meant the place when I typed that sentence, but thinking about it I mean the residential retreats too. I’ve felt a bit silly about the fact that they bring me such joy – after all I spend most of [...]
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Is there a secret to being productive?
This video from AsapSCIENCE looks at how to use your time productively. Top takeaway? Schedule time to write with breaks and create accountability so that you’re not just relying on willpower.
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Procrastination and present-bias
Temporal proximity, our brain’s bias towards the present, and some techniques to overcome procrastination. My favourite tip is to accept that you WILL procrastinate. It’s no good thinking you’ll do what you should when you should, you have to accept that you are likely to procrastinate and find a workaround in advance.
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Lemon & Rosemary Cake
Because I somehow always manage to book retreats on Mother’s Day, I was in the unusual position of having a couple of spaces left on Sunday’s retreat at the start of this week. So I said that the next person to book could pick the cake. Jennifer was the next person, and she picked a [...]
Posted in Retreat recipes
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Win a place on the Get Writing! Online Bootcamp
The 4 week online writing bootcamp is BACK in April 2013 and I’m giving away one free place. Woo! Here’s how 1. Write a short paragraph telling me your biggest writing problem at the moment and what it is that you dream of writing. Make me laugh, make me root for you, tell me whatever you like, just [...]
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A 30 day challenge – last-minute offer
I’ve been taking part in the Screw Work Let’s Play 30 Day Challenge since it started 2 years ago (this is perhaps the 4th round). I’d been running writing retreats for a couple of years already but was feeling stifled and ready to give them up. I wasn’t writing at all, which was contributing to [...]
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Got the novel-draft blues? Try this motivation trick
You know that feeling when you get part-way through a large writing project and all of a sudden it feels like the worst thing ever written in the history of time? You go to bed one night pleased with your progress, wake up the next morning and everything’s vanished. All the ideas and the enthusiasm, [...]
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Why every writer should blog
Today’s guest post comes from George Copeland, a freelance features and content writer who can find on Twitter @WordsOParadise. It doesn’t matter how good you are as a writer, or if you have ‘hidden talent’. As someone who kept my own talent hidden away from public eyes, I know that hidden talent means nothing if [...]
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Writing for 5 minutes a day
I go back periodically to Morning Pages, the 3 pages (okay, I admit it’s more like 1-2 pages for me) of stream-of-consciousness writing popularised by Julia Cameron. They’re brilliant for working through problems over a period of weeks, for exploring ideas, jump-starting creativity and finding clarity. Sometimes though, it’s too much. There are no life [...]
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