daily writing habit Archives

How to Get Better at Writing: 10 Ideas to Ignite Your Best Work This Year

A version of this story appeared in Total Annarchy, my fortnightly newsletter that helps you be a better writer, storyteller, marketer. Get it in your inbox; you’ll love it. * * * <Hand over heart; eyes to the heavens.> This year, you resolve to…. 1. WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Get it out of your head. Get it onto the page. It’ll be lousy. It’ll be ugly. GOOD FOR YOU. You did it! Have a snack. ➡️ How to create that first draft: “Rework the horse.” 2. NEVER PUBLISH THE FIRST DRAFT. Rewriting sounds about as much fun as recovering from a Moderna booster. But please-please-please do it! Even if what you are going to publish is “just” an email. “Only” a LinkedIn post. “Merely” a marketing article. The difference between mediocre and not-mediocre is one more round of revisions. The difference between something you make excuses […]

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How to Build a Daily Writing Habit

A version of this story appeared in Total Annarchy, my fortnightly newsletter that helps you be a better writer, storyteller, marketer. Get it in your inbox; you’ll love it. * * * I’m typing this with one hand—let’s call it Lefty, because it’s my left hand. Righty hangs by my side, injured but itching to get in on the action, like a sidelined Olympian in Tokyo 2021. I had shoulder surgery two Thursdays ago for rotator cuff tears—four of them. (Caused over a year ago when I slipped and went down hard on a slushy Boston street. My right arm shot out and tried to be the hero.) I thought my cuff and I would bounce right back. I thought my arm would spend the weekend lounging in the summer sun like a lizard. And within a week—tops!—she’d be good to go. Maybe not quite ready for the batting cages. But