Compete or collaborate? What the Iowa Writers’ Workshop teaches us about how to work with others
The fact that poet Paul Engle, who took over as director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1941 wrote with a bullwhip next to his typewriter speaks volumes about his methods and the philosophy behind the original program. Based at the University of Iowa, the Iowa...
The secrets of successful collaborative writing
In 2013, Alice Campion sent the manuscript of a novel she’d just finished called The Painted Sky to Penguin Random House Australia in the hope they might be interested in publishing it. They were. In fact, the publisher was bowled over. In an email back to the author,...
How long does it take to become a good writer? Deliberate practice for writing
Every writer has a backstory. The hidden hours of practice that got them to their ‘overnight’ success. Whether you’re creating a tenure track publication pipeline, or a poet working towards a first collection, it takes years to gain expertise as a writer. Get the...
How to avoid the willpower trap
We’re taught from an early age that trying to do such and such is admirable – and indeed, it can be. But in reality, making yourself do anything through willpower alone is a trap. It's demoralising and rarely gets results. Forcing yourself to write, stay focused or...
Overcome your writing blocks with obstacle thinking
Many things get in the way of writing - from the siren call of social media to children clamouring for attention. Find out what obstacles writers face and how to battle your writing baddies with obstacle thinking. Learn to WOOP with some help from video games. The...
Shake up your writing life to stop your routine becoming a rut
Writing routines work because they help you get the writing done in a more automatic way. But when your routine becomes an unhelpful rut and you start doing and thinking things that don’t work – you need to shake things up. In her book Mindfulness, which extols the...
You have less time than you think – and that’s OK
Feeling time-poor, burned out and unable to concentrate on your work in progress? Changing how you feel about the time you have can transform your writing practice. It all starts with noticing. No time to write The most common complaint we hear from writers is that...
Do you believe in writing myths?
You’d never call Cheryl Strayed (pictured) a shirker. Today, her books regularly hit the bestseller lists, her memoir Wild was made into an Oscar-nominated film. She’s successful and prolific by any measure. But for years she was stuck – she didn’t write a thing. She...
Build a rock solid writing routine with the psychology of habits
‘How to build a writing habit’ is clickbait for writers. Habits are a magic bullet to kill procrastination and end struggles with willpower. But beware! Writing does not meet the scientific definition of a habit so striving for the gold standard will end in failure....
Writing systems: finding yours, why it matters
Everybody writes differently but one thing’s the same. The writers who have a more balanced, easier and less wrung-out relationship with writing have all developed some kind of personal system to keep them going and to stop them from stalling. Before lockdown I used...
How to make time to write – 4 approaches to finding time in busy schedules
The main barrier to writing is not a lack of ideas but a lack of time. Our lives are packed to the brim with important and urgent things to do. Don’t wait for the perfect writing opportunity to arrive – you must make time. Learn about four approaches that other...
Epic procrastination: What Darwin’s 20-year delay teaches us about writing fear
June the 18th 1858 should go down in history as the day when one of the world’s most influential, revolutionary books was finally sparked into life. On that day the English naturalist Charles Darwin – who was little known at the time – was opening his morning mail...
