Nancy Christie's Blog, page 3

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 24

Increase Your Efficiency.

If you have multiple projects at various stages of completion on your schedule, you may get that sinking feeling that you’ll never be able to meet all the deadlines.

While project management software can help, my preference is to use a large whiteboard where I list the projects and deadlines.

Others may use a wall calendar, paper date book, or an online calendar with notifications to remind you of what’s coming up.

But whatever you use, you need to make a list, so not...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 23

Become Social Media Savvy.

Facebook. X. Instagram. Pinterest. LinkedIn. Bluesky. Threads. TikTok.

Each day there seems to be a new kid on the social media block vying for your time and attention.

Whether you like it or hate it, social media is there to stay. That means you must learn how to use it to connect with your readers, increase your platform and support your fellow writers.

While not a substitute for your own website, whether you’re an author or a freelancer looking for assignments, soci...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 22

Create a Writing Success Team.

Sometimes it can feel like you are working in isolation, with no one to share your work with and no one around to understand the joys and challenges of the writing life.

That’s when having a writing success team can make all the difference.

A good writing success team has three kinds of people:

The Encouragers—These are the people who keep your spirit up when you’re ready to throw in the towel after yet another rejection or a client project that went all sideways....

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 21

Take It a Step at a Time.

You’ve set your 2025 goal. This is going to be the year when you write your book. Or start your copywriting career. Or become a rock star on social media. Or build your writer platform.

You do your research, reading everything you can on the subject. But the more you research and read, the more overwhelmed you feel.

Or maybe it’s a client project or magazine assignment that you have committed to. But what seemed like a doable task when you took it on suddenly seems far ...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 20

Get Over the Guilt.

You want to write but…

You need to leave for work. Or the kids need help with their homework. Or the laundry needs washed. Or dinner needs prepared. Or a friend or family member wants to talk.

So, you push your writing aside, telling yourself, I’ll get to it later.

The trouble is, “later” never seems to come around. There’s always something else that needs attended to.

And, after all, you tell yourself, it’s not like I’m making any money at this. Or that I’ve been published. ...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 19

Call for Critiques

Beta readers can be one of your most valuable resources as a writer. Whether you seek them out through online resources or ask for help from members of your writers group, you will get the feedback you need to improve your work.

Once you’ve created your list of beta readers, be clear what you want from them.

On my Be a Beta Reader! page, I list some of the tasks beta readers can provide, from giving initial gut reactions on the piece to flagging those annoying clichés and repe...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 18

Nix the Negativity.

I once knew a writer who loved to write. but hated the writing business—every part of it.

He hated the idea of having to do any marketing.He hated the reality that pitching a book to agents or publishers would garner more rejections than acceptances.He hated the fact that copywriting projects frequently meant revising work to meet the expectations of clients.

And so ultimately he gave up on the whole writing life, blaming everyone and everything else instead of his own in...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 17

Switch Your Style.

Feeling a little stale? That’s not uncommon.

While having a comfort zone when it comes to our writing—the same place, the same time, the same type of writing—can make getting into the mood easier, it can also lead to the “same old, same old” feeling.

We get the uncomfortable feeling that what we wrote today sounds a lot like what we wrote yesterday. Or last week. Or last month.

As Robert Frost said, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” And when we get stale,...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 16

Combat Complacency.

Complacency is a dangerous disease that may infect any writer, especially after having a fair degree of writing success.

When that happens, you can start feeling a little smug or self-assured or even cocky—until your work is rejected because it just doesn’t meet the editor’s or client’s expectations.

Why? Because you haven’t been improving your skills or developing better techniques. In short, you haven’t stepped up your game.

There is no “finish line” when you’re a writer. W...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 15

Fight the Fear.

There’s no denying that putting your work, and by extension yourself, out there can generate a great deal of fear, which is why I listed it as one of the top three ruts in my “What’s Your Rut?” chapter in RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR WRITERS.

Writing is like being on a tightrope. You can see the end, but between that and the first step stretches a very long, very skinny rope.

And you find yourself standing there on the ledge, thinking about giving it a go, but never really moving—too afr...