Nancy Christie's Blog, page 5

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 8

Stock Your Inspiration “Toolbox.”

Sometimes the writing well runs dry. You are sitting there, pen at hand or keyboard at fingertips, all ready to write except…

Except nothing happens. It’s frustrating. It’s aggravating. And it’s happened to all of us.

What do you do now? Reach for your inspiration toolbox—writing “tools” that inspire you. This can be anything from music and artwork to fragrances or activities. I have a box full of odds and ends that I acquired on trips, at flea markets or from g...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 7

Beat the Procrastination Proclivity.

Do you suffer from procrastination when it comes to your writing? Ben Franklin’s advice to never put off until tomorrow what you can do today applies to writing as well.

It’s all too easy to say that you’ll write tomorrow because today you are too busy/too tired/ too uninspired, but that sets a bad precedent.

Instead, stop making excuses for why you aren’t writing and start writing at least a little each day to create the habit.

Having a written schedule can ...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 6

Join a Writing Community.

Many writers, no matter how much they enjoy the experience of writing, also feel the loneliness that comes with it if they aren’t part of a community of other writers.

Writing requires a certain amount of solitude so you can concentrate on the task at hand. At the same time, being in your own space all by yourself can lead to a sense of isolation.

Writing is a solitary activity but that doesn’t mean you need to be a solitary writer.

In How to Overcome Loneliness as a Wr...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 5

Accept the Reality of Rejection.

Isaac Asimov said that “rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil – but there is no way around them.”

The fact is that all writers, not just you, experience rejection in one form or another.

What determines your writing “life expectancy” is how you handle it. Don’t waste time and energy being angry or disheartened.

In Rejection Is an Enormous Part of a Writer’s Life, Alexander Ch...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 4

Focus on Successes.

Success can take many forms. It can be an acceptance by an editor, publisher or agent.

But success can also be completing a project, writing about something that challenged you emotionally or technically, exploring a new genre or form of writing, or being brave enough to submit your work to others to read and critique.

Every writer has his or her own definition of success—something I wrote about in How Writers Measure Success — 15 Authors Share Their Thoughts. It’s also the f...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 3

Create a Writing Space

Large or small, permanent or temporary, in your home or at a public space, it doesn’t matter where your writing space is, only that it exists.

Having a physical space that is devoted to your writing identifies it as an act that also deserves figurative “space” in your life.

Granted, not everyone has the luxury of a separate room as their writing space, especially if you’re sharing space with kids in the house or an adult with a work-for-home situation.

You may need to chan...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 2

Establish a Writing Routine

The muse doesn’t enter unless the door is open. And the way to open that door is by creating a writing routine.

Ideally you should aim for at least 30 minutes a day devoted to your craft.

Don’t think a half-hour is enough for a useful writing routine? Wondering what you can do in that short timeframe?

In 30 minutes, you can:

Outline an essay or article. (How to Write an Outline for Anything and Article Writing Tips: How to Write an Outline are full of tips!)Develop ...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 1

Set Your Writing Goal

It can be starting a major project (a book, for example), making a career move (becoming a freelance writer) or improving your writing or marketing skills.

How do you decide what goal works for you? Brainstorm a bit on what your writing skills are, how much time you can reasonably devote to your goal and what other obligations can affect your success at achieving it.

While it’s good to dream big, your goal must be rooted in reality.

Establish short- and long-term goals. For...

Looking back at 2024

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

This past year has, on the whole, been a good one.

We’ll ignore the health issues that thankfully turned out to be relatively minor. As for the ambulance ride—well, as all writers know, every life event can be fodder for our work!

And since that trip turned out to be the result of nothing more serious than low blood pressure, low blood sugar and a nasty flu, I ended up using it in my upcoming novel MOVING MAGGIE. Nothing is ever wasted!

First my novels—FINDING F...

Thoughts on writing and life for December 2024

Why I need to believe in the magic of writing

This is an edited excerpt from my December 2024 newsletter, The Writing Life. (Subscribe here.)

You can also listen to it on my Living the Writing Life podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash

In December, as I haul out my Christmas ornaments and hang up the stocking my parents bought for me decades ago (no, don’t ask how many decades, please!), I find myself believing in magic more strongly than any other tim...