Hillary Rettig's Blog, page 11
July 13, 2015
The Problem With Daily Word Counts
This list of the daily word counts of famous authors has been making the rounds. The top producers, by far, are the late thriller writer Michael “Jurassic Park” Crichton and the late British historical novelist R. F. Delderfield, who both apparently wrote 10,000 words a day. Then we’ve got one 6,000-word-a-day chap (thriller writer John Creasy), a […]
July 5, 2015
Lively Interview on Writing Productivity and Overcoming Perfectionism (30 mins)
Check out this fun 30-minute interview I did on boosting writing productivity and overcoming perfectionism. The interviewers were the lively and knowledgeable Dr. Bob Wright and Christine Wright of StressFreeNow:
July 4, 2015
Marriage Equality and How to Cope with Success-Related Losses
Last week was amazing, here in the U.S. We started with despair (at the murder of the nine black parishioners by a Confederate-flag-wearing white supremacist in Charleston), followed by hope (a newfound widespread rejection of said flag), relief (the Supreme Court ruling preserving the Obamacare subsidies), and, finally, jubilation (the ruling establishing marriage equality as […]
June 24, 2015
Productivity Tips from Alex the Parrot
I just finished reading Irene Pepperberg’s wonderful book Alex & Me, about her work and relationship with Alex, the African Grey parrot who became internationally renowned for his cognitive and communications skills, including being able to hold simple conversations, spell simple words, and do simple math. Turns out he could procrastinate, too. One problem Pepperberg […]
June 2, 2015
Upcoming Workshops and Classes (May – July 2015)
Online, July 6 – August 3 The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Basics of Joyful Production SavvyAuthors.com More info / To register Inspiration exists and is available to everyone at almost any time. Underproductivity, procrastination, and blocks are solvable problems. The secret to achieving a state of near-perpetual inspiration (a.k.a., “flow”) is to switch […]
June 1, 2015
Exclusive! John Scalzi’s Time Management and Career Tips
Last week, the publishing world was abuzz with the news that bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi signed a movie-star-like $3.4 million publishing deal for 10 books. Scalzi is someone I admire enormously, not just for his writing and career success, but because he’s a genuinely nice guy, both offline (I’ve seen him at science fiction conventions) […]
Exclusive! John Scalzi’s Time Management and Career Tips!
Last week, the publishing world was abuzz with the news that bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi signed a movie-star-like $3.4 million publishing deal for 10 books. Scalzi is someone I admire enormously, not just for his writing and career success, but because he’s a genuinely nice guy, both offline (I’ve seen him at science fiction conventions) […]
May 14, 2015
Don’t Let Unintended/Unwanted Consequences Hold Back Your Projects
Reblogged from the Thesis Whisperer. The anonymous author of this piece, originally entitled “What’s it like to Finish?”, does a great job of articulating how even a great success, like finishing a thesis, will almost always yield some unwanted consequences. Often we at least intuit these, and the fear of them can cause us to […]
April 24, 2015
And for those of you who happen not to live in Cleveland :-) …
Don’t forget my upcoming online classes! ALL writers are invited to take the next two classes, including fiction, nonfiction, academic, nonprofit, business, and “other” writers. Online classes are cheap, convenient, fun, and there’s lots of free parking. Plus, you’ll get loads of support and individual attention. – Hillary Online (Everyone welcome!), May 11 – June […]
Talking TWICE in Cleveland Tomorrow! (Saturday, 4/25 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.)
Late notice, but I’ll be doing a double workshop on (1) how to do joyful vegan activism, and (2) writing productivity TOMORROW, Saturday, April 25, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Details here. You can come to one or both workshops – both will be lively and fun! You are also invited to come before the […]
