Bryan Collins's Blog, page 105
March 23, 2016
How to Organise Your Writing When It’s Just Chaos
Do you want to know how to organise your writing?
If you do, planning and structure are your new best friends.
You will find a writing project easier to finish and readers will find it easier to consume your work if there’s an underlying structure.
This is why books have paragraphs, chapters and narrative arcs.
It’s why blog posts have sub-headings and why newspaper articles are broken up with pull-out quotes, panels and boxes.Even the directors and writers of most successful films break the...
March 16, 2016
Leaving a Good Taste In Your Readers’ Mouths
Do you enjoy the taste of wine?
The best tasting vintages are left to ferment for weeks, months, or even years in a cool, dark place before being decanted into bottles.
Winemakers and drinkers know the product becomes better with age.
Writing is a little like making fine wine.
There’s the gathering of the ingredients, equipment, and materials.
There’s the artistry, hard-work, craft, and inevitable wait for something good.
When you’ve worked on a difficult writing project at length, it’s hard...
March 4, 2016
I’m Afraid of Being Honest
Image courtesy of Philip Kirk
When I started writing in public for the first time, I worried how people close to me would react.
What would my friends say if mined our confidence for a story?
What would my mother think if I wrote about sex?
Will people think I’m odd if I describe how I get up at dawn to write and that I sometimes prefer being alone in a small room with a warm idea to the company of others?
I felt like an imposter.
Who are you to call yourself a writer? Get out of here bef...
February 17, 2016
How to Finish Writing Your First Book Faster
Although I knew I wanted to publish my first book, and writing every day was the key to doing it, it wasn’t enough to know the concept.
I had to figure out how to keep my deadlines and finish writing what I started.
How could I write every day and balance having a job, two kids, friends and family who don’t write, and all the in-betweens?
I faced my biggest challenge yet.
If couldn’t face this one down, I’d never be able to call myself a writer.
I’d never be able to look myself in the mirro...
How to Create a Daily Writing Habit That Actually Works and Finish Your Book Faster
Although I knew I wanted to publish a book, and writing every day was the key to doing it, but it wasn’t enough to know the concept.
I had to figure out how to keep my deadlines and finish writing what I started.
How could I write every day and balance having a job, two kids, friends and family who don’t write, and all the in-betweens?
I faced my biggest challenge yet.
If couldn’t face this one down, I’d never be able to call myself a writer.
I’d never be able to look myself in the mirror a...
February 15, 2016
The 4 Biggest Myths About Writing a Book – Debunked
It’s exciting, isn’t it?
Writing your first book and then sending the final version to your editor and later it being available (and SELLING!) on Amazon.
The months (or even years) of hard work are over and now you can watch with pride as your bookgoes out into the world.
But, what if you’re not there yet? What if you’re still struggling to finish your first book?
Don’t worry.
In this post, I’m going to be honest with you.
I’m going to tell you about four of the most common myths new writers...
The 4 Biggest Myths Struggling New Writers Face – Debunked
Many new writers feel excited about creating a writing routine that lasts more than a few days.
They picture themselves pressing publish once a week on their blog or their finished book finally being available (and SELLING!) on Amazon.
But, can I be brutally honest with you?
I want to tell you about four of the most common myths new writers face when they try to create a writing routine and finish that book.
These are the myths about writing that hoodwinked me before I started a blog and pub...
February 10, 2016
10 Painful Truths I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Enrolled in Journalism College (And Decided to Become a Writer)
Can we keep this just between you and me?
The worst mistake I made at the start of my writing career was deciding I had the chops to make it as a journalist.
My next mistake was deciding I should only write what I love.
And another?
Deciding it was okay to write just at the weekends and not during the week, because I was busy.
Here are ten truths I wish I knew back when I decided I wanted to become a professional writer.
(If I’d know these 10 truths, I could have avoided my embarrassing mist...
January 26, 2016
Avoid Decision Fatigue Before It Slays Your Creativity
‘I just can’t be bothered.’
‘I’m just too tired.’
‘I don’t have the energy today.’
Haveyouevermadethese types of excusewhenit’stimetowrite or to create?
If you have, don’t beat yourself up. It’s natural to procrastinate about a decision when you’re tired.
In a 2009 study, Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, carried out an experiment whereby he asked students to sit next to a plate of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies.
He gave permission to some students to eat the co...
January 19, 2016
The Curious Link Between Productive Writing and White Lies
Do you enjoy telling lies?
Do you have a little something on the side?
Are you cheating?
If want to become a more productive writer, you should.
Let me explain:
New writers sometimes feel paralysed because they are not an expert in their chosen topic or because they can’t think of a good or original idea.
After browsing Amazon or the shelves in a local bookstore, it feels like everything has been said, the best books are already published, and there are no good ideas left.
There are, but you...
