Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

Why It‘s Okay to Be Afraid: John Steinbeck on Confronting Your Writing Fears

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Photo of John Steinbeck, public domain

Do you struggle with fear as a writer?

Fear that your writing isn’t good enough? That people will criticize what you write? That you’ll write one good story and then never be able to write anything else?

Fears like these can feel overwhelming and make you think that maybe you should just give up on writing. It’s easy to imagine that the greatest writers confidently showed up each day at their typewriters, words flowing effortlessly from their fingers.

But that’s not true. Even the greatest writers are not immune to fear and self-doubt.

Nobel laureate John Steinbeck was one famous writer who wrestled with insecurity and severe anxiety throughout his entire writing career. But he didn’t let those fears defeat him.

Read on to discover his invaluable advice for how to confront your writing fears.

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5 Rules for Writing Well: C. S. Lewis’s Letter to a Young Writer

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C. S. Lewis's book on top of a blanket with glasses resting on top of it
Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

Do you have any favorite authors whose work you rave about to anyone who will listen?

You’ve read all of their books and may have even tried to imitate their style. Wouldn’t you love it if you could converse with them and get their feedback on how you could improve your writing?

In 1956, C. S. Lewis did just that for a young fan.

The British author of the beloved Chronicles of Narnia series received countless letters from children all around the world. He was careful to respond to each one. A collection of some of these responses can be found in the slim volume Letters to Children (affiliate link).

Among them are several of his letters to Joan, a young girl who wrote to him from the United States. She sent her first letter to Lewis in 1954. They would end up exchanging over twenty letters.

In one letter, Lewis outlined for Joan his five rules for writing well. Though the letter is now sixty years old, Lewis’s rules are still relevant for writers today.

Read on to discover C. S. Lewis’s five rules and how we can use them to improve our own writing.

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How to Use Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule to Reach Your Writing Goals

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Benjamin Franklin, public domain

Let’s face it. It’s easy to set resolutions and draw up a list of goals for our writing projects, but it’s much more difficult putting in the hard work to achieve them.

At first you might make significant progress towards your goals, but as the weeks pass, your schedule seems to become busier than you expected, your motivation begins to ebb, and those goals begin to look further and further out of reach.

How do you maintain that original interest and energy that motivated you during those initial stages? How do you ensure that you are working productively each day?

Here’s Benjamin Franklin’s solution to this problem: a simple daily schedule that can help you establish an effective writing routine and reach your writing goals.

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How to Keep a Writing Notebook: A Peek into the Notebooks of Famous Writers & Thinkers

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Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash

Ever have one of those days?

You need to write a new blog post, but you can’t think of any interesting ideas. Or maybe you’re trying to write a short story but can’t get past the first line.

What do you do when you run up against a creative block?

Many famous writers would have reached for their writing notebooks. W. Somerset Maugham, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joan Didion, John Steinbeck, and Damon Knight are among the famous writers who kept a notebook to collect ideas and help them out of creative ruts.

Today, let’s take a peek into the notebooks of famous writers and thinkers to see the many different ways we can use a physical notebook or a note taking app on a computer or smartphone to boost creativity and beat writer’s block. [Read more…]

5 Reasons Why You Have to Stop Editing Your Writing

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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Ever hesitate when you’re about to hit publish on your latest blog post?

You’re sure you should give it one more read through.

Maybe you’ve missed a typo. Maybe you’ve misquoted someone. The wording in that third paragraph still doesn’t seem quite right.

Here’s what you need to do. Stop overthinking and just hit publish. [Read more…]