Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies
Last year, I put together a list of 15 of the best free web applications for writers. It’s currently the most shared article here on the blog. But when I read through it the other day, I realized that many of the links are no longer active. So, it’s time for an updated and expanded post!
I’ve kept the links to all of the applications that are still active, and I’ve added several new ones. Read on to discover this year’s list of 20 of the best free web applications for writers.
Has this ever happened to you?
You’re out to dinner with friends (none of whom are writers), and everyone’s answering the question, “What have you been up to lately?” Your friends talk about their jobs or upcoming trips, and then it’s your turn to answer.
Excitedly, you begin to explain how your blog is growing and that you’ve been asked to guest post. Or you tell them that you’re in the midst of plotting your new novel.
Then you get that look. You know the look. The bored look that’s usually followed by, “That’s cool.” And then they quickly change the subject.
You feel slightly disheartened. But you’re used to it by now.
You’re a writer, and you’ve come to learn that seldom do non-writers share your passion. Your friends might be supportive of your writing endeavors, but they don’t really understand what you’re doing.
What’s a writer to do? Though you love writing, it can sometimes feel a little lonely.
You’d love to have some friends to bounce ideas off of, who could help you brainstorm new strategies for getting your first 1,000 email subscribers, who could read your latest story and suggest how you can fix that glaring plot hole.
Many writers have been in the exact same situation as you. Their solution?
They do what C.S. Lewis did when he created The Inklings. They form a mastermind group with fellow writers.
[Read more…]In the spring of 1934, an aspiring writer named Arnold Samuelson hitchhiked from Minnesota to Florida to see if he could land a meeting with his favorite author. Feeling discouraged over his writing, Samuelson believed he needed a mentor to help him improve his craft.
The writer he had picked to be his mentor? Ernest Hemingway.
Samuelson showed up at Hemingway’s front door and begged the famous author for just a few minutes of conversation. Much to Samuelson’s delight, Hemingway agreed to talk with him and read some of his work. Although Hemingway wasn’t particularly impressed by Samuelson’s writing, he was impressed by the 22-year-old’s seriousness and dedication.
Unfortunately, Hemingway had planned to leave Florida soon on his boat Pilar. But luckily for Samuelson, Hemingway invited him to join the crew. While at sea, Samuelson had the rare opportunity to pick Hemingway’s brains about writing.
In a 1935 article for Esquire magazine, Hemingway shared some of the advice he had given Samuelson. Read on for five of Hemingway’s tips that we can use to improve our own writing.
Do you ever begin to feel tired and have difficulty focusing on your creative projects as the afternoon wears on?
In the late afternoon when I begin to feel my creative energy take a nosedive, I pause from my writing projects to enjoy tea time with my family. This is a tradition passed down to us from my British grandmother.
She saw afternoon tea as just as important a time in the day as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I remember a conversation I once had with her when she was telling me about her experiences as a child in London during WWII.
Her family eventually sent her to the countryside during the Blitz, but she remembered before that how they would sit together in an Anderson shelter in their neighbor’s yard. She told me they put the kettle on before heading to the shelter. When the kettle whistled, one of her sisters dashed to the kitchen to prepare the tea and brought it back to the shelter.
Clearly, not even a war could come between a Londoner and her tea. The tea must have helped my grandmother cling to a sense of calm and normalcy as she waited out the air-raid warning.
In fact, when I did a little digging into the benefits of tea, I discovered that thanks to a special ingredient, tea really does relax you. Additionally, because it has less caffeine than coffee, it doesn’t cause caffeine jitters that mess with your focus and concentration. But it does give you a boost of creative energy.
Maybe this is why so many of us writers like to drink a cup of tea while we are writing.
Read on to discover several of the famous writers who loved tea and how tea can improve your health and enhance your creativity. [Read more…]
Today marks the halfway point of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This November, writers from all around the world have been racing to complete a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days.
If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, maybe you’re one of those writers who’s already finished their novel or is right on track to have it completed by November 30. If so, congratulations! But maybe you’re like me: terribly behind in your word count and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I jumped into the challenge excited to begin working on a new story. But soon my schedule became busy. I kept writing when I could, but I started to fall behind in my target daily word count. Today when I checked my stats, I realized I was over 10,000 words behind.
When you’re working on a huge writing project and start falling behind, it’s easy to feel frustrated and even consider giving up. That’s how I’ve felt at times, but I’ve kept moving forward, thanks in part to some wonderful advice from John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck was an expert at finishing long writing projects. The Grapes of Wrath is over 500 pages long while his marvelous epic East of Eden (one of my favorite novels) runs about six hundred pages. In a 1962 letter (Amazon affiliate link) to his friend Robert Wallsten, Steinbeck shared his six strategies for successfully making it through the first draft of a book.
Whether you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, writing a nonfiction or fiction book on your own, or just tackling a huge writing project, John Steinbeck’s six tips can help you get back on track to bringing your project through to completion.
I’ve taken his tips and presented them in a helpful infographic. Check it out below.