When I pondered what to write about for this month's theme of "Best writing hacks ever," it occurred to me that better minds than mine have probably made lists and offered suggestions on the topic. I decided to do a little search and see what I could find. As you might imagine, I found plenty! Without further ado, here is a random compendium of offerings from the vast world of the internet, in ever-ascending numbers of suggestions per list... From Learn How to Write a Novel: 3 Hacks to Write a Rough Draft , by Michelle Griep From Freewrite: 6 Neuroscience Hacks to Beat Writer's Block (This one includes additional links to articles in Psychology Today , The Guardian , etc., about writing and writer's block.) From Positive Writer: 6 Weird but Awesome Hacks for a Happy Writing Life , by Shanan Haislip From Lifehack: 8 Great Writing Hacks Every Creative Writer and Blogger Should Know , by Ivan Dimitrijevic From The Writing Cooperative: 12 Writing Hacks Yo...

I have to say, my year is starting off well, with MORTAL MUSIC (the 7th in my Silver Rush series) released on January 27. What a way to ring in 2020! But that one is now written and done. What would make this the "best writing year ever" for me is to figure out how to write Book #8 with less stress. For some time, I've joked that what propels me to write is deadlines and panic. But there's more truth than fiction in that statement. Adrenaline drives me and makes me productive in my writing life, but that sort of propulsion eventually takes its toll. One day I realized that when I begin to feel stressed and panicked, my right knee starts to buckle. When writing deadlines loom, the right side of my neck, and my right wrist and shoulder stiffen and ache to the point where it's difficult to go to sleep, much less spend hours at the keyboard. Stress! (There's gotta be a better way to write.) Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay So, for me, if 2020 is...

The plaque at the former Nicholson's Cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland, where, in 1993,  J. K. Rowling wrote much of her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in longhand on paper tablets. If you're going to make 2020 your best writing year ever, first there's something you'll have to do. You'll have to overcome all those excuses you come up with every year to explain why you're not writing. Every writer knows the drill. You've got the perfect writing day planned—snack stash full, hubby on a weekend fishing trip with his Dad and brother, children on an overnight playdate with their cousins. You're going to make that deadline, or you're going to start your novel or at least get a couple of thousand words written. You're going to make forward progress. And then the cat throws up on your grandmother's Oriental rug, the kid across the street hits a home run that comes sailing through one of your windows, a closed window of...

the1thing.com It's easy to make resolutions and proclamations in the new year. This year will be my Best Writing Year Ever! Alas, that statement will die as quickly as your weight-loss promises. Why? Because the statement has no focus. It's not broken into achievable steps. That's where the work really begins, and where the objective becomes daunting. It's easier if you break your focus down to the simplest denominator. What is the one thing you can do right now to make this the Best Writing Year Ever? Let's try a short exercise, just for fun and practice. No pressures. No commitments. Think about these points: If you could only work on ONE writing project, what would it be? If you could pick just ONE indispensable tool for working on that project, what would that be? If you could choose only ONE time and place to work, when and where? Finally, who best would support you in this ONE focused project? Now take a deep breath, and simply as ...