12 Week Year for Writers

Send us a text Writers are a particular bunch. We like to have things just right when we get down to business. Some of us have trouble getting anything done if things aren’t just right. For me, writing is easier when I love my set up and have my favorite tools close to hand. I’ll admit it: I’m fussy. I have a favorite pen, a favorite journal, a favorite computer, and a favorite writing app, just f...

Send us a text A lot of folks struggle to write consistently. And there are plenty of reasons for that. But a common denominator of inconsistent writing, whatever the reason, is the fact that for many people writing is simply not a habit. The problem, sadly, is that if someone can’t make a habit of writing consistently, they are unlikely to be very productive and reaching their writing goals will...

Send us a text I’m a big sports fan. I’m also a news junkie. At the intersection of those two things is sports writing. Ever since I was a kid I’ve devoured the sports page before reading anything else in the news. Over time I’ve come to believe that sports is just another lens for understanding ourselves. And that means that we can learn a lot about the world from sports writers. We can also lear...

Send us a text Is there a writer alive who hasn’t wondered at some if they would ever be able to finish a book or some other writing project? Maybe it was your first book and you didn’t know if you had it in you. Maybe it was your tenth book that you wrote while raising three kids and wrangling wild mustangs for a living. Or maybe it’s the book you’re working on right now and you’re stuck, and you...

Send us a text There are two kinds of people in the world. The first kind are those folks who are always working on exactly one project at a time, giving it their full and undivided attention. And then there are writers. I am not sure exactly what it is, but it seems like the overwhelming majority of writers - both fiction and nonfiction - tend to be juggling more than one project at a time. From...

Send us a text Are you sitting on a work in progress that has been on your desk for a long time? Do you find yourself starting new writing projects before you’ve finished the current project? We all have trouble finishing our writing sometimes. Writing is hard, and it’s a lot easier to start things than to finish them. But there are a host of challenges specific to finishing a piece of writing. To...

Send us a text Have you ever thought about writing a book but weren’t sure you could? Or should? Today’s episode tells the story of what happened when two guys who don’t think of themselves as writers decide to write a book? Today I interview my good friend Michael Lennington, co-creator of The 12 Week Year system and co-author with Brian Moran of the New York Times bestselling book, The 12 Week Y...

Send us a text Today we’re going to tackle the question of how to find the right balance between work, life, writing, and whatever else it is you’re getting up to these days. This is an age old question and a lot of people have spilled a lot of ink on it. There’s a very good reason for that: balance is something you never stop needing to think about. It is an omnipresent challenge of life, one tha...

Send us a text In last week’s podcast we talked about the importance of having a clear and compelling vision for your writing. But it can be difficult to craft that vision when you’re just starting out and maybe you haven’t written anything yet, or when you don’t feel like you can really call yourself a writer because it isn’t your day job. And when that’s the case, the journey to becoming comfort...

Send us a text Do you get up every day excited about what you’re doing? Are you learning and growing and moving toward your goals? Do you know who you want to be and what you want to be doing ten or fifteen years from now? Do you have a clear sense of where writing fits into your ideal life of the future? Or how writing will help you get wherever it is you’re trying to go? This week’s podcast tack...

Send us a text Writers face all kinds of challenges trying to get their writing done. Have you ever felt overwhelmed at the start of a project?  Suffered from an inability to motivate yourself? Felt like you just weren't using your writing time very efficiently? The bad news is that these challenges will never go away. The good news, as productive writers have discovered, is that with a good...

Send us a text The school year is right around the corner, and for many of us that means life is about to get crazier and there will be less time for writing. But it's not just the back to school crunch. No matter who you are or what you do, you have to cope with times when things just get really busy. And that means that every writer has to have an answer to the question: How do you get your writ...