Become a Writer Today

Would you spend a career writing leadership books? And if so what would that look like? Glenn Parker has written and published over a dozen books in this genre. He's also co-author of Positive Influence: The Leader Who Helps People Become Their Best Self with his son Michael. This book demonstrates the various ways leaders have positively influenced the lives and careers of many successful pe...

Would you like to get into sports writing? Canadian sports journalist Alex Hutchinson is the author of New York Times best-selling Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance But he wasn't always a writer. In his early twenties, Hutchinson competed with the Canadian Athletics Team while training as a physicist. As his running career came to an end around 2006, he...

I've collected lots of terrible writing advice over the years, from talks, seminars, courses, and books. It's easy to find good writing advice for self-publishing, writing a book, or earning more money as a freelance or  non-fiction writer. But what about terrible writing advice? What type of advice should you avoid if you want to become a successful author or profitable writer? This gui...

Evernote is a tool for capturing and arranging your information and ideas. It serves as a digital file cabinet, personal notebook and project management tool. Bethany Stephens is the founder of Soapbox Influence, a marketing agency based in Bentonville Arkansaw. Her company employs 15 people and works with Fortune 500 brands, including NBC Universal. Stephens is also a writer and blogger who consi...

Could you start a creative business in two hours a day? That's how I launched Become a Writer Today. I got up early in the mornings to write, create courses and figure out what readers wanted. I'm hardly unique. Dane Maxwell believes anyone can do it. He is the author of Start From Zero: Build Your Own Business and Experience True Freedom and the founder of several software-as-a-service...

Would you like to write an allegory? An allegory is basically a story that reveals a hidden meaning or moral. One great example is *The Alchemist* by Paulo Coelho. An allegory is necessarily as long as a novel, but it should leave the reader with an understanding of a key concept or idea. An allegory is a little like self-help, except in the vein of a story. Jordan Gross is author of the allegory...

What is HitRecord? HitRecord is a creative platform where writers can collaborate with illustrators, graphic designers other creatives across disciplines on short films, animations, scripts and more. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jared Geller founded the company in 2004. It claims over 900,000 users and employs 40 people in Los Angeles. I recently interviewed Jared and in this interview, he explains: H...

Will it make our boat go faster? That's a question Great Britain's 2000 Olympic rowing team asked itself every day prior to winning gold in Australia. For a writer, your boat might represent writing a memoir and publishing it, landing a new client or launching a course. So when faced with a decision about to do more or less of, frame it around the boat question. This is an idea Irishman...

Do you want to go from blog to book? Nina Amir is the author of titles like *How to Blog a Book* and *The Author Training Manual*. Amir coaches clients and students through this iterative creative process. Formerly a journalist like me, Amir has been blogging since 2006 and runs not one but four different sites including Write Nonfiction Now! , How to Blog a Book . In this interview, Nina explains...

During the early 2000s, Canadian-lawyer Jon Dykstra faced a unique challenge. His employer wanted him to attract more clients through blogging and content marketing. So, Dykstra began writing about legal topics that interested clients, based on their search queries.  Today, he regularly earns over $40,000 a  month from online publishing. In this interview, Jon explains: What is a niche website and...

COVID-19 is an unprecedented and worrying event. The closet comparison is the 1918 Spanish flu. I'm handling this crisis in a several different ways. Apart from following advice to wash my hands my frequently and practice social distancing, I've started meditating for twenty minutes twice a day. It helps me decompress after reading or listening to bleak news updates. It can also help wit...

Are you looking for profitable side hustle ideas? It’s not a good idea to depend on one income source. If you’re working a fulltime job, you could lose it and find yourself scrambling to pay the bills. That happened to me back in 2008 when I was a freelance journalist dependent on one client. It happened again in 2012 when a charity I was working for let me go. Even if you don’t depend on your emp...

The biggest and most successful personal brands put their audiences first every time. And they get paid well for doing it. That applies to writers too.  In this short episode, I explain how to get personal branding right. Attention writers Masterclass is one of my the best places to learn from creative writers and entrepreneurs today, including the likes of Neil Gaiman and David Lynch. If you want...

Do you have a business disaster recovery plan? Florida Keys-based ceramicist and painter Sally Binard’s home and livelihood were destroyed by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. With her studio and home in ruins, Sally had to start rebuilding her creative business. Her experiences reveal how many creative people can get ready for the worst... and rebuild after it's over. In this interview, we c...

Let's say goodbye to the myth of the starving artist. Every writer and creative professional deserves to get paid... and there's no reason why you can't. In this week's mini-episode, I cover 5 great ways writers can get paid for their hard creative work, list the pros and cons and offer some ways to get started faster. Resources from the episode AWAI.com How to Write a Book Whe...

What was the first children's book you ever read? Mine was The BFG by Roald Dahl. Thinking of that book could help you tell better stories and even connect with readers today. That's an approach branding consultant and children's book author Leah Komaiko recommends. In this interview, Leah explains: How she got started writing children's books Why the first children's book...

 Being able to earn money from your writing is an amazing feeling! I'm sure we all wish that earning an income as a writer was as simple as writing something, thousands of people seeing it, and then money is deposited into your bank account. Unfortunately, earning a good living as a writer online today isn't that simple. When you’re first starting out as a writer, everything is smooth sa...

The internet is a noisy place for writers. If you want to build a relationship with readers and earn more from your creative work, consider starting a newsletter. Substack is an example of a popular service that you can try. I recently interviewed co-founder and COO Hamish McKenzie. In this interview, he explains: Why newsletters are a great way of earning more money as w writer Why your first new...

January is one of my favourite times of the year. Much like a blank page, it's a fresh start rich with possibility. A key part of any new year involves putting the past to one side. The best way to do that is by writing an annual review, a practice I follow every year. In this annual review podcast and article, I'll explain what I did and wrote during 2019. I'll also cover what did...

Malaysian-Indian entrepreneur Vishen Lakhiani is writing three books at once and is the founder of Mindvalley (Mindvalley.com), a personal development online education company. He's also the author of New York Times best-seller The Code of the Extraordinary Mind and is about to publish a new book The Buddha and the Badass. He explains: Why he's writing 3, yes 3, books at once How meditat...

168 hours. Every writer, no matter what stage they're at in their careers, gets the same amount of time each week to waste or spend. So how can you accomplish more with what you have? Nir Eyal is the author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. He's also an angel investor, productivity consultant, and former university lecturer. He explains: How time-boxi...

Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant co-founded Sterling & Stone and the authors of a touchstone non-fiction book Write. Publish. Repeat. They've just released the follow up to that book The Fiction Formula and are co-hosts of the Story Studio podcast. In this interview, Johnny and Sean explain: Why they stopped creating courses and hosting in-person events for authors How they're going t...

Dr. Megan Jones is chief science officer at Headspace, the company behind the popular meditation app of the same name. Meditation offers several benefits for entrepreneurs, leaders and creatives. In this interview, she explains: How meditation enables creative thinking How to get started meditating even if you have no time What happens when you practice for just three weeks The type of meditation...

Do you want to become a more creative writer? Dr. Roger Firestien is a creativity consultant and senior faculty member at the Internal Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College in the United States. He's also the author of Create In A Flash: A Leader's Recipe for Breakthrough Innovation. In this interview, Roger explains: How creativity works for writers Why it's imp...

What does it take to become a great leader? There are many great books on this topic. One book I read recently is Outward Bound Lessons to Live a Life of Leadership by Mark Brown. From Ohio, Brown has worked with the learning and leadership organization Outward Bound for over twenty years and has served as a transformational coach in many industries. In this podcast episode, he explains: Why he wr...