The Daily Writer

We live in an age when it is easy to get out of almost any commitment. If you’re unhappy with your cable TV service, you can switch companies. If your dinner at a restaurant doesn’t taste good, you can send it back to the kitchen. If you are irritated at someone on social media, you can unfollow or even block them. But what about your relationship to your writing?  The concept of having a relation...

When you hear the name J.K. Rowling, what comes to mind?  You probably picture an ultra-successful author whose books are adored by millions of readers all over the world. As the author of the Harry Potter series, she has achieved a level of fame and fortune that very few authors will know. But it wasn’t always that way. Just a handful of years before she published the first Harry Potter book, J.K...

One of the most common themes I hear from people who want to write is, "Where do I start?" So many people have the desire, even the calling, to write ... yet they don't know where to begin. Rather than do a straight-up teaching episode on this topic, or having a single guest, I thought it would be fun to do a round-table discussion with a few of my writer friends to give different p...

Episode Description (Libsyn & SM Post) Here is the U.S., we like to talk about ownership. In fact, one of the hallmarks of American society is the concept of owning land, owning a house, and owning a car. But when it comes to our careers and the direction of our lives, we often leave that completely up to chance. My guest today is here to help us do a course-correction. His name is Andy Storch...

If you’re a fan of the Peanuts comic strip, you may remember one of the ongoing storylines involving Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s loveable dog. Snoopy would be perched on top of his doghouse with a typewriter, trying to begin his novel. No matter what he was writing, he always used the opening line, “It was a dark and stormy night.”  Many readers of Peanuts thought Charles Schulz came up with this phra...

If you’re of “a certain age,” you probably remember watching Bob Ross on his TV show “The Joy of Painting,” which he hosted on PBS from 1983-1994. If you’re a little younger, you’ve probably discovered him on the internet, where he has developed an even bigger following. Each week on his show, Bob painted a mesmerizing landscape in just a half an hour. He was known for his soft-spoken style, his s...

Have you ever felt jealous of another writer’s success? We’re going for honesty here, so let’s assume the answer is “yes.” The world of writers can be a funny place. We love to support one another, read each other’s books, and collaborate in ways that few other industries do. On the other hand, because our work is creative by nature, it is often intertwined with our sense of self-esteem and securi...

Citizen Kane is universally recognized as one of the greatest films of all time. Orson Welles and his collaborators created a masterpiece that was well ahead of its time in storytelling, cinematography, and special effects. Yet for all its achievements, it's one of the saddest movies ever made. The film tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, a wealthy businessman who began his career with go...

One of the staples of the modern music world is the “Greatest Hits” album. When an artist has been around for a while, and they’ve had at least a few hits, it’s customary for their record company to release a new album that re-packages all those hit songs.  Have you ever thought about the work required to actually create enough songs for a Greatest Hits album? If you look at the albums of any popu...

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know that I place a big emphasis on habits, mindset, creativity, and related topics. Those are all inputs into our writing. I emphasize those things because those are essential for any type of writing success. Today I want to shift gears a bit and talk about a very practical topic related to writing, and that is making money...

As I talk to writers, one of the most common themes I hear is, "I've always wanted to write a novel." It seems like almost everybody has a story they would love to tell. But how do you get it done? What is the process for writing a novel? And how do you work through all the inevitable struggle of the messy middle -- the part where the excitement wears off and you're still a lon...

Has this ever happened to you? You block out time on your calendar, you get your pen or pencil—or computer—ready, and you sit down at your desk, ready to write. You’ve been looking forward to this time and can’t wait to get your creative juices flowing. So you sit there, patiently waiting for the Muse to arrive and deliver the creativity straight to your brain. You’re ready for action. And . . . n...

What does it mean to be great? It’s such a simple question on the surface. But when you dig a little deeper, it gets to the heart of an inner conflict we feel as writers. On the one hand, we want to help people. We care about others and their welfare. We know that our writing, our creative work, is a way to do that. On the other hand, we also feel a powerful impulse to be admired by other people....

One of the most popular TV sitcoms in recent years was The Big Bang Theory . Chances are pretty high that you have either seen it or know about it. But just in case you haven’t, The Big Bang Theory focuses on a group of friends, several of whom are physicists and engineers.  Many of the show’s storylines, and much of its humor, came from Sheldon Cooper, who spent a lot of time and energy trying to...

As creatives, we seem hardwired to remember every single time we failed in our younger days. Remember the time you forgot your lines in the school play? Or the time you drew a picture for the teacher and she hated it? Or that time you hit the wrong note in your music solo and everyone laughed? We carry this same hyper-sensitivity to failure into adulthood, especially with our writing. If we don’t...

What is a professional? It seems like such a simple question. A professional baseball player is one who plays on a pro sports team. A professional attorney is one who has a legal practice. A professional plumber is one who has been licensed by the proper authorities. Judging by those examples, a professional writer is one who gets paid to write, correct? It would seem pretty cut and dried, but we...

On this month's Listener Q&A, we tackle a number of great questions (time stamp and the name of the person asking the question are included): 1:57 - How do you stay productive during the pandemic, and when you have a lot of different ideas? (By Shawn Washburn & Mike Singleton) 6:20 - How do you deal with being a perfectionist? (By Ted Biermann) 11:50 - How do you get past emotions to...

I'm thrilled to bring you this conversation with my good friend Terry Stafford. Terry is an award-winning author who has written four novels, the most recent of which completed a trilogy. Terry is also an editor, and in fact, he recently edited a book I ghostwrote for a client. He did an amazing job. Terry has a background in the US Navy, and also with NASA as a project manager. Based on his...

One of humanity’s most enduring myths is the Fountain of Youth. For well over two thousand years, people have fantasized, and at times even searched for, a magical spring that would restore the youth of anyone who drank or bathed in it. The earliest appearance of this legend is from the Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century B.C. Numerous other writers mentioned it over the centurie...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down with one of the world’s most successful authors and ask them the secret to great writing? Fortunately, you don’t have to. Many of the world’s great authors have shared their wisdom in books, articles, and interviews. One such piece of advice comes from Stephen King, who said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all othe...

Picture yourself as a third grader. It’s May and you have two weeks of school left. It’s warm outside and all you can think about is a fun-filled summer full of sprinklers, fireworks, and ice cream. Yet here you sit at this uncomfortable desk, listening to the teacher droning on and on about some lesson in math or history or science. You’d rather be anywhere but here. We never quite escape this im...

The scariest monster in ancient Greek mythology was not a cyclops, sea monster, or dragon. It was a woman named Medusa. Legend has it that she was assaulted by Poseidon in Athena's temple. In her anger, Athena transformed Medusa's hair into venomous snakes and disfigured her face so badly that anyone who gazed at her would be turned to stone. Medusa was finally defeated by the hero Perse...

1994’s The Lion King is one of the most beloved animated movies of all time. In case you haven’t seen it in a while, the story focused on Simba, a young cub in the pride lands of Africa. He is first in line to inherit the throne from his father Mufasa, a good and generous ruler. But there is one thing that stands in the way: Mufasa’s evil brother, Scar, who crafts a plan to have both Mufasa and Si...

I'm thrilled to bring you the first episode of my new podcast, The Daily Writer! If you consider yourself a creative entrepreneur who wants to build a business with your writing, or writing is a key part of your business, this show is for you. If you write books, articles, blog posts, newsletters, curriculum, sermons, novels, short stories, screenplays, video scripts, or anything else . . . t...

It's hard to let go of what's familiar and comfortable. But that's what is probably holding you back. Is it time to let go and move on? *** Need a ghostwriter for your next project? Learn more here:  https://inkwellghostwriting.com .  Subscribe and grab your free gift: https://kentsanders.net/subscribe   If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Appl...