Write The Darn Book! Beat Writer’s Block, Strengthen Your Craft & Finally Finish Writing Your Book.

Episode 61: How to Build a Chapter Roadmap Without Boxing Yourself or Your Writing In! Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Episode Summary If chapter planning makes you feel either beautifully supported or completely boxed in, this episode is for you. In today’s Writ...

THE JOY OF WRITING: HOW TO FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH YOUR STORY Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow.   EPISODE SUMMARY Have you ever opened your manuscript and realised the spark has gone quiet? You still care about the book. You still want to finish it. But the joy that brought you to the...

Traditional, Indie, or Hybrid? How to Choose the Publishing Path That Fits You Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Episode Summary How do you know whether traditional publishing, independent publishing, or hybrid publishing is the right path for your book? In this ep...

Episode 58 Show Notes Why Resistance Spikes Right Before a Breakthrough Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Episode Summary Have you ever noticed your resistance gets louder right before your writing asks more of you? Maybe you’re close to a breakthrough scene. Maybe the end of your man...

Episode 57: Mind Maps For Writers: How To Untangle Your Story When Your Brain Feels Full Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book. Have you ever opened your manuscript and realised your brain feels so full of ideas that you can’t find the actual scene inside them? In this ep...

Episode 56: Writing From Imagination: How to Access Your Creative Subconscious Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Episode Summary Have you ever written something and afterwards thought, I have no idea where that came from? In this Mindset Monday episode, Maddison explores the differenc...

Body Language for Writers: How to Reveal Character Emotion, Secrets and Lies on the Page Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book. Body language is one of the most powerful tools you can use in your manuscript, especially when your characters are hiding something. A characte...

Starting Your Book for the Third Time? Here’s How to Stop Starting and Actually Finish Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Have you ever opened your laptop, looked in your documents folder, and realised there are six different versions of a manuscript sitting there? Maybe it’s the same...

Is Your Writing Setup Making It Harder to Write? Ergonomics, Energy, and Creative Flow Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book. Your writing setup is not separate from your writing momentum. In today’s Writing Wednesday episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re looking at how y...

Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Have you ever looked at your book idea and felt that little tug inside that says, this matters, this is mine to write? And then almost immediately, another voice comes in. Who are you to write this? This is too personal. Someone else has already said...

Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Have you ever walked into a stationery shop and felt that little spark of possibility wake up inside you? The coloured pens. The highlighters. The sticky notes. The beautiful notebooks. The fresh blank pages. And maybe you’ve wonde...

Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Words are never just words, especially for writers. In this episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how the language you use around your writing shapes the way you experience the page, your manuscript, your creative flow, and even your identit...

Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book. Can music actually help you write, or is it quietly pulling you out of the story? In this episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how music, silence, and background noise shape your creative flow, and why the best sound envir...

Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Have you ever opened your laptop, placed your hands on the keyboard, stared at the blank page, and felt absolutely nothing come? No words. No clear thought. No spark. Just that awful white space staring back at you. In this Mindset Monday episode of W...

Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Have you ever been told to “show, don’t tell” and immediately felt yourself overthinking every sentence?   In this Writing Wednesday episode, we’re looking at one of the most common pieces of writing craft advice through a complete...

Episode 46: The Walt Disney Strategy for Writers Part 2: Three Guided Visualisations to Access Your Dreamer, Realist, and Critic Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. In Part 1 of this Walt Disney Strategy series, we explored the three creative modes every writer needs: the Dreamer, the R...

Writing Wednesday Episode 45: Pantser or Plotter or Something In Between? Find Your Writing Style and Stop Fighting Yourself Are you a writer who needs a detailed outline before you begin, or do you prefer to discover the story as you write? In this episode of Write the Darn Book, we’re diving into the pantser versus plotter debate, but through a much deeper lens. Because your writing style is rar...

Mindset Monday Episode 44: The Walt Disney Strategy for Writers Part 1: How to Dream Big, Plan Smart, and Edit Without Killing Your Ideas Have you ever had a writing idea that felt alive and exciting, only to have your inner critic arrive within minutes and start tearing it apart? In this episode of Write the Darn Book, Maddison introduces the Walt Disney Strategy for Writers, an NLP-based creativ...

Episode 43 - Your Writing Space Is Holding You Back: How to Clear the Energy and Unlock Your Creative Flow What if your writing block has nothing to do with your story… and everything to do with the space you’re sitting in? In this bonus episode, we’re exploring something most writing advice completely overlooks — the energy of your writing environment. Because your writing space is not neutral. I...

Episode 42 - What To Do When Someone Doesn’t Support Your Writing Dream - and How to Keep Writing Anyway What do you do when the people closest to you don’t understand your writing? When your partner doesn’t ask about your book… When your family sees it as “just a hobby”… When the response to something that matters deeply to you feels flat, dismissive, or absent altogether… This is one of the most...

Episode 41: How to Write Dialogue That Sounds Real (And Stop Making Your Characters Sound Like Robots) Using How You Are Wired to Write! If your dialogue feels flat… stiff… or like your characters are talking at each other instead of actually connecting… This might not be a dialogue problem. It might be a wiring problem. Because the way you naturally process the world — how you think, feel, see, a...

Episode 40: Writing Perfectionism Is Not High Standards — It’s Fear. Here’s How to Tell the Difference Perfectionism is one of the most common reasons writers stay stuck — and one of the hardest patterns to recognise, because it often looks like care. In this episode, we unpack the difference between healthy standards and fear-driven perfectionism, so you can stop circling the same chapter, second...

Episode 39 -What to Do With Your First Draft: The Writer’s Guide to Revision Without Panic   You did it. You finished your first draft. 💗 But now comes the part many writers fear most — opening that draft again and facing the revision process. If you’ve ever looked at your manuscript and felt instantly overwhelmed by everything that needs fixing, this episode is for you. In today’s conversation,...

Episode 38 - How to Handle Negative Feedback on Your Writing Without Falling Apart Negative feedback can feel devastating when it lands on something as personal as your writing. Maybe it was a beta reader. A workshop. A competition critique. A trusted friend whose words stayed with you long after you’d closed the email or put the pages away. You try to tell yourself it’s just feedback. Just one op...

Episode 37: Why Your Book’s Messy Middle Feels So Hard — and How to Fix a Sagging Second Act If your novel felt exciting at the start but now feels flat, disconnected, or like it’s losing momentum… this episode is for you. In this episode of Write the Darn Book, I’m unpacking why the messy middle feels so hard for so many writers — and why that “hollow” feeling in your second act usually isn’t a s...