The Pomodoro Technique is deceptively simple.
Set a timer for half an hour or so, ignore all distractions, and focus on your work.
On the surface, it seems far too simple to be effective.
But it does work. Amazingly well.
In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment my novel-writing career took off a few years ago. It happened right after I adopted the Pomodoro Technique.
Once I started using a timer, eliminating distractions, and tracking my results, everything changed. Continue reading
Have you ever wondered…
… how writers deal with reviews, both good and bad?
… what kind of mistakes beginning writers often make?
… where writers get their ideas?
I’m doing an Ask Me Anything (AMA) event on Wednesday, May 23 at 4:00 PM EDT.
This is your chance to connect, ask questions, and see what other readers are wondering.
Want to to get your question bumped to the front of the line? It’s open now.
Ninja Author Challenge: Keep a straight face as you read a funny scene from your own book — while facing a plate full of cookies.
MileHiCon is one of those strange and wondrous places where you can randomly run into legendary authors such as Eric Flint (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Locus Magazine bestseller), two-time Hugo Award winning podcaster Patrick Hester, or bestselling author Jane Lindskold, who incidentally referred to me as the Guru of Humor.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, I fully intend to use as my job title from this point on. It is undisputedly the ten-ton showstopper of handshake introductions:
HIM: “Hello, I’m Bob. I’m a bestselling author.”
ME: “Hi. I’m Laurence. I’m THE GURU OF HUMOR.”
HIM: “. . . Uh, what?”
Exactly. Continue reading
Try. Measure. Improve. Then repeat as needed.
Every writer I’ve ever talked to always wants to achieve more.
(Even Hugh Howey.)
We all want to reach more readers, sell more books, write better stories, and so on.
All of us, writers or not, want to do more and do it better. The question is, how?
Just for the record, the lace doilies were not my idea. Now you know.
Hey, this is cool. Join me over at Word Cafe for an interview where I reveal everything I know about:
• Building a full-time career around writing, as a novelist and a copywriter — and what a copywriter does, exactly.
• How my first book from a New York publisher actually started out as a short story — and how I grew it into a novel.
• The pros and cons of being a hybrid author (both traditionally published and self-published).
• What my fiction writing process looks like. (It’s both crazier and more straightforward than you might think).
• And, of course, my top piece of advice for writers.
Read the complete interview here. >
P.S. Also, I’m giving away a few autographed paperback books to my newsletter subscribers. Don’t miss out. Click here to subscribe to my author newsletter. >
Imagine if there was a way you could instantly spark new ideas, organize your thoughts and get more done every day.
As a writer, my brain is constantly loaded up with new ideas.
But I’ve found a way to quickly break down my thoughts, sort them out, and get organized, so that I can be productive. With a program called Scapple, I can think clearer, work faster and be more creative. Continue reading
Yes. You.
The other day, I was fielding questions about my upcoming novel when the topic of inspiration came up.
How do you know when you’re inspired by a really good idea?
And more important, how do you tell a good inspiration from a bad one?
I had to think long and hard about the answer to that. Because it’s not what you think.
Picture a snapshot of your future, and then you can find a way to get there.
We tend to think of life in moments, as if you snap a photo, and that’s your life.
Fixed, unchanging.
But it doesn’t work that way.
Life is more like a filmstrip. It’s constantly in motion. Wherever you are in life right now, next year will be different. It might be better. It might be worse.
More often than not, the difference depends on what you do today.
Or will you come up with a plan to make life better?
A plan doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to have all of the answers right now. All you need to do is start thinking about what you want the snapshot of your life to look like five years from today.
Figure out what you need to build a bridge from today to tomorrow.
You might need training. You might need to enroll in a class or an apprenticeship program.
That’s where a lot of people get hung up. I’m too busy, they say. My schedule is packed. I don’t have time.
Like everyone on this planet, you have 24 hours a day, 168 hours per week, the same as everyone else. If you sleep eight hours a night, and work eight hours day, that still leaves you 56 hours a week for everything else.
Turn the television off. Spend half an hour a night reading a book. Books will change your life.
Before I became a full-time writer five years ago, I read hundreds of books.
Not just how-to books about writing, but also all of the novels I could find to use as models for my own writing.
I started reading the Wall Street Journal and business magazines, too.
Take your time. Reread something if you have to. Understand it. Everything you read makes a difference.
Whatever you read today will give you knowledge that you didn’t have yesterday. And that will help you plan tomorrow.
Changing your life doesn’t happen quickly. It takes time.
Changing your life isn’t just one thing, but a series of things.
It’s not easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
The difference depends on what you do today. Picture that snapshot of your future. And start planning a way to get there.
Her best customer is on fire, and a magic carpet is careening out of control. Can Dru save her friends—before it’s too late? FREE with author newsletter.
Can Dru solve a cryptic riddle, stop an angry Chinese spirit, and resist heaps of amazingly tasty dumplings – before an evil army of fiends conquers the world? Amazon
When a handsome mechanic with glowing red eyes pulls up in a possessed black muscle car, Dru’s world is turned upside down. Can her magic save the world—before his curse destroys it? Amazon
Sorcerers are disappearing off the streets. Greyson is missing. Hellbringer is on the loose. Can Dru stop the prophecy before legions of undead rise to consume the souls of everyone on Earth? Amazon
Can Dru save Greyson’s soul, salvage her friendships, and find the apocalypse scroll in time to stop doomsday? Amazon
Can Dru escape seven soul-devouring wraiths and safeguard the apocalypse scroll forever—before the undead break the seventh seal? Amazon
Surrounded by criminals, can a con artist with a heart of gold find an ancient spider before it steals his memories — and his life? Amazon
When supernatural evil stalks the noir streets of 1947 New York, private detective Jazzy St. Clare is on the case. Ancient curses, dark sorcery and bloodthirsty fangs are no match for Jazzy’s killer wit and panache.
Laurence MacNaughton is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories. His work has been praised by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, RT Book Reviews, Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews. He lives in Colorado with his wife and too many classic cars.
