How to Turn a Big Writing Project Into Small Assignments You Can Finish in One Sitting
Breaking a large writing project into smaller assignments can make it much easier to actually get started. Learn how to turn tasks like “write Chapter 4” into focused assignments you can finish in a single writing session.
How to Restart a Novel After a Two-Month Break Without Rewriting Everything
Coming back to a novel after a long break can make you question everything you wrote. Find your way back into the story, identify what actually needs fixed, and start writing again without unnecessarily rewriting your entire draft.
When Your Story Feels Too Big to Finish: How to Shrink It Into Pieces You Can Write
If your current project is starting to feel too big to finish, and every time you sit down to write your mind gets overwhelmed with ideas, try any of the tips shared here to take the load off. Every novel is written through repeated containment, and these tips can help you master that.
The Myth of the Clean Slate: How to Carry Last Year’s Writing Lessons Forward
A new year arrives with a familiar promise: this time will be different. You reset your calendar, rewrite your goals, and believe that whatever weighed you down last year can be left behind. For writers, that belief can be comforting… but also misleading. Writing doesn’t reset neatly when the calendar flips. Your habits, tendencies, unfinished […]
Why January is the Best Month to Outline (Even if You Hate Outlining)
Outlining tends to split writers into camps. Some rely on it to feel grounded. Others avoid it entirely, convinced it will drain the life out of a story before it ever reaches the page. If you fall into the second group, January can feel like the worst possible time to hear someone suggest outlining. You […]
The First 30 Days of a New Draft: A Week-by-Week Writing Plan for January
January has a reputation problem among writers. It’s framed as a clean slate, a fresh start, a month where motivation should be effortless and discipline should magically appear. In reality, January often arrives with mental fatigue, lingering obligations, and anxiety about whether this will finally be the year you finish something. Starting a new draft […]