You don't need to be a master researcher to turn up lots of writing advice if you're looking to hone your craft. A quick search of the Web or your local bookstore will reveal numerous articles, books, and manuals on how to be a better, quicker, or more successful writer. All of these strategies and techniques, some more helpful than others, require a sharp brain, some creativity, and the energy to see a project to completion. Many tips offer cures ...

Walking down the street, wearing your favorite green high-tops and a black and white striped sweater over slim jeans (you could be a guy or a gal), you pass a homeless person, a few small birds pecking at some seeds on the sidewalk, and a rosebush pushing against a fence, pale pink buds threatening to burst open. You see none of this. Vaguely aware that you did pass the homeless person (he asked you for spare change), but you couldn’t pick ...

You have a book in you, that's a given. You have a great message, something to teach, a philosophy to share, and you know people want what you've got. So, how do you take your amazing seed of an idea from concept to an actual book that finds a home in your local, or even global, bookstores around the world? Like many people, you need a roadmap to navigate the wild and wooly world of publishing and that roadmap is here and it's the 

The New Year is upon us and that means so, too, is the spate of posts about resolutions. How to make them, why you should make them (or not), and how to stick to the ones you make. For the more linear thinkers, the ubiquitous Excel spreadsheet planners are offered by generous souls all over the web. For creative types, planners exist for you (me), too. Many resources are free. Check out the ones offered by Charlie Gilkey or Susannah ...

Disconnect. Disengage. Remove. Extricate. Disentangle. Liberate. Unshackle. Unplug-from-the-digital-crackpipe-that-governs-your-life. Yes, exactly. Luxuriate in the shadowy solstice; revel in this shortest day and longest night, this dark, cold first day of winter’s eve when the fallow time slowly begins to return us to creative fecundity with the promise of spring. Take this day and night, finish your good work, and switch off. Stow your electronic drug of choice in its full upright position and step away from device. Yes, I just mixed metaphors. The solstice allows for this kind of messy. Things to ...

Be Realistic! How many times have you heard someone say that? Oh come on, be realistic, you know that isn’t possible/practical/logical/appropriate/safe or some similar admonition. How often do you hear this? How often do you say be realistic to the people you work with, your friends, family, or yourself (in that funny little inner voice of yours, you know, the critical, high-pitched, shrill one)? In my experience, this entreaty to be realistic is often used when someone expresses a dream or a non-conventional goal such as when someone shares the ...

I just completed week one of a four-week program called the Morning Whip with the amazing and talented Erika Lyremark at the helm. Seriously, people, this is good stuff. Mega-motivating, and Erika has a loving, yet no-holds-barred way of coaxing accountability out of even the most reluctant business babe. One of the assignments she gave us was to write a Text Message to the Universe asking the universe for help getting un-stuck in whatever area(s) of business we need a little extra oomph and ...

Let me get this out of the way: this post is biased. Biased because, well, it's my blog wherein I share my opinion, and dare I say expertise (I just did), on all manner of things and because I am of the particular persuasion of which I am about to write. So here goes: I haven't had a job in more than six years and I couldn't be happier. While people of this fair nation, from one end of the political spectrum to the other, worry about who will ...

I  recently returned from Portland, OR where I spent a heady weekend at an event called the World Domination Summit. WDS, the progeny of my friend Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity,  was a convening of more than 500 nonconformists, entrepreneurs, bloggers, creatives, visionaries, and other cool folks. And, although I did not have the opportunity to commune with all 500+ fab and friendly souls, those with whom I did renewed my faith in humankind. Yes, ...