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Over-Achieving Perfectionist

What’s the Biggest Lie You Tell Yourself?

Notebook on a bed with text: The Biggest Lie I Tell Myself Is...

One way we develop our characters is by figuring out their false belief: What lie do they tell themselves? Now the fun thing is to think about how that idea applies in the real world. Just like our characters, we tend to hold false beliefs and lie to ourselves as well.

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February 3, 2015

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How Do You Stay Organized?

Crumpled sticky note with text: How Do You Stay Organized?

With a new year, we often want to start on the right foot. We don’t want to repeat last year’s mistakes. (Let’s make new ones instead, right? *smile*) So to get and stay organized, I’d love to find a time management approach that helped me track everything.

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January 6, 2015

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Wrapping Up the Year: What Didn’t Work?

Arrow crashing down with text: What Didn't Work for Us?

I want us all to have an even better year in 2015, so we might need to work on our weaknesses or identify what didn’t work for us this past year. What decisions, processes, or priorities held us back? The better we understand ourselves, the more likely we are to know how to succeed in the future.

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December 30, 2014

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Frustrated with Slow Progress? Join the Crowd

Sheep blocking a road with text: Warning: Slow Progress Ahead

We’ve probably all been frustrated with slow progress at some point in our writing career. Maybe we’re frustrated with the slow increase of our word count. Maybe we’re frustrated with an apparent lack of improvement in our writing. Or maybe we’re frustrated with our sales numbers. The point is that […]

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October 7, 2014

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The Value of Failure

Signpost of "Success" and "Failure" with text: Don't Be Afraid of...

My regular readers know I’m a perfectionist, but I try not to let it hold me back. However, facing various choices and issues in my writing career have forced me to recognize that sometimes I do suffer from a related fear. And that fear does hold me back.

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July 29, 2014

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The Ultimate #RWA14 Conference Packing List

Stack of old-fashioned suitcases with text: The Ultimate Conference Packing List

I’m looking forward to seeing my roomies again, and I do enjoy giving workshops and meeting people, but the stress? Ugh. It’s a good thing I have my handy-dandy ultimate packing list from the last time I went to RWA National.

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July 8, 2014

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Blogging Tip: Increase Shares with Images that Pop

Balloons against blue sky with text: Let's Pop! Our Blog Images

Images help our blog post be noticed, and many social media sites (where our post might be shared) focus on images as well. So including an image with our post means that we’re not only capturing readers’ attention, but we’re also increasing the odds that our post will be shared. Great! But not all images are appropriate for our blog.

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May 20, 2014

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What’s Your Fatal Flaw?

Sculpture of Achilles dying with text: What's Your Achilles Heel?

When we write, we try to give our characters both strengths and flaws. Giving our characters a mixture makes them seem more real, more three-dimensional. Of course, the fact that characters seem more real when they have both strengths and flaws reflects that we are also a mixture of strengths and flaws, and sometimes our flaws hold us back.

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May 13, 2014

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Blogging: Tips, Tricks, and Knowing Your Goals

Arrows pointing up with text: Blogging Tips and Tricks

As authors, we’re often told to blog, but we don’t hear as much about the nitty-gritty of how to do so. If we take the time to blog, we want to make sure our time is well spent. So let’s review some tips, tricks, and “best practices” for how to reach our goals with blogging.

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April 24, 2014

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Should We Use a Blog Commenting System?

Stick figure with speech bubble and text: Who Wants Comments?

I’ve mentioned before that I wish I could change how comments work on my blog. I’d love for readers to easily see when someone replies to their comments here or provide the ability to subscribe to comments for a post. A system like that often encourages more interaction on a […]

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July 2, 2013

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