New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

7 Easy Ways to Connect with Readers

Why do readers suddenly have the attention spans of gnats?

It’s easy to blame writers and suggest their quality of work has declined, but I contend there’s a growing evil sucking attention away from the page. This villain takes many forms.

I hold responsible the brilliant innovators, creators and storytellers of our generation for producing the most competitive market place for readers’ attention that the world’s ever seen. Fewer and fewer people can make it through an entire page before departing and plugging back into their easy-to-consume content outlets.

This new reality means you must write smarter than ever to seize attention and audience engagement. You must be calculated in how you connect with readers.

Common Writer Fears (A.K.A.,You’re Not Crazy)

by Ruthanne Reid | 75 Comments

Writing is a tricky business. We throw ourselves into it, gripped by passionate ideas and the need to speak them. We persevere when haters tell us to stop, push through when our own limitations creep up like fences to be hurdled, and devour articles offering tips on how to write better, faster, and smarter.

In the middle of all that, is it any wonder that sometimes we feel like we’re crazy?

Today, we’re not going to work on the fiction side of writing. Today, we’re going to work on ourselves. Think of this as a writer’s personal-training workout.

Never Confuse There, Their, and They’re Again

by Liz Bureman | 14 Comments

Sometimes we need to revisit the basics. We should never assume that we’re above them; there’s a reason that the saying “pride comes before a fall” is still common.

And there is little that brings a writer’s soaring and magnificent prose crashing back to earth faster than using the wrong form of there/their/they’re.

Today, let’s look at these three very different words.

Book Deadline Challenge: Week 3 Update

by Joe Bunting | 27 Comments

Three weeks ago, I accepted a challenge to finish my book by September 2, and if I miss my deadline, I have to give $1,000 to the presidential candidate I despise. I’m three weeks into the challenge, and I’ve finished nine chapters so far for a total of 42,000 words.

It wasn’t hard to finish nine chapters, since I started the challenge with a little less than 30,000 words already written. However, since then I’ve written about 12,000 words, or about 600 per day.

Let’s go a little deeper to see what is working and what isn’t.

The Truth About What Writers Do

by Guest Blogger | 40 Comments

Whenever someone asks me what I do, I always say the same thing: “I’m a writer.” It’s what we all say.

It’s a simple statement, the typical one-word description of who we are and what we do. But for me, the word “writer,” by itself, just doesn’t do it justice. The dictionary definition of a writer is “A person who writes books, stories, or articles as a job or regular occupation.” True? Yes. Basically, to the rest of the world, what we do? Yes.

But that definition still isn’t complete. The truth is, we’re much more than writers.

When Writing Is the Worst Thing in the World

by Guest Blogger | 77 Comments

When Joe Bunting invited me to contribute a guest blog post to The Write Practice, I was thrilled. After all, this is a thriving community of dedicated writers hungry for craft discussion. It’s a writing coach’s dream come true. What is not a dream, however, what is in fact a writer’s worst nightmare, is when your creativity fails to flow, when despite your best efforts the words fail to come.

When your tried-and-true writing process fails you.

What do we do when our writing practice unexpectedly goes off the rails? When writing feels like the worst thing in the world?

Writing Advice From Ray Bradbury

by Ruthanne Reid | 45 Comments

Sometimes, you can’t write. And I mean you REALLY can’t write. You know the feeling: the kind where it seems your soul is so parched and empty that your imagination has withered and gone. The kind where everything you managed to write before either looks incredibly stupid (and you made it public! The horror!) or, worse yet, was the product of some brief moment of genius which you shall ne’er taste again. Today, I’m going to walk you through what to do during those times via advice from Ray Bradbury.

Celebrating Our 5th Anniversary With a Huge Giveaway

by Joe Bunting | 8 Comments

Today is The Write Practice’s fifth anniversary!

That’s pretty crazy to think about. Five years ago, The Write Practice was just a budding site, one little writing blog trying to make a space for itself on the internet. Since then, we’ve grown into a thriving community full of amazing writers who come back day after day to share our writing practice and support each other.

The truth is, The Write Practice wouldn’t be what it is today without you. So to celebrate turning five, I want to say, THANK YOU.

And what better way to say “Thank you!” than with a giveaway?

How Spotify Can Make You a Better Writer

by Guest Blogger | 54 Comments

There’s a reason you listen to Metallica when you’re doing Crossfit. It’s the same reason you listen to raindrops when you’re doing yoga. It’s because music has a powerful influence on mood, so powerful it can actually elicit a physiological response.

But as a learning writer, I had always assumed that music would be a distraction, that it would deaden my ability to hear my character’s voice, or make it harder to find the right words to explain a setting. I couldn’t have been more wrong: listening music can actually make you a better writer.

How to Use a Photo Shoot for Character Development

by Pamela Fernuik | 27 Comments

When we imagine what a character looks like, we see only the basic, surface details, like height and hair color. But when we describe a character in a photograph, a person is more than their hair color, height, and gender. We can learn a lot about them from the way they pose for the photograph.

The photographer has arrived to photograph the characters for your story. They are setting up the lights and the backdrop as your characters get ready to have their photograph taken. Here’s how visualizing a photo shoot will help you improve your character development.