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At The Write Practice, we publish a new article each day designed to help writers tackle one part of their writing journey, from generating ideas to grammar to writing and publishing your first book. Each article has a short practice exercise at the end to help you immediately put your learning to use.

Check out the latest articles below or find ones that match your interest in the sidebar.

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4 Tips to Find Your Thoughtful Spot and Get Inspired

4 Tips to Find Your Thoughtful Spot and Get Inspired

Ever sit and stare at the page, unsure what to write? It happens to me at least once a week. You sit down to write and draw a complete blank.

Panic sets in. You worry, “Will I ever think of anything worth writing again.” Your mind screams, “Has the well run dry? Is the journey over? Woe is me; the world is coming to an end!”

Then, I take a deep breath and go to my Thoughtful Spot.

Use this One and “Only” Hack and Never Confuse Your Readers Again

Use this One and “Only” Hack and Never Confuse Your Readers Again

I’m pretty confident most of you know how to write a decent sentence: subject–predicate, noun–verb. However, when it comes to getting fancy, ambiguity can happen. And you can confuse your readers to boot.

Let’s take “only,” “both . . . and,” and “either . . . or,” for example. Where do you put them? And why does it matter?

Your Character’s Three Faces

Your Character’s Three Faces

People are complicated, and much of what makes us who we are is hidden beneath the surface. As we interact with different people, we reveal different layers of ourselves. The same is true of your character—they will express themselves differently depending on the people around them.

Who is your character when people are watching? Who is your character when they’re not?

What Marathon Training Taught Me About Writing

What Marathon Training Taught Me About Writing

Running a marathon is a lot like writing a novel. Both are long-term goals that require incredible patience and discipline to achieve. In fact, I find myself applying lessons from my marathon training to novel writing all the time.

When I first decided to train for a marathon, the idea of running a million miles was overwhelming. It was enough to make me want to quit on the spot.

You might feel the same way about writing a book. Apply these marathon training lessons to your writing, and you’ll be able to persevere to the end.

Book Deadline Challenge: Week 7 Update

Book Deadline Challenge: Week 7 Update

Seven 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. More on the challenge and other productivity hacks for writers here.

Today, I’ll share an update on my progress, and what I’m learning through the process.

12 Writing Lessons From Hamilton

12 Writing Lessons From Hamilton

If you haven’t at least heard about Hamilton, you’ve been living under a rock. But if for some reason you still don’t know what it is, I’ll give you a brief introduction.

Hamilton is the rap/hip-hop musical that long-time Broadway fans and Broadway newbies alike are talking about. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a crazy good dramatic portrayal of our first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton also wrote. Like a lot. And there’s a ton we can learn from him and the musical Hamilton. Here are twelve of those things.

3 Reasons to Write About the Worst Experience of Your Life

3 Reasons to Write About the Worst Experience of Your Life

It’s been proven in many scientific studies that we writers are significantly more emotionally healthy than the general population.

Why is that?

Because we write about the hard things of life. We write about the things that haunt others’ souls. We write about our pain, share our torment. We write about the worst experiences of our lives.

While the rest of the world lets their agony steep, we write.

How to Write a First Draft

How to Write a First Draft

Do you have a book inside of you?

No, I didn’t mean, “Did you eat a book?” I meant, “Is there a book you have always wanted to write?”

I have several books inside of me. And they will stay inside of me until I can figure how to write a first draft.

5 Steps to Write Characters that Change

We know our characters must change. From the first word to the last, if our main character isn’t different, then we haven’t written a story people will connect with.

But writing believable character change can be hard. Change doesn’t just happen. It’s not enough to simply flip a switch and make our protagonists different from one scene to the next. Our characters need to evolve slowly.

In today’s post, I’m sharing a system of thinking that helps me build characters that experience believable and realistic change.

No Writing Is Wasted

Have you ever seen an expert do something so brilliantly that they made it look easy? Writing is like that.

Here’s the thing: when our favorite authors write, they sit down and they write and they make it look easy. We see (or imagine) their facile skill with words and phrases, and we think, I want to do that. For a while, we even feel like we can do that. But when we put words down . . . well, they just don’t come out like that.

The truth is, though, no writing is wasted—not even your worst words, the pages that will never see the light of day.

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