How to Give and Take Better Writing Feedback

How to Give and Take Better Writing Feedback

A little over ten years ago, I had almost a decade of English teaching experience, a couple years paid freelance writing work, several creative writing university courses under my belt, and a few small publications in poetry and nonfiction. A friend’s mom, Mae, had written a query letter for her second novel. She asked me to read it and give her some writing feedback. What could go wrong?

When Mae asked, I had not attempted to write an entire novel or a query letter. I had read thousands of novels and a few letters, but I had not studied the structure and requirements of each. I assumed writing was writing. Surely with a degree in English and a little experience, I was qualified to give good feedback?

Nope. Not even close.

How to Track Your Writing Progress (And Why You Should)

How to Track Your Writing Progress (And Why You Should)

I’m going to be honest. When I first started writing, I thought keeping track of my writing progress was ridiculous. How many words I wrote in a day or how frequently I wrote depended on my mood and whether that elusive muse showed up. Besides, wasting time tracking and analyzing how much I’d written during a week seemed like just another way to procrastinate and not get any writing done at all.

I don’t say this often, so listen up:

I was wrong.

Writers need to track their writing progress, period. It’s that simple. Read on for why and how to get tracking today.

The Writing Goals Workshop: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Progress

The Writing Goals Workshop: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Progress

If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you already have some goals: fitness goals, goals for your family, maybe even a goal of writing a book or to become a better writer.

But how do you write goals that actually work, that actually help you accomplish the things that you set out to do?

In this guide, I’ll share the step-by-step goal writing process that I’ve used to finish fifteen books, publish over 2,000 blog posts, hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller’s list, and reach over twenty million people with my writing over the last ten years.

No matter what your goals are, I believe this process will help you get clear on what you want to accomplish this year.