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If you write fiction (and even if you don't), my guess is that you use, have used, or are thinking about using Scrivener, one of the most popular writing apps on the planet.

If you are thinking about it, or need some help making the most of Scrivener, this week's guest is the person to ask for help. Gwen Hernandez is an engineer turned author. She writes the popular Men of Steele series but she has another claim to fame as well. After a friend told her about this cool new writing app, Gwen discovered and fell in love with Scrivener, and wound up publishing blog posts about how to use it as she learned its ins and outs. Eventually, her widely acknowledged expertise led to a contract with Wiley to write Scrivener for Dummies. It also led to a booming business in providing Scrivener training both online and in person.

In this episode Gwen and I talk about why she thinks Scrivener is such a great writing app, how Twitter landed her a publishing deal, and she reveals a few power user moves that everyone who uses Scrivener should know.

Links
Find Gwen Hernandez at gwenhernandez.com
Gwen's courses: scrivenerclasses.com
Scrivener for Dummies

Trevor's Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
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The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

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The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

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Welcome to the Get Your Writing Done podcast, I’m Trevor Thrall, author of The 12 Week Year for Writers. If you enjoy today’s episode, please submit a review wherever you get your podcasts. And for weekly updates on the podcast and other writing resources, you can subscribe to my newsletter at GYWD.com

Are you the kind of person who likes to hash out all the details before you start writing? Or are you the kind of person who likes to take an idea, start writing, and see where it goes?

 Whether or not you’ve taken sides in the Plotter/Pantser wars, all fiction writers eventually have the same needs. They need to figure out their story’s timeline, they need to make sure their plots are coherent, they need to understand their characters’ arcs, and so on.

So today I’m excited to be chatting with Cameron Sutter and Ryan Zee, founders of the fantastic new app, Plottr. Plottr is a beautiful app with easy-to-use drag & drop visual timelines that let you construct outlines and plots more quickly than ever. And it has built-in plot templates based on time-tested structures like the Hero’s Journey, the 12 Chapter Mystery, and Romancing the Beat.

Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, the Plottr app is definitely worth checking out.

Links
Plottr.com

Weekly Writing Routine Workshop (Jan 20, 2022)
30 Day Writing Habit Builder Challenge (Jan 24, 2022)

Trevor’s Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Are great writers born or made? Is your productivity level something fixed, or can you become a more productive person over time? If you haven’t written a book by age 30, will you ever? Do rejections mean you’re a failure?

In this podcast we take another look at the writer’s mindset. Our focus today is the importance of a growth mindset. Research shows that adopting a growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset, plays a huge role in how people live their lives. Thanks to its impact on learning, challenge seeking, and motivation, adopting a growth mindset leads to greater happiness and life satisfaction, as well as to greater achievement.

In this episode I start by sharing a personal lesson about growth that took me over twenty years to talk about in public. Then I outline the differences between growth and fixed mindsets, talk about why the growth mindset is so crucial for writers, and walk through five strategies for growing your growth mindset.

Links
Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Jennifer Smith, "Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset: How What You Think Affects What You Achieve,"
Ashley Cullins, "Fixed Mindset Vs. Growth Mindset Examples,"

Weekly Writing Routine Workshop (Jan 20, 2022)
30 Day Writing Habit Builder Challenge (Jan 24, 2022)

Trevor’s Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

It’s a new year and for many of us that means it’s time to launch ambitious new writing projects. And that’s great, because the world needs more of what you’re doing. But it turns out that the launch phase is fraught with perils and risks. How many of us have had a blinding epiphany strike while in the shower, only to realize later that the idea wasn’t so brilliant after all? Or have you ever spent a week enthusiastically pursuing a new project only to hit a brick wall and realize that it wasn’t something you actually wanted to do? Or even could do?

Being enthusiastic about your new project is awesome, but writers need to not let that enthusiasm cloud their vision of reality. Writers of all kinds need to be sure that their new idea is worth pursuing before they invest blood, sweat, tears, and years on it. Nor can exuberance substitute for good planning.

So today we’re going to talk about some of the most common challenges that come at launch time and I’ll outline a three-step approach to making sure your next launch is a success.

Links
Hirschman, "The Principle of the Hiding Hand,"
Walsh, "Why Your Best Idea May Be Your Second Favorite,"
Leighfield, "How to Write a Film Treatment,"

Weekly Writing Routine Workshop (Jan 20, 2022)
30 Day Writing Habit Builder Challenge (Jan 24, 2022)

Trevor’s Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

If you aren’t a 12 Week Year follower, you might be surprised to learn that a key element of the 12 Week Year system is, in fact, a 13th week. The 13th week is dedicated to assessing the previous 12 so that you can look at what went well, what didn’t go so well, and identify lessons learned to help you shape your next 12 Week plan.

If you’ve been listening to the podcast for any time, or read the book, you’ll know that I have a low opinion of New Year’s resolutions and annual planning. That said, the turning of the year is, without question, a fantastic, maybe even a necessary, time to take stock and to reflect on your writing life. Maybe we could think of it as a 13th month? Whatever you call it, today we’re going to talk about how to conduct an annual review and I’ll share some of my own reflections on 2021 that I’m going to carry with me into 2022.

Links
Weekly Writing Routine Workshop (Jan 20, 2022)
30 Day Writing Habit Builder Challenge (Jan 24, 2022)
Trevor's Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Let me ask you a simple question: Why do you write?

This question - so simple and unassuming and yet so profound - is the starting point for our conversation about motivation. We all have good days and bad days. I’m sure we have all experienced some high highs and some low lows. But some people seem to have a higher baseline level of motivation than others. Some people pretty much always seem excited about their work in progress. And other people - don’t.

If you’re looking to find your motivation, or for ways to have more good days than bad days, this episode is for you. We know a lot these days about the fundamental sources of motivation. And better yet, we know that motivation is not a fixed asset. Today I’ll talk about why we write, what motivates us, and how you can increase your motivation by redesigning your motivational ecosystem.

Links:
Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
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The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Today I sit down with Susan Scott, counselor, leadership coach, author, and founder of Life Inspired, Inc., a company that provides life design and coaching for leaders and life coaches.

Our topic today is resilience. As I discuss in the 12WY for Writers, resilience is a critical element of the writer’s mindset. Every writer - no matter the type or genre, has to deal with rejections, criticism, false starts, and negative reviews that all writers. Without resilience - an ability to confront the tough parts and keep going - it’s hard to imagine making a go of things as a writer. But it’s far easier to tell folks to “be resilient” than to understand exactly what that means. In our conversation today, Susan explains what resilience really is and outlines a set of steps we can all use to build greater resilience.

Links:
Susan Scott, Life Inspired, Inc
Larry Crabb, Understanding People
Subscribe to the GYWD newsletter
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Have you ever been thinking about a writing project but then said, I don’t know everything I need to know about that so I shouldn’t start that project right now, I should wait until I’m more confident about what I know. Or have you ever found yourself in the middle of a manuscript and asked, “Why did I ever think I could do this?” Have you ever sat around a table of your peers and thought, If these people really knew me they wouldn’t think I belong here.

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then welcome to the Imposter Syndrome Club. 70% of the public will confront imposter’s syndrome at some point, and I think almost all writers certainly do.

In today’s podcast I’ll talk about my own ordeals and offer some strategies for defusing imposter syndrome.

Links
Valerie Young, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Imposter Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It
Subscribe to the GYWD newsletter
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Welcome to the Get Your Writing Done podcast, I’m Trevor Thrall, author of The 12 Week Year for Writers. If you enjoy today’s episode, please submit a review wherever you get your podcasts. And for weekly updates on the podcast and other writing resources, you can subscribe to my newsletter at GYWD.com

Ah the holidays, that time of year where everyone’s plans to get things done meet the hard cold reality of holiday parties, endless hours at the shopping mall, and car trips to Grandma’s house. For writers, it’s hard to navigate between the temptation to hole up in your office and keep writing until it’s all over and the temptation to abandon all pretense at writing between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

In this week’s episode I discuss the challenges of writing at the holidays and offer a five-step approach to finding the balance that works for you.

Links
Subscribe to the GYWD newsletter
Follow me on Twitter
The 12 Week Year for Writers

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In

Send us a text

Welcome to the Get Your Writing Done podcast, I’m Trevor Thrall, author of The 12 Week Year for Writers. If you enjoy today’s episode, please submit a review wherever you get your podcasts. And for weekly updates on the podcast and other writing resources, you can subscribe to my newsletter at GYWD.com

What if there were a tool that would simultaneously help you be more accountable, give you inspiration and support, give you feedback on your writing, and provide structure to your writing routine? What an amazing tool that would be. Whoever invented it would surely be a zillionaire. But it sounds way too good to be true. Or does it?

In fact, there is absolutely such a tool out there. It really does exist. And it’s called the Weekly Writing Group. Without question, this humble tool is responsible for more productivity, more companionship, and more great writing than any other thing I can think of. Unfortunately, many writers have yet to embrace the weekly writing group.

In today’s episode I’ll talk about the many reasons I love the weekly writing group and how you can start a group of your own.

Links
Trevor's Coach-Led Weekly Writing Group
GetYourWritingDone.com
Follow me on Twitter

We're excited to announce the launch of our new website: 12weekyearforwriters.com

To celebrate, you can join the 12 Week Year Writers membership for 50% off the first three months.

Free Writing Tools

Quick Start Guide (free)
12 Week Year planning tools (free)

Get the Books
The 12 Week Year for Writers
The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook

Follow Me on Linked In