The Daily Writer

Most people listening to this podcast are located in the United States, so let me focus on that crowd for a second.

Part of our culture here in the U.S. is what we call the “Protestant work ethic.” Even though not everyone is religious, or even Protestant, we still abide by this standard today. The Protestant work ethic basically says that we believe the way to a more fulfilled and God-honoring life is by working ourselves to death.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn that, sometimes, you can be more productive when you take a break for a while.

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Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

Once you make the decision to start writing, and you do it on a regular basis (hopefully every day), over time you will build up quite a collection of half-baked ideas and unused pieces of material.

It might be blog posts, book chapters, social media posts, podcast material, or in the case of myself, I’m sorry to admit, entire books you have written but never released for one reason or another.

I call this my personal slush pile. The slush pile can be a great source of material when you’re looking for ideas or get a little short on time.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn why you should never get rid of any of your ideas, projects, or content.

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Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. Here it is, the end of January, and we've had a solid month to get some meaningful work done toward our goals. How are things going for you?

At this point, a lot of people give up on their goals and say, "Maybe next year." But I want you to know that it's never too late to make significant things happen in your writing, your life, and your business. How do you do that? By being intentional. Success doesn't just happen by accident.

I'm excited to have a guest with us today who's going to help us do exactly that. His name is Joe Bukartek, and he is an Intentional Lifestyle Coach. Joe is a former undergraduate academic advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he supported thousands of students in achieving academic success. His first eight years post-undergrad, Joe worked in Corporate America in finance and contracts in the D.C. metro area. After Joe’s son was born, he redesigned his life to be intentionally more present with his family.

Joe is also the host of the excellent podcast, Intentionally Ever After, which is a great title!

I first got to know through his wife, Melanie, who is an author. She was introduced to me by our amazing mutual friend, Tricia Brouk. So I want to make sure to give both Melanie and Tricia a shout-out here and thank them for the connection to Joe!

Joe was a guest on our Daily Writer Community call a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to share that call with you here. Joe shared his story of becoming more intentional in his life, and we have a fantastic conversation about what it means to be more intentional with your writing goals, and how to handle speed bumps along the way. This was a really inspiring and fun conversation.

You can learn more about Joe, connect with him, or book your complimentary coaching session below:

Check out Joe's website, JoeBukartek.com.

Listen to Joe's Intentionally Ever After Podcast.

Book a complimentary coaching session with Joe.

Connect with Joe on Facebook.

Follow Joe on LinkedIn.

Check out Joe on Twitter.

Reach out to Joe on Instagram.

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Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

We've talked about it many times here on the podcast, but it always bears repeating: one of the most powerful skills you can learn is storytelling. We are wired as humans to tell, and to crave, powerful stories.

My guest today is John Bucher. He is a mythologist, writer, and storyteller based out of Hollywood, California. John serves as the Creative Director for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and is also an author, podcaster, and speaker.

He has worked with companies including HBO, DC Comics, The History Channel, A24 Films, The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation, and has also served as a consultant and writer for numerous film, television, and Virtual Reality projects. He is the author of seven books including his latest, The Storytelling Almanac.

John shares his journey of making a career out of storytelling and many of the lessons he has learned along the way. You will also learn about the legacy of Joseph Campbell, modern myths in American culture, how to overcome fear as a writer, and much more!

Check out the links below to connect with John, subscribe to his podcast, or purchase his books.

Learn more about John here!

Purchase John’s books on Amazon

Check out John’s website, Telling a Better Story

Listen to John’s podcast, Skeleton Keys

Reach out to John on Twitter

Connect with John on Instagram

Follow Telling a Better Story on Instagram

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Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

If you have ever watched behind-the-scenes documentaries for movies, you have probably heard directors talk about the impulse to keep tweaking a movie. Sometimes they will say, “The studio had to come and take the movie away from me.”

What’s this all about? It’s pretty simple, really. When you’re working on a big creative project, whether it’s a book or a movie, you always see what needs to be fixed. There are endless improvements you can make.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn why deadlines can actually free your creativity.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

A common problem we writers have is how to get started. We have a rough vision of what we want to create, but we’re afraid to take that first step.

What if we go in the wrong direction? What if we discover we aren’t really talented? What if someone thinks it’s no good? What if this whole thing was a giant mistake?

On today’s episode, Kent shares the best way to conquer a blank page.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

If you get heavily involved in the writing community, you have to be careful. Why? Because there is a whole sub-industry devoted to writing tools that supposedly help you be more productive and creative.

Are many of these helpful? Yes, of course. But it’s important to not get too obsessed with specific writing tools. The only measure you should use to determine whether a tool or app is good is whether it helps you get your writing done easier.

On today’s episode, you’ll be encouraged that the writing tool you use doesn’t matter—what matters is if it helps YOU.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

One of the difficulties of creative work, which includes writing, is that we sometimes have vague ideas about our goals. We haven’t determined ahead of time what it means to win or lose. Therefore, no matter what we do, we never quite know if we have hit the mark.

This is a surefire way to get discouraged and confused because we don’t have a clear idea of success.

When you lay your head on the pillow at night, how do you know if that day was a success in terms of writing? How do you know whether to feel good or bad about your work that day?

On today’s episode, Kent shares his advice for how you can always have a good writing day.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

A lot of you who are listening are working on books. I’d like to share a method I’ve been using to write my upcoming Daily Writer book, which will release this coming October. This process is very doable for anyone.

I’ve been doing my Daily Writer podcast since November 2020, well over a year now. As you probably know since you listen to this show, I release a short episode each weekday.

Here is what you may not know: each weekday episode is actually the first draft of a daily entry in my Daily Writer book. This will be a book of daily meditations for writers. Each quarter has a specific theme, and each month has a sub-theme within the quarter.

But... it all starts with the daily podcast.

On today’s episode, you’ll discover how you can use podcasting to create content for a book.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

If you have followed my journey the last couple of years, you know that I have transitioned into being a full-time ghostwriter, while also leading our Daily Writer Community and helping writers with this podcast and other resources.

Today, I'm thrilled to feature a conversation with my friend and ghostwriting mentor Nick Pavlidis. Nick used to be an attorney, but a few years ago he began to build a ghostwriting business on the side. He eventually transitioned away from his law career, and now he does ghostwriting full-time, in addition to running Ghostwriter School.

Nick is the main reason I was able to learn about ghostwriting and transition away from my college job this past year. The interview you're going to hear is from a couple of years ago, when I was just getting started in this line of work, so keep that in mind. But I wanted to re-run it because this coming week, Nick is opening the doors again to Ghostwriter School. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about ghostwriting if you want to build a business that can help support your family while also using your writing skills.

This episode is a real-world case study of some issues and questions I was having at the time, as I was building my ghostwriting business. I think you will find lots of great material here to inspire you as you consider your own writing business.

You can learn more about Ghostwriter School here.

You can connect with Nick on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Also, make sure you check out Nick’s amazing Ghostwriter Growth Facebook group.

***

Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.     

Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

Connect with Kent:    

https://DailyWriterLife.com    

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders    

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders    

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders