The Daily Writer

We human beings have an amazing capacity for deception. We will go to almost any length to avoid facing the truth or giving a concrete answer to a question that makes us uncomfortable.

And let’s face it: we writers are pretty good with words and language! But this gift comes at a steep price. The price is that it’s easy to dodge the question of when we are actually going to write.

It’s fairly easy to deceive others. We can tell them we will write later. As long as they aren’t physically checking up on us, we can squirm our way past the question of when we’re going to write.

But there is a much more dangerous kind of deception, and that is when we deceive ourselves.

On today’s episode, Kent shares a powerful habit you can incorporate in 2022, so you can be less stressed about your writing and more efficient when you do it.

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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'm honored to have my good friend, Jim Woods, on the show today to help us develop our storytelling chops. Jim is a novelist, story coach, and editor. He has worked with many authors over the years, including some whose books have been on the New York Times bestseller list.

Jim is the host of the Finish Your Book Podcast. He is also the founder of Storycrafting, a coaching service that helps you craft your story.

Storytelling is one of my favorite topics, so we had a lot of fun in this interview geeking out over stories. Jim walks us through several questions such as these:

• What's the simplest way to create a story?
• What separates a great story from a pretty good story? 
• How can you fix your story? 
• How can you build a solid writing habit?

You can find Jim at his Storycrafting site, his personal website, or on Facebook. Make sure to also check out his Write Your Book Podcast.

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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 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 all know time travel isn’t really possible. Or is it?

As appealing as it might seem to hop in a DeLorean and travel thirty years into the future, that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. However, you can travel into the future in your mind.

On this episode, Kent reminds us of the importance of being intentional as you move into the future.

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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 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

On this episode, I answer a question sent in by Mark Revisky: 

“What is the balance between work, leisure, and creative endeavors? Many times my creative work is separate from those two areas.”

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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 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'm thrilled to bring you this bonus interview with Joe Ricci. We dive into all my geeky questions about story structure and the specifics of writing for the Hallmark channel.

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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 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

Christmas means many things to many people.

Some people look forward to parties and social events. Some people enjoy the lights and holiday displays in stores and homes. Some people love all the holiday entertainment you can enjoy, such as Hallmark movies and music specials. And of course, everybody loves gifts, especially kids.

But for people of faith, Christmas is the time of year when we remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Even though we may enjoy all the festivities, gifts, and celebration, nothing is more meaningful than remembering the hope we have in Jesus.

It’s fascinating to read the accounts of Jesus’ birth from the Gospels. Those passages have been immortalized not only in church but in pop culture as well. We all remember how Linus quoted from Luke chapter 2 in the popular TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

But have you ever stopped to consider exactly how these passages were written? We think of the Bible as a sacred text, which it is, but it was also written by regular people who chose to be obedient to the Spirit’s leading in researching and writing down these accounts of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.

On today's episode, Kent wonders: if God can use the writing talents of an ordinary tax collector like Matthew, then maybe, just maybe, He can use you and me to make a little dent in history.

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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 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

It’s tempting to overlook your wins, especially when it seems like everyone else around you is having more success.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn why it’s important to celebrate your wins and stop comparing yourself to others.

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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 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

When you hear the term "creative writing," what comes to mind?

If you're like most people, you probably think of fiction-based writing like novels, screenplays, and short stories. But did you know that the concept of creative writing also applies to a wide array of nonfiction formats as well?

I'm very excited to have a guest on this episode who is here to help us improve our creative writing skills, particularly with nonfiction. His name is Christopher Johnston, and he has published more than 3,500 articles in publications including American Theatre, Christian Science Monitor, History Magazine and Scientific American.

His book, Shattering Silences: Strategies to Prevent Sexual Assault, Heal Survivors, and Bring Assailants to Justice was published in May 2018.

Christopher also wrote The Way I Saw It, the memoirs of the late Marc Wyse, co-founder of Wyse Advertising, which was published in 2013.

Christopher is currently writing a biography of industrialist Frederick C. Crawford, founding chairman of TRW, Inc. He teaches playwriting and creative nonfiction workshop courses at Cleveland State University and writing workshops in a number of places. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Christopher shares his background as a journalist, some phenomenal tips for opening and closing an article, and how to adapt your work in one format to another format.

Resources:

Chrisopher's website

Christopher on Twitter

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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 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: 

In 2019, I sat in a darkened theater with my son Ben. We were there to watch a movie I had been anticipating for two years: The Rise of Skywalker.

I enjoyed the movie, but let’s be honest: it was a mess. It was clear that the filmmakers of Rise were trying to walk back on story points from the previous movie, The Last Jedi… which had already taken a hard right turn from the story in the previous film, The Force Awakens.

Any way you slice it, Lucasfilm obviously did not have the story for this trilogy planned out in advance. And it showed.

On this episode, I dive into the #1 writing lesson you can learn from Disney’s Star Wars trilogy. I also break down 3 specific ways to apply this to your next article, blog post, or another piece of content.

***  

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 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 spend any time among a group of novelists, you will pretty quickly hear two terms: pantsers and plotters.

Pantsers are the ones who prefer to write by the “seat of their pants.” They love to develop a great opening, then discover the story as they write. Pantsers get bored if they know where the whole story is going ahead of time.

Plotters are the ones who have to carefully outline the whole plot of a novel before they begin writing. They need to know where the story is going or they can’t start.

Lots of writers have taken either approach and created great novels, short stories, and other works of art. Plotting can work just as well as pantsing when it comes to writing a fiction story. But it doesn’t work so well when it comes to your real-life story—the story of your writing career and your journey as a writer.

On today's episode, Kent reminds us not to worry about trying to figure out the whole journey ahead… but to embrace the mystery.

***  

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 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