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I rely on two tactics to achieve steady progress in writing (I'll answer twice for voting ease). The first is sort of obvious - write every day. I fell into a trap at one time where I felt that if I couldn't block off at least a few hours for writing that it was better to not bother. As a result, I would sometimes go for weeks without writing (that doesn't ...

Quite simply: Block off the Internet as you write. For me, that involves turning off my secondary monitor so I can't see the taskbar. For you, it might involve physically unplugging the ethernet cable from the back of your computer. I can't even begin to describe the difference this makes for me when I write.

The second thing that has helped me is the 10x5x2 approach (it may have another name). The theory is that you write for 10 minutes, take 2 mintues off, then repeat 5 times (filling an hour). The idea is that the schedule will make you focus, but give you time to deal with necessary distractions if necessary - often I use the two minutes to stare at the ...

I find these sorts of formulas, well... formulaic. If I'm going to read about how to write, I want to read someone who HAS successfully written, a lot, and well. Someone like, say, Stephen King. And when I read his On Writing, I really don't see the craft being reduced to a math problem. I won't say that this sort of thing wouldn't help anybody, but I ...

I would encourage you not to do something you find unethical. The writing will suffer, and it probably won't be worth the rewards to put out a product you regret. I think this article on the subject of creative non-fiction is a good one. The "cornerstone principles" it describes are: Do not add. This means that writers of nonfiction should not add to a ...

When I'm writing well, I don't think deliberately about MRUs. They end up in my writing anyway, but I don't think explicitly about needing a motivation or needing a reaction. But when I'm stuck, I find MRUs really useful. I map out a few plausible "motivations" and a few plausible reactions, maybe a few more subsequent motivations and reactions. After a few ...

A good way to assess yourself from a new point of view is to: Read your work out loud. Your ear catches things your eye misses, both on the level of content and form. Some things your ears will notice better than your eyes: unwanted repetition of words and phrases word choice how well you've achieved a desired tone rhythm emotional range how ...

You have to look at it in a different way, different perspective, different mindset or different time frame. Go away and do something different, come back and look at it again. Anything you write will generally need to go through a number of revision, editing and proof reading stages to correct and sharpen the writing. Whether you apply these as actual ...

I found thinking about Scene/Sequel helpful in learning to avoid pointless scenes, both while revising and during outlining. If you want to read more about it, definitely check out the book he got it from, Dwight Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer, and also Jack Bickham's Scene & Structure. It does seem formulaic, but that can be helpful when ...

Blocking out distractions is the key to doing anything productive. In the case of writing you need to put yourself in a situation where all you can do is write. There are two methods I like to employ, one digital and the other analogue. On my computer I use an application called PyRoom which places a black fullscreen interface over my entire monitor with ...

Moving to a location that your mind doesn't associate with leisure is a good method to focusing it on the task at hand. I find it impossible to work at home because it has lot of leisurely baggage hanging around it's neck. I host parties, movie nights, read, play computer games, etc, and this is what my mind, when at home, gears itself up for doing these ...

Take breaks, spread it out in time. Change perspective. Take proofreading to a park. Take it to a pub. Change your environment. This isn't very efficient but it helps some. Have some other person to read it and point out shortcomings. If your productivity suffers due to breaks, work on a few things in parallel. Write two different novels a scene at a time, ...

For something book-length, just don't do your re-read immediately. Don't Write chapter 1, re-read and update chapter 1, write chapter 2, re-read and update chapter 2, etc. Instead, write chapter 1, write chapter 2, re-read and update chapter 1, write chapter 3, re-read and update chapter 2, etc. When you're done with the whole book, then go back and re-read ...

Don't re-read your work immediately. Just write. Keep yourself on track with your outline (you have an outline of some kind, right? Even if you're a pantser, you have some idea of where the story is going) and don't look over what you did for however long you need to lose familiarity with it. If you need two weeks, then write for two weeks and don't look ...

I can see where your potential editor is coming from - a few years ago there were a slew of stories about supposed memoirs being half fictional and half true. It certainly makes an interesting piece when authors do that, and it can be done quite well. The catch is, that's not non-fiction. It's something halfway between fiction and non-fiction. For ...