A chance encounter reveals a destructive tendency — Cold drops of rain kissed my wavy hair, and I covered my head with one hand to protect it. In the other, I clutched my keys and oversized purse. Silly me, I’d left my jacket in the front seat of the car. I eyed the entrance to our local supercenter…

Please forgive those of us who struggle to comment — I read a fantastic post this morning from Sara Wachter-Boettcher about the ever-growing need for design employees to prove their worth in the workplace. As someone who once worked in design and felt a similar performance pressure, I fully relate to the angst she captured so well. I highlighted several…

Let limitations be your guide — Like every other morning, I stumble to the office with my coffee, phone, and contacts in tow. My routine has shifted over the years — from fiction writing to a “read and research” segment each day. …

A rebellion for writers who want to spend their time writing, not marketing — Not every writer wants a platform. Some of us prefer to spend our energy on the work itself, not the marketing and promotion of it. It’s not that we’re antisocial. It’s just mentally and emotionally exhausting to make marketing ourselves a full-time requirement on top of our writing. Yet, conventional…

When family ties trump the worst dessert ever — “I’m going to make fudge pie,” I announced to no one in particular one wintry afternoon. Never mind that I was a preteen with limited baking experience. Or that, until now, my culinary life meant showing up to eat on time. School was out, and Christmas was still a week…

Try this approach instead — Morning pages, as Julia Cameron calls them, are a way to kick-start your daily writing. The premise is simple. You set a timer and write for 15 minutes about whatever’s on your mind before tackling anything else. But there’s the crux. When you use your creative energy on this exercise…

Layer your work instead — My first drafts are terrible. Ramblings, incomplete storylines, no sense of order or cohesion. The second and third drafts aren’t much to brag on, either, but I don’t stress about them as much as I used to. Why? Because I’ve learned the value of layering my work. The Process in Action One chilly winter…

An in-depth look at the latest tools, applications, and systems — A few months ago, I was lost in a sea of papers and files. Incorporating the right tools and integrating an organizational system that met my needs helped me get back on track. My output has since quadrupled, my viewership and earnings on Medium have increased, and I’m energized about…

But what does that mean, really? — “Congratulations! Your story has been boosted on Medium.” This email was both a surprise and a sweet victory to my ravaged writer’s soul. I wasn’t trying to be boosted. I was simply writing about a struggle I frequently face. The success of a boosted article — and the triple-digit earnings…