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Positive Writer

Author

Shanan Haislip

Shanan Haislip

I'm a full-time business writer, an essayist, and webmaster at The Procrastiwriter, a blog about ways to fit writing in around a full-time life (without going insane). I'm also a regular contributor on PositiveWriter.com and contributed to The Audacity to be a Writer. Join me on Twitter at @Write_Tomorrow.

How to Write a First Draft that Rocks! (Using the 4 D’s)

How to Write a First Draft that Rocks! (Using the 4 D’s)

written by Shanan Haislip

The Internet seems to be of two general thought schools on the subject of first drafts.

They go like this:

One: The first draft is your brain-barf, pure, unadulterated word puke, a memory dump, Michelangelo’s block of marble. The writer’s job in the first drafting process is to get as much of it down on paper as humanly possible; it’s for second drafts and beyond to chip away at the mess left behind.

Two: Word-spew is for amateurs. Efficient writers who want to write real books and make money to write more books will plot out their drafts, making Excel spreadsheets full of color-coded scene lists, arranged by character and codified by act. First drafts are the upwellings of all this hard pre-work, and are polished, precise, and require minimal rework before being shipped to your agent or CreateSpace, whichever you prefer.

Can I offer a third way? I’ve nicknamed it the “Four D’s” – four elements that help make a first draft, even an unpolished one, coherent and complete.

first-draft

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Time to Love Your Writer’s Block (Seriously)

Time to Love Your Writer’s Block (Seriously)

written by Shanan Haislip

Is it time for you to love your writer’s block?

What? Are you crazy?

Okay, maybe not love it. I mean, writer’s block is a terrible thing. It likes to sit between you and a deadline. Between you and finishing your first manuscript. Or between you and the publisher’s advance upon delivery of the second book in your series.  It’s an obstacle you have to overcome to reach your goals.

Right?

writers-block opportunity

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3 Steps to Stop Fearing Writing Research

3 Steps to Stop Fearing Writing Research

written by Shanan Haislip

Finding out the facts of your fiction details can be time-consuming and frustrating. Accuracy is important to your readers, but it’s easy to view collecting the facts as drudgery that interrupts your creative flow.

Short of a fact-finding intern, what’s a writer to do?

writing-research

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Tips to Bring Back That Loving (Writing) Feeling

Tips to Bring Back That Loving (Writing) Feeling

written by Shanan Haislip

Dry spells. They happen to the best of relationships. So what do you do when they happen to the relationship you have with your writing career?

Writing Dry Spells How to Overcome them.

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4 Pieces of Well-meaning Writing Advice to Beware of!

4 Pieces of Well-meaning Writing Advice to Beware of!

written by Shanan Haislip

Writers get well-meaning advice all the time. Whether you’re a poet, a novelist, a business writer, or the editor of the New York Times, there will always be people telling you how to do what you do, but this way. Their way.

Should you always listen? Good question…

Crazy Writing Advice

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6 Weird but Awesome Hacks for a Happy Writing Life

6 Weird but Awesome Hacks for a Happy Writing Life

written by Shanan Haislip

Whether you’re a full-time writer, a hobby writer, or a writer with another full-time job, you have to admit that being a writer is a pretty good life. On the whole, we’re pretty lucky to do what we love. But…

Writing at a coffee shop for bliss!

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4 Effective Ways to Beat Writer’s Burnout

4 Effective Ways to Beat Writer’s Burnout

written by Shanan Haislip

It goes beyond mere writer’s block. It doesn’t care about deadlines, and can stopper your writing voice for months at a time. It’s deep, it’s baffling and it’s not often talked about in writing circles.

It’s writer’s burnout.

And whether you’re published or not, prolific or not, writer’s burnout is coming for you. In fact, I’m sure you’ve already experienced it, and perhaps you’re even battling it right now. Are you ready to beat it?

Writing Burnout

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5 Things Rocky Taught Me About Writing Knockout Main Characters

5 Things Rocky Taught Me About Writing Knockout Main Characters

written by Shanan Haislip

Recently, I watched all six Rocky movies back to back (yes, even Rocky V). I somehow managed to skirt around those movies throughout my child- and young adulthood.  Boxing movie? Something about some steps in Philly? Eh.

RoBal

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The Secret All Great Storytellers Know

The Secret All Great Storytellers Know

written by Shanan Haislip

Can you remember the last time you were in the presence of a true storyteller? When we run into those people, at parties or as neighbors or in the next aisle over in the grocery store, we feel it. There’s a kind of magic in the way they set the stage for their yarn, color their characters, feed us details.

storyteller

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6 Ways to Enjoy the Editing Process (Seriously)

6 Ways to Enjoy the Editing Process (Seriously)

written by Shanan Haislip

Writing’s easy; editing’s hard.  Getting lost in the fun and the discovery of putting down words can make up for the times when the words don’t come easily. But it’s during the editing process that you’re forced to look at the flaws in your creation.

How could that possibly be any fun?

editing-writing

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