I’m close to the end of teaching my last Free Your Inner Writer workshop. I started the workshop by challenging everything my students have learned about writing their entire lives. And these last two weeks are where they try to make it all happen. This time in the workshop is where they struggle the most. […]
I’ve run the Free Your Inner Writer workshop since 2018. The writers who do the work tell me they find it helpful and a way to start their writing careers. (Regardless of how much they choose to write.) This Q1 2026 workshop will be the last workshop where I offer writers my personalized feedback. You can
Many writers think they need to make a specific piece “perfect” before they can publish it. I do agree that checking your logic and removing typos makes any piece much easier to read. However, these writers trip themselves up on the “perfection” part. If a writer gets stuck on the perfection part, they stop themselves
I reviewed where I was on that product value team post, the one that made me draw a picture. Yes, all 1200 words of it. That’s when I laughed out loud and decided to toss that post in the trash. That would allow me to start fresh. Why? I might be able to salvage the
I’m trying to finish my product value team series. I started what I thought was the next-to-last post. I’m still writing, almost 1200 words later. (1200 words!!) I’m stuck. Clearly not with the words. I got a lot of words. But with the ideas. I’m having trouble expressing what I mean. That’s when I realized
Some of the writers who take my writing workshop tell me they have writer’s block. But they can write me long emails, so it’s not literally writer’s block. However, they are stuck on something—something that prevents them from writing something useful. So they call it writer’s block. Instead, I suspect they have project block, where
I had a wonderful time discussing management myths, fake agility, and how to get to done with Kumar Dattatreyan. He runs the Agile Meridian podcast. You can also find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_L4TnfDeQAs?si=SZs1oLuL6faYG7Bg Kumar was a terrific host—we had a delightful conversation. We discussed several of my books: The Modern Management Made Easy books (the
How do you start a piece of writing? I often start with a “story,” an anecdote about a person with a problem. Long ago, I read a project status report from Clive. It was so boring that I skimmed it—only to read this as the last sentence: “This project is at substantial risk of not
Some writers don’t believe the promise of my Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer book. They don’t believe writing can be fun. Or that writing can free your mind to think of more ideas as you write. They tell me writing is a slog, that they hate it. And they can’t wait to finish the piece.
In my most recent writing workshop, one writer, Suzy, had a little trouble staying focused for an entire 15-minute writing session. (For my recommended writing process, see Writing Secret 12: Subheadings Help Guide Readers Through Your Content for how I use 15-minute timeboxes.) Suzy realized she could not always write forward. Sometimes, she had to