Writers On The Move

Pros and Cons of AI for Writers

ChatGPT can be another tool
for your writer's toolbox

As one of the last holdouts for seeing what AI is all about, I was surprised to learn how helpful it can be. I had to accept what seems inevitable: that AI is here to stay. Still, like everything, AI has its pros and cons.

The birth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as we know it today took place as far back as the 1930s. If you’re interested in its evolution, a quick summary can be found by googling “Where did AI come from?” From my own search on Google, I found that AI consists of “technologies today range from chatbots and virtual assistants to advanced robotics and autonomous systems.”

The AI discussed in this article is called Generative AI, different from traditional AI, which is used for analyzing data. Generative AI offers “original text, images, videos, audio, or even code.” Since my focus is as an author, I’ve found that Generative AI, if used wisely, can be a terrific help in creating fiction and nonfiction works. I haven’t explored its other uses personally but have seen that teachers are incorporating its use in the classroom, and I’m sure there are a multitude of other uses.

I thought I’d begin this article with a nutshell-look at the cons, since those are what kept me away from even acquainting myself with this relatively new innovation for so long.

User beware: A Nutshell-Look at AI’s Cons

ChatGPT offers a free plan, though it is limited; for advanced users there is a cost: $20/month or $30/month for a team plan.
Users can’t expect AI to do the work for them; rather, it is good for enhancing what they've done.
Content has the potential of generating false information.
Danger of a lack of real-time knowledge.
Privacy risks when handling sensitive information, and certainly not for legal or health advice.
Content could be repetitive and unorganized.
My initial response when testing the waters: GUILT. After using AI to edit one of my picture book stories, I walked away thinking—this isn’t my own work anymore. It now belongs to me and a non-human entity from out there in space. However, after some more thought, I decided that the editing help I received was probably similar to what editors from traditional publishing houses offer their authors. Lots of editing and maybe even title changes. Then I didn’t feel so bad.
And the obvious kicker: Lacks genuine emotional intelligence and human experience.

A Terrific Tool for your Toolbox

Now for the fun part. I am glad that I gave ChatGPT a try. A writer friend of mine was looking for a title for her memoir. Her daughter told her, leave it to me. Her daughter wrote a summary of my friend’s book to ChatGPT, and it came up with four titles. My friend liked one of them so much she decided to use it for her book.

Here is what ChatGPT has done for me:

In my own quest for titles for the two books I’m working on right now, I summarized the stories and asked for possible titles. Out of the options offered, I chose one that I hadn’t thought of for one of the books, which I will use. The options for the other book didn’t quite hit a chord. However, the titles swam around in my head until an AHA moment hit me. I thought of a completely different title, which I’m using. I have to give the suggested options some credit because they gave me food for thought for the actual title I came up with.
Why stop there, I asked myself? My memoir friend began inputting sections of her next book onto ChatGPT and has been using the edits she received.
And moi? I did the same. And here is where I found help that my beta readers and critique group didn’t suggest. Mind you, I wouldn’t trade swapping stories with my readers for anything. Their help is invaluable. But ChatGPT made me feel like I’ve found my own built-in personal editor, one with quality I can only imagine is matched by editors at publishing houses.

Help I received consisted of:

First, pointing out what was good about my story—what makes my story “work,” what I had accomplished and praising me for it; compliments that we writers know are rare and very welcome.
Offering comparative titles to explore and how my book stacks up to similar books.
Advice, such as leaving room for the illustrator’s imagination to soar, making it fun for them to work with my story.
What my book was missing.
The biggest mistake that keeps many manuscripts from selling to publishers and agents.
A sample query letter and advice on what to expect from publishers and agents.
Grammar corrections.
Making my sentences more concise.
Using more exciting words and turns of phrase than I had thought up.
Considering page turns and how to make them exciting.
Pointing out how to make the story climax a big splash.
Adding such embellishments as onomatopoeia.

The bonus for me to keep using ChatGPT? I believe it will make me more productive. I consider it simply another tool in my toolbox, right along with Grammarly, Chicago Manual of Style, and the many resources I use while writing my stories and articles.

Though I had such good luck with ChatGPT, I did still found many edits I wanted to add after I used it. Please keep in mind, ChatGPT is a tool. The ultimate creation of your story is yours and yours alone.

Photo by Linda Wilson

The second book in the Abi Wunder series
is now available on Amazon, found at
amzn.to/3Pj6Puu. Please visit Linda at
bit.ly/3DtEXiV.

Linda's latest release is Secret in the Mist, the second book in the Abi Wunder trilogy, illustrated by Danika Corrall, published December 2025. Two other new releases are Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, and Cuna en la Naturaleza, the Spanish version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana Botero. Both books have won awards.

Why “I’m Not Motivated to Write” Isn’t the Real Issue

by Suzanne Lieurance

When you say, “I just don’t feel motivated to write,” it sounds simple. It isn’t.

Most of the time, motivation isn’t actually what’s missing. Something deeper is getting in the way, and motivation becomes the convenient excuse.

Sometimes what looks like low motivation is really overwhelm. You have too many ideas, too many options, or too many expectations stacked on one session. Your mind shuts down, and you interpret that freeze as a lack of drive.

Other times, it’s perfectionism wearing a disguise. If the writing can’t be good, your brain decides it might as well not start at all. You don’t feel unmotivated — you feel protected from disappointment.

There are also days when what you’re feeling is simple emotional avoidance. Writing can bring up self-doubt, vulnerability, or discomfort. Rather than admit that, you label the feeling “no motivation” and move on to something safer.

Writers who finish don’t fight this with more willpower. They get curious instead.

They pause and ask better questions.

What am I actually feeling right now?

What feels hard about this project?

What am I trying to avoid?

Those questions shift everything. Suddenly, you’re not battling motivation. You’re understanding yourself.

Once you see what’s underneath, your next step becomes clearer. If you’re overwhelmed, you can simplify your plan. If you’re afraid of doing it wrong, you can lower the stakes. If you’re emotionally resistant, you can start gently instead of forcing a breakthrough.

Finishing doesn’t require you to feel inspired all the time. It requires you to notice what’s really happening and respond wisely.

So the next time you catch yourself saying, “I’m just not motivated,” slow down. Treat it as information, not a verdict.

Motivation isn’t the problem.

Clarity is.

And now, read How to Write When You Don't Feel Like It.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers who are ready to stop waiting to feel like the real thing.

At writebythesea.com, she guides writers through the identity shift that changes everything — not just the writing, but the whole life built around it. She is the publisher of Manifesting Monthly magazine and the host of Monday Morning Manifestors.

More on Increasing Your Productivity

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

I’m always experimenting and eager to learn any new habit which will increase my productivity. Last month I gave some ideas about your email and in this article, I want to suggest some ideas for other areas which will help you.

First, let’s look at your telephone. When concentrating on a writing task, you don’t have to reach for the phone when it rings. Let it go to voicemail. Alex Mandossian, the Internet marketing entrepreneur, sets specific hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as his open call times for a new prospect or existing clients to phone him. There is no rule you have to be available 24 hours a day. Take control of your time on the telephone.

Another time waster is following the news continually throughout the day. Make a decision to limit this information and instead spend the time on your writing. It may take some concerted effort on your part to wean yourself from constantly monitoring an event but focus on the benefits and additional writing time you will gain from it.

How about the one-eyed monster or television as another time waster? As with the news situation, you may have to wean yourself from it but focus on the valuable writing time you will gain from such an effort.

Then there are family interruptions. Again, take control of this situation in your life. Hang a sign on the door or create a signal that you are occupied and unavailable unless something unusual occurs such as the building is burning. Make sure, however, you’re available to family members at other times but not during the time you have set aside for your writing life.

Also, what about volunteer obligations and free writing opportunities? Do these obligations fit into your long- or short-term writing plans, or are they completely separate from your goals in this area? If the latter, then look for ways to disengage from these activities so you can focus on your writing goals.

In addition, it is a challenge for anyone to spend long periods of time at their computer writing. Perhaps it’s easier for you to write in short bursts of energy and consistently spend 50 minutes of concentrated effort on your writing. After the completion of this stint, you stand up, stretch, and take a break, and then return to your chair to work another 50 minute session. It’s been said that what your butt can’t endure, your mind can’t absorb. You will increase your productivity if you focus on shorter periods of time and write intensely during those shorter time periods. To focus on 50 minutes, use a countdown timer as a tool to put psychic pressure on you to get done faster and better. You can get a free countdown timer at: https://timeleft.info/and use it to increase your productivity.

Finally, valuable practice is to write down your plans for the next day before you leave your writing. Then throughout the night and before you return to your writing, you will have a definite plan about what you will write next. Some writers intentionally leave an incomplete sentence in their manuscript. This sentence allows them to return to the computer, open the file, and instantly begin typing on their document. Other writers will retype the last paragraph of their manuscript just to get their fingers moving.

A critical part of our lives as writers is to continually be learning, experimenting then taking action and building habits which will increase our productivity. Which ideas are you going to try and incorporate into your writing?

Tweetable:

New habits and experimentation can increase the productivity of your writing life. This prolific author and editor gives some more ideas in this article. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn .

Remedies for Disappointing Marketing Efforts

A Consideration for Do-It-Yourself Book Promoters

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, multi award-winning novelist, poet, and author
of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

Every author wants their marketing efforts to be super successful.

And most of us spend an inordinate amount of time chasing big coverage in big media. That’s our dream. Trouble is, it is often a failure.

So, as a book marketing consultant, I tell my clients a little story from my early consulting days. I met June at a writers’ conference about two years after she had hit the big time with a featured four page spread in a slick, trade magazine including being its cover girl. There she was posing apparently nude but with a bathtub full of bubbles protecting her reputation—bubbles, her book, and her iPhone and were her only props. It was tastefully done. It was the perfect theme for the news cycle of the day about the advantages for working from home—and being a happily independent self-publisher. She had been the envy of many authors. Two years after that magazine was issued to tens of thousands business people across the US, she still had entire box-fulls of some 2,000 copies of the title she had published hanging around her garage. She had been absolutely sure they would sell quickly after this marketing triumph. She was for sure one disillusioned cover girl.

I gave her a 50% discount on her consultation and found myself coaching her at no charge for a year as she slid into an “I’ll-never-write-again funk.” She made a mistake familiar to authors. She reached for the stars. She did so when it seemed logical and right. She had learned to write a knock-out query letter and knew the standards for submission. She even did post promotion touting her success at events designed to help other authors. Her story was a trove of wisdom for those who long for independence.

BUT SHE ALSO VIOLATED A BASIC MARKETING RULE. GREAT MARKETING IS RARELY A MIRACULOUS COUP. MARKETING THAT INCREASES BOOKS SALES AND BUILDS CAREERS IS PROPELLED BY ENTIRE CAMPAIGNS AND REPETITION. CAMPAIGNS GROW REACH LARGE NUMBERS OF READERS AND REPETITION REMINDS READERS TO ACT ON WHAT THEY’VE SEEN.

Here’s the saddest part. She could have done much better with less expenditure of time and more successes that would have could have fed that repetition machine. Here the kind of media that might that might have helped her reach her sales goal as well inspire her with more positive marketing experiences--enough to keep her going for another book and then another.

Let local media keep your campaign going as your success stories proliferate including awards, local events built around holidays, local politics--whatever you can associate with different aspects of your book.

§ Don’t neglect free media.

§ Don’t forget media from your alma maters—from newsletters to their quarterlies to their e-magazines, high school, community colleges where you took night classes...and above.

§ Don’t ignore querying for reviews, or exclude the less prestigious ones.

§ Don’t underestimate yucky commercial stuff you find in your mailbox. Read them. Get creative. One or more could be a goose that lays the golden egg.

§ Don’t disregard throwaway newspapers found in a rack outside CVS, printed on paper that isn’t slick, edited by professionals who need tons of content to fill many pages on a weekly basis.

§ Actively seek marketing opportunities other than media. Most are great for building the kind of readers who become supporters. Have them sign a guest book complete with e-mail addresses. Then ask them to tell others. Find them at places like these:

~Seminars and readings at retailers that match your reading audience—boutiques, bars, coffee shops, yogurt shops, anyone located along the main street of your home town. Events using your personal mail list can increase their much-needed profits by 10% a day. Get them to agree to stock your book while you continue to make others aware of where to buy them, even in your e-mail signature. Have you heard of point-of-purchase sales? All they have to do is perch you book near their cash register with a little stack of your business cards and when someone looks, touches, or comments, keep the conversation going.

~ Local and not so local fairs and trade shows.

~ Let your library’s event director know about your release. They need panelists. Volunteer for to do or help with their book displays and window arrangements.

~ Pitch newsletters or weeklies for seniors and medical communities.

~ Don’t underestimate the reach of online entities like blog tours, articles for newsletters. You can produce your own to encourage loyal fans and readers, but a very wise Dan Poynter once told me that we reach a greater number and variety of readers—and save lots of time—when we offer content for others’ websites and blogs in exchange for nothing more than a glorious byline and bio.

~ If you are enamored with being on a big morning talk show (a danger sign by the way!), explore the local cable channel that runs your city’s meetings and determine what theme, topic, or genre of your book or your own backstory would interest their audience.

All of the editors, readers, and business leaders you meet are your future supporters. Keep accurate contact and mail lists. Using them frequently is as important as knowing how to write s smashing query letter or media release.

Somewhere lying fallow in a musty library there is sure to be an old marketing tome—perhaps once a textbook—that would tell you about the “rule of seven.” People must be exposed to a message at least seven times before they act on it.

If you still aren’t convinced, here’s how to combine the possibilities. Don’t think Time, Vogue, or CBS (unless it’s local CBS in a small town or region). Think obscure. Think big charities and organizations. Jim Banning, Editor-in-Chief of AAA’s Westways says the term hidden gem is a one of the most “cringe-worthy” clichés he comes across in descriptions of his free periodical. And he has first-hand experience of its value. The editors of AARP’s (American Association of Retired Persons) and the Sierra Club’s magazine editor would agree with him. They send out hundreds of thousands of magazines to their members/clients. The beauty is they’re slick, professional and did I say have a rather large distribution list? Their readers are not monolithic. If accepted an article you wrote (and pitched) would carry a credit line with its title and website address. You might also suppose they don’t hear from new authors with a great story to pitch nearly as often as The New Yorker or Playboy that might not be as impressed by your name or the title of your book—yet.

An appearance in one of these niche periodicals expands the fairy dust around us that builds careers. But mostly their positive and frequent acceptance keeps us writing (and reinvigorated) on even our bluest days.

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S “WRITERS on the MOVE” CONTRIBUTOR

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a multi award-winning author of fiction and poetry but is best known for her how-to-books for writers. Find all of that series in one place on Amazon, but it’s her poetry that addresses the ills of cultures across the world. Imperfect Echoes is her Writers’ Digest honored book. Self-published in the tradition of poets since the advent of the Gutenberg press, it defies #bookbigoty as well other biases we are experiencing after a period—decades—of progress on that front. Find a review by Jim Cox, editor-in-chief of The Midwest Book Review, and its Amazon buy page at Https://tinyurl.com/ImperfectEchoes.

Writing Goals: Front and Center

Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer

As a writer, you have to move forward to keep up with the onslaught of books and authors in the book publishing arena. And you especially need to be sure you’re staying in alignment with your writing goals.

This means you need to stop every now and then to evaluate your core goals and whether you’re actually heading in that direction.

Every marketer will tell you that at the beginning of each year, you need to create a list of core or major goals. It’s important to make your goals realistic and attainable, and not to burden yourself with too many.

Three is a good number of writing goals, not too few, not too many. Then, under each goal, list a few tasks that you will do on a daily or weekly basis to help you reach your objectives.

In addition to writing your goals down in a document, they need to be printed and kept visible. It’s important to put them somewhere you’ll be sure to notice every day. You might put your list on your computer, inside your laptop case, on top of your daily planner, or on the inside of a kitchen cabinet you open every day.

You get the idea: your writing goals need to be visible each and every day. Not just visible, though, they need to be read each and every day.

Why is it important to keep your writing goals front and center?

Here’s another question to help answer that question: Did you ever hear the expression, ‘Out of sight, out of mind?’

That’s your answer.

On January 1st of ‘any year,’ you may tell yourself, and maybe even write it down, that you will:

1. Write a minimum of five pages of your new book each week.
2. Effectively market your published books.
3. Submit articles to three paying magazines every month.

Okay, that’s great. But, suppose it’s now July, and you haven’t even written 10 pages of your new book, and you haven’t gone past the very basics of promoting your published books.

What happened to your writing goals?

Easy. You didn’t keep your goals list front and center, so you got sidetracked.

While you may have had the best of intentions on January 1st, if you don’t keep those writing goals visible, it’s difficult to stay on course.

Maybe you decided to add the writing of unrelated ebooks to your workload.

Maybe you decided to do book reviews and started a critique group of your own.

Maybe you devoted too much time to social networking and your online groups.

These additions may not necessarily be a bad thing, but before you continue on, ask yourself three questions:

1. Are these additions to your workload moving you in the direction of your primary writing goals?
2. Are they actually keeping you from attaining your goals?
3. Are they providing some kind of income?

If your answers to these questions are NO, YES, NO, then you need to step back, redirect your steps, and get back on track. If you keep your writing goals front and center, you’ll be amazed at how you automatically work toward achieving them.

And, interestingly, it seems once you have that focus, the universe somehow aligns itself with you and things start falling into place.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, working ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. If you need help with your story, visit Karen Cioffi Writing for Children.

You can check out Karen’s books HERE.

Connect with Karen on SOCIAL MEDIA.

Identity Creates Results—Not the Other Way Around

by Suzanne Lieurance

Many writers assume confidence is something that arrives later, once certain milestones have been reached. The book deal, the praise, the external validation, or even just a sense that the numbers finally look respectable enough. It feels reasonable to think this way because most of us are taught to look for evidence before we allow ourselves to feel secure.

The problem is that creative work doesn’t follow that order, and neither does meaningful change. What tends to shape a writer’s experience far more than talent or opportunity is the identity they are already living from. The way you see yourself quietly influences how you work, how you respond to difficulty, and how long you stay engaged when things don’t go smoothly. Over time, those patterns begin to produce results that match the identity you started with.

When you understand this, the struggle to “become confident” starts to look a little different.

The Perspective Behind the Work

Two writers can have similar skills, similar schedules, and access to the same opportunities, yet their paths unfold in very different ways. The difference often isn’t effort or ambition but the internal perspective guiding their choices.

One writer approaches the work from the mindset of someone who is still trying to earn the right to call herself a writer. She hesitates more often, questions her ideas before giving them space to develop, and looks outward for reassurance before trusting her own judgment. Writing feels tentative because she hasn’t fully claimed it as something that belongs to her yet.

Another writer sees herself as someone already engaged in the work, even while learning and refining her craft. She expects uncertainty and allows the process to be imperfect. When something doesn’t work, she treats it as information rather than evidence that she’s failing. That assumption alone changes how she moves through challenges.

On the surface, both writers may appear to be doing the same things, but internally they are operating from very different places, and that internal position shapes the outcome more than most people realize.

What Your Behavior Is Already Saying

You don’t need to announce your identity to know what you believe about yourself as a writer. Your habits reveal it clearly. The way you approach unfinished projects, your comfort level with sharing work, and how quickly you disengage when things feel uncertain all point to the story you’re currently telling yourself.

Avoiding visibility often signals a belief that your work must reach some imagined standard before it deserves space. Abandoning projects midway can reflect a fear of investing effort without a guaranteed payoff. Constant comparison usually comes from assuming you’re late to something everyone else figured out earlier.

These patterns don’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. They simply show the identity you’re practicing right now. The important thing to understand is that identity isn’t fixed. It’s reinforced through repetition, and that means it can also be reshaped through deliberate choices.

Why Results Don’t Create Belief

Many writers say they’ll feel more confident once they see tangible progress. In practice, confidence rarely appears as a reward for success. What actually builds confidence is consistency, and consistency tends to come from a quiet internal decision rather than external proof.

When a writer treats herself as someone whose work matters, she shows up more steadily. That steadiness leads to improvement. Improvement creates opportunities, and opportunities eventually lead to results. The belief didn’t come from the outcome; the outcome came from the belief being acted on long enough to gain traction.

Writers who sustain their work over time aren’t depending on constant reassurance. They’ve already decided that their commitment isn’t conditional on how things look in the moment.

Believing Without Evidence Feels Risky for a Reason

This is where many writers hesitate, because believing in yourself without visible confirmation can make you feel exposed. It can feel unrealistic or even irresponsible to take your writing seriously before the world reflects that seriousness back to you.

Yet identity is rarely built through dramatic declarations or sudden breakthroughs. It forms through small, repeated acts of trust. Sitting down to write even when motivation is low. Completing work that no one is asking for yet. Making choices based on what feels aligned rather than what feels safest.

Each of these actions strengthens the sense that writing is not something you’re waiting to qualify for but something you are already engaged in.

When Chasing Results Gets in the Way

Focusing too heavily on outcomes often introduces tension into the work. Writing becomes pressured rather than exploratory. Decisions are driven by fear of falling behind or missing opportunities instead of curiosity or clarity. Over time, that pressure makes the process feel heavier and less sustainable.

When attention shifts away from proving something and toward embodying a steady identity, the work tends to soften. You’re more willing to stay present with the process because your sense of worth is no longer tied to every single result. Ironically, that relaxed engagement is often what allows better results to emerge.

A Different Question to Live From

Instead of constantly asking how to improve outcomes, it can be more useful to ask how the version of you who trusts herself would handle the next small decision. That question doesn’t demand certainty or force change. It simply invites you to respond from a slightly different place.

Over time, those responses accumulate. You begin to live from the identity first and allow the external experience to catch up in its own time.

You’re Already Practicing an Identity

You are not waiting for permission to take your writing seriously. You are shaping your identity daily through your choices, your self-talk, and the way you engage with your work when no one is watching. When you begin to shift that identity intentionally, the results will eventually follow, not because you chased them harder, but because your way of showing up quietly changed.

You're already a writer. It's time to start living like one. The Morning Nudge can help and it's free. Learn more here.

Suzanne Lieurance is an award-winning author with over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers at writebythesea.com.

Increase Your Productivity

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

Because I’m involved in publishing, publishers and authors will send me books to review. As a literary agent or editor, writers will send email pitches or book proposals or manuscripts in the mail for consideration. If I am not consciously organizing this material, it does not take long for the paper and books to overwhelm my workspace and bottleneck any level of productivity.

Maybe you’ve had this experience where the piles around you grow to such a level that you can’t accomplish anything because you spend half of your time looking for a particular item. I’ve walked into the offices of some editors, and they have paperwork piled everywhere. Some can barely reach their computer and desk because of the work piled around them. These editors have learned to work in the middle of such chaos, but it doesn’t work for me.

Another editor friend is so organized that she has each of the books on her shelf alphabetized by the author’s last name. I’m definitely not that organized! The key to productivity for your publishing dreams is to create a system to tame the paper tigers in your life, the time wasters such as physical mail and email.

Let’s return to the basic time wasters and find a solution for each one.

First let’s tackle your email. There is no rule that you have to read or respond to every single email. In fact, it is unrealistic to have this expectation. Also reevaluate your participation in online email groups with high volume participation. What value are you getting from this group? Can you drop out or go into a digest format and skim the responses? It is worth your examination to find a more effective way to handle these emails.

Veteran coach and management consultant David Allen has written a best-selling book I recommend called GETTING THINGS DONE. For every email or physical mail in your in-basket, Allen recommends you determine first, “Is it actionable?” If not, it goes into the trash, begins a tickler file so you can act on it later, or is filed for reference in a place you can retrieve it. If you look at the item and decide you can take action, then in less than two minutes, handle it (do it), delegate it (to someone else) or defer it (take action at a later date and set a specific time). These three steps move the items out of the holding pattern and into action or productive steps.

Combined with these steps, Allen recommends you process the top item first, then the other items one at a time, and you never put anything back into the “in” basket. Use these steps as you handle your regular mail as well as your email.

It’s important for each of us as writers to experiment and adopt whichever habits will work for your writing life and increase your productivity. I’ll have more insights next month with a second part about this topic of productivity. Each of us is on a journey to discover and use what will work for our writing life.

Tweetable:

Want to increase your productivity for your writing life? Discover some new ideas from this prolific author and editor in this article. #writinglife #pubtip (ClickToTweet)