Procrastination holds us back from doing the things important to us.

Forms of Procrastination

There are various forms of procrastination; all of them are bad for writers or for people who want to get things done.

Wasting time and putting of tasks till the last possible moment is common for most of us. Think back to your school days. Your teacher might have given you the task to write a report during your summer vacation. When did most of us do it? The last day of summer vacation because it was the last possible moment of doing it.

Another form of procrastination is to give other, more mundane tasks priority over those we actually want to get done. We tell ourselves that we need to do the chores or take care of laundry instead of getting our writing done.

Another silly form of procrastination is to wait for a specific point in time. It can be as simple as telling us that starting ten minutes before nine makes no sense and we should better start at nine. Yet, it can go as far as not starting on a new piece during the end of the week or months and instead wait until the beginning of the next one. The worst form of this is to wait till the beginning of a new year.

Procrastination has many forms, and it often hides under the guise of tasks that seem important for us at the moment. You should often ask yourself if what you’re doing right now is necessary.

My Personal Struggle with Procrastination

I used to be a major procrastinator, and I was obsessed with planning. Thinking back, there are countless moments in my life when I indulged in procrastination either consciously or unconsciously.

Things that come to mind are school projects, home work or studying for exams during my time at university.

The very worst though was my writing. In younger years I had the aspirations of writing long, epic stories or even an entire book series. Yet, many of these attempts were ruined by my obsession with planning, which was nothing but procrastination.

I remember creating detailed lists of stories, characters, places and even mind maps for my ideas. I spent time outlining entire books and even events that would take in later books. The only thing I never did was to sit down and write the full story. My attempts often consisted of a few pages or an initial chapter before I moved on to a new idea and restarted the same vicious cycle.

It took me a long while to realize that this was an entirely wrong way to go about things. While taking notes and rough outlining were fine, I was in reality avoiding to get my writing done. I was procrastinating.

Learning How to Handle Procrastination

Now the experience above happened a good decade ago. Still, when I became serious about writing and realized that excessive planning wasn’t productive, I still struggled with procrastination more than occasionally. Instead of sitting down and starting to write, I’d put it off by doing many other things or I was making excuses. It was common for me to tell myself to start writing at eight in the evening only to push it off till ten.

I knew I had to fix this and so I searched for a solution online. I read various blog posts and articles about procrastination. Still, there didn’t seem to be a simple solution. Finally, I had a look at self-help books about conquering procrastination. I ended up adding not one, but a handful of those books to my ‘to-read list.’

During my search for even more books, I found another forum-thread. It was here that one person said that reading about procrastination is just another form of it. Instead of reading about procrastination, the person wrote, one should simply sit down and do it. You can try whatever you want, there’s no other way.

A Solution Against Procrastination

There’s the saying that the simplest solution is often the best. It was true in this case as well. This little forum post was a wake-up call for me. I realized that all this searching for a solution against procrastination was yet another form of it. I could’ve spent hours on reading a book about procrastination, but it would simple be another excuse to not get my writing done. It was ridiculous, and I started to see it.

Instead, I made it clear to myself just how important writing was to me. It wasn’t something I should push off or even avoid. Hell, I loved writing stories! The only thing I didn’t enjoy was to start. The actual physical act of forcing myself to sit down and type out those first few words or lines.

After I realized the core of my problem, it was time to find a solution. Once more I thought back to my childhood and my school days. We all dreaded the end of break, but once the bell rang, it meant class had started. I realized I needed something like that, a bell that would force me to start.

So I set up an alarm on my phone right at the time I wanted to start writing. I told myself that right when this alarm went off, I had to sit down in front of my computer, open my word processor and put down those dreaded first lines.

4 Important Lessons I Learned

Starting Immediately is Key:

The urgency of an alarm clock and starting to write right when it rang helped me immensely. Usually I’d think about if I should even write or if there were any other things I should do beforehand. Now, I didn’t have the time to do so. No, I had to sit down and start.

Your Writing Doesn’t Get Any Better the Longer You Wait:

I’d often tell myself that I wasn’t ready to start writing just yet. I needed a few more minutes to get going, some music to put me into the right state of mind, or maybe I just needed to relax for a bit. Maybe I should even watch a motivational video so I’d reach my daily goal? The truth was, though, that I was just avoiding the inevitable for a tad bit longer. I just wanted a few more minutes before I’d have to sit down in front of the dreaded page.

What I learned though is that ‘preparing myself’ wasn’t helping. The writing was as hard as always, regardless of when I started. All I did was to limit the time I had for writing even further.

Getting Things Done Boosts Your Motivation:

Not wasting half an hour or an hour before I’d get my daily writing done had a very positive effect on me. It felt great, and I had a reason to be proud of myself. What was even better, it was motivating. It helped me to do it again the next day and also to start on any other task I’d planned right away.

Clear Deadlines are a Life Saver:

The urgency of an alarm clock can only do so much. What helped me even more was to incorporate clear deadlines into my daily writing. Writing 30.000 words or 30 hours a month wasn’t something that helped me to get things done. It was still the same as the report due at the end of summer vacation. Instead, I gave myself daily writing goals. I told myself I had to write at least an hour every day, finish one fictional story per week and take care of certain social media tasks first thing in the morning or when I got home from work.

Both things together didn’t give me much room to procrastinate anymore.

The Results

Once I realized what I had to do I changed my daily routine. For a long time I’d been rather lax about it.

Sure, I somehow got my work done, but never as much as I’d planned to, and I often went to bed feeling a bit annoyed at myself. It wasn’t uncommon for me to sit in front of YouTube or a game for half the evening only to start writing late in the evening. The result was that I either didn’t reach my daily writing goal or if I did, I didn’t get enough sleep. All because I’d procrastinated for hours, again.

By now I’m still using my daily alarm clock and my specific deadlines to get things done. It might be restrictive and at a time it can be a bit much, but my productivity went through the roof. Because I didn’t give myself any more room for procrastination.

If you’re someone like me who often struggles with procrastination, give the approach I’d outlined above a chance and see if it works for you.

Want to learn more about writing? Check out my articles on self-discipline and writing by hand.

As a writer, there’s nothing more important for your success than self-discipline. So in this article I want to first talk about why self-discipline is necessary and outline ten ways that can help you do so.

Why Self-Discipline is Necessary

Without being disciplined, success will most likely stay a dream. It’s not only true in writing, but with any other activity. It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, an athlete or an entrepreneur, big changes always require discipline.

Without it you won’t last through the month, or maybe even the first week. You’ll most likely start making excuses, postpone your activities, and soon you will give up.

Giving Up – The Biggest Hurdle

Ever since I was little, I’ve dreamed big. I had grand goals and imagined myself at the top. What I was always missing though was the discipline to achieve any of it. It was especially the case in writing.

I would get my writing done for a couple of days before I’d waver. I’d still do my work, but I’d start pushing it off to later during the day and finally the late evening. In the second week I’d already stop writing, telling myself I’d start again fresh in a week’s time. Most times I’d not write a single thing for a few weeks or even a month. Once I’d start writing again, it was with the same grand goals on my mind only to go through the same process again.

A Word on Self-Discipline

The biggest problem in today’s world is that there’s no actual need for people to build up discipline anymore. You can get through life pretty comfortably without it. I’m sure some of you want to point out having a job and getting up in the morning requires a sufficient amount of self-discipline. Now think about it, is the chief factor really discipline or is it the consequences you’d suffer? If you don’t go to work you don’t get paid, so you get up and go to work, even if you hate your job.

It’s a fact that many things necessary in past centuries aren’t anymore. We don’t have to live by a strict daily regime; we don’t have to work hard for most of the day to get a minimal reward back and we rarely have to keep ourselves fit and healthy. Today’s world allows us to grow lax and lazy. The need for survival and the tough self-discipline that our ancestors were used to is gone, at least here in the Western World.

As a writer you need this tough self-discipline. You must develop and work on your writing skills, you need to do it daily and you must work hard on it. Without discipline, you’ll end up doing the same I outlined above. You’ll give up repeatedly without moving forward. There’s no way you’ll improve as a writer or will write a novel without a sufficient amount of self-discipline

Ten Ways of Building Up Self-Discipline

Building up a sufficient amount of self-discipline is not an easy feat and it will take time. That’s something I had to learn the hard way. It’s a long and hard process, but well worth the rewards. Here are ten helpful ways I discovered that can make things much easier for you:

1. Start Now

Many people wait for the perfect time to start. Next week, next month, or even next year. In reality, there’s no better time than right now. It takes long enough, so stop wasting time.

2. Create a Routine

The best way to build up self-discipline and to make habits stick is to create a routine. There’s no way around it. If you don’t have a fixed time every day at which you’ll write, you won’t do it. Telling yourself that you’ll write in the evening is often not enough. You’ll most likely end up pushing it off till it’s too late.

3. Prioritize Your Writing

If you want to build up the necessary self-discipline, you need to give your writing priority over other activities. If you tell yourself, you’ll do it late in the evening, chances are, you won’t do it. Instead, put it at the top of your daily to-do-list. The best thing is to do it first thing in the morning or as soon as you get home from work.

4. Stop Making Excuses

When we do things that are hard and take effort, we will make excuses. We’ll look for an easy way out. Read this post when you have trouble with this, and often end up making excuses.

5. Remove Any and All Distractions

If you plan on building up the necessary self-discipline to write every day, you need to remove all sorts of distractions from your writing area. Turn off the TV, disconnect your computer from the internet and put your phone off, or at least on mute. You should also tell friends and family to stay away during this time.

6. Focus

This one goes hand in hand with self-discipline. Whenever you’re writing force yourself to stay focused. Being disciplined means nothing more than to stay focused. Whenever you find your mind wandering or you think of other things, make it an effort to refocus on your writing and the task at hand.

7. Start Small

You won’t be able to build up self-discipline if you tire yourself out within the first days. Building up the discipline to write every day is along process, and it takes hard work. Start small and once you’re getting used to it, you can set a higher standard and challenge yourself.

8. Accept and Embrace Failure

Failure isn’t the end of the world. It happens. If you end up not writing one day, accept that you failed, but don’t linger on it. Tell yourself you’ll try again tomorrow and keep working on yourself. Giving up because you failed once or twice is taking the easy way out.

9. Enough Sleep and a Healthy Diet

This should be a simple decision. Building up self-discipline takes a lot of energy. That’s why you need to get enough sleep and eat healthy. I won’t get deeper into this topic right here because there’s enough advice on the internet out there already. It’s a good start to cut substances such as alcohol or tobacco from your diet and limit your caffeine intake.

10. Reward Yourself

Whenever you put in the effort to do your daily writing, reward yourself and be proud of yourself. After your first continuous week of writing, you could treat yourself to an enjoyable meal, re-watch your favorite movie or simply have fun.

Building up self-discipline won’t be easy for most of us. For me it was a lengthy process of trial and error. Following up the points outlined above helped me a lot to build up the self-discipline I needed to write every day.

Want to learn more about writing? Check out my articles on how to stop making excuses and on three writing tools that will help you immensely.

There are many people who like to make plans more than to actually take action. So in this new article I want to compare planning vs. action and how you avoid to get caught up with unnecessary details.

I’m not only talking about outlining a story or planning a novel, but all kinds of preparations. We can get obsessed with planning, trying to get every detail right.

It should be obvious that to succeed with any long-term activity planning is necessary. Especially if you’re a writer, and especially in today’s time and age. Where are you sharing your work, where and how do you want to get published, should you write short stories or novels? The list goes on.

Planning vs. Action – The problem with plans

Let me make one thing clear: Excessive planning is nothing but procrastination.

Planning, thinking about our next step and outlining those steps in detail is much easier than doing it. It’s fun to think about what we want to do, when we want to do it, and what goals we want to accomplish. We might even tell ourselves that careful planning ahead is necessary. Though, we often tell ourselves these things so we don’t have to take action. We are procrastinating.

Planning things to perfection will only do one thing, it will restrict us and not give us enough room for improvisation. When things go wrong, we are thrown into a turmoil and we’ll likely feel that everything’s going wrong now. So what do we do? We go back to our timetable or scheduler and start trying to adapt and make a better plan for ourselves, including all the fresh information available. That’s not how things should be because we’re wasting valuable time.

Planning vs. Action – My personal obsession with planning

When I was younger, I wouldn’t write a story, instead I’d spend my time planning and outlining it. I’d write the names of characters and places, come up with titles for chapters and much, much more. I’d never start writing the story itself because I was too caught up planning it all out. Eventually I’d lose interest and move on to a new project, a new plan.

A few years ago I began working online. Here, too, I’d start by making detailed plans without ever taking action. I’d gather all kinds of materials and examples and would push the actual starting point of my project further and further ahead. The problem was that all the planning and all the preparations were never doing me any good because I took no actual action. When I did, I’d often notice that none of my plans were even remotely realistic. The harsh reality I had to accept was that to improve in any activity you had to take action.

Planning vs. Action – The recommended solution

The answer isn’t to start without having any idea what to do. Doing things blindly is not the right way either and might very well have even worse results.

Instead, create a quick, rough and flexible plan. Limit the time you spend on your plans, don’t go into excessive detail. You should spend most of your time on taking action. In my case, it means sitting down and writing.

The best way to plan short-term activities, like the next week, is to state the goal you have for the next week and how you plan on reaching it. Write the activity for each day, and when you want to do it. That should be it, and it shouldn’t take long to do it. You should do so on a specific day of the week, preferably Sunday evening, so you don’t spend any time during the week on it.

One thing I’m doing myself is to spend the first ten to fifteen minutes in the morning to just sit down and note down what I’m planning to do for the day. This gives me a very rough plan, and it helps me to focus better on the things that matter. Whatever you do though, your plans should be short, clear and structured. Then spend the rest of the day or week actually taking action.

Planning Summary

There might be a need for a more complex plan, especially for long-term activities, like writing a novel. Still, I’d advise you to focus on the most important part of the project and plan those out quickly. Focus on key points and don’t waste time on petty things.

Planning and preparing things should never take more time than to take action. Things often won’t go right the first time around anyway, regardless of however much time you spend on planning them. Unpredictable things will happen. Take writing a short story, for example. You can outline it to perfection, but once you start writing, you might come up with better ideas, fresher characters or things might move into a different direction.

There are no perfect plans. Instead of trying to get things right beforehand, always take action and risk that things might turn out differently.

Like I did with this post.

Want to learn more about writing? Check out my post on writing by hand or my post on how to stop making excuses.

Excuses are a way of rationalizing our own laziness or unwillingness to do things. So in this article, I want to talk about some ways that can help you to stop making excuses.

Typical excuses

You know what I am talking about when I mention excuses, right? You sit down in the late evening and you think it is a little too late to start writing and you are better off doing it tomorrow. It is Thursday and you want to work on a new piece, but you make excuses you are better off starting fresh next week. You cough a little and you decided that you should better rest instead of writing to not get ill. The list goes on.

What is the result? We aren’t doing our work and to not feel bad we make excuses.

We all make excuses

Now don’t worry too much if this hits a little too close to home, you are not alone. There have been countless times when I just didn’t want to write and I couldn’t do it for various reasons. I had to go out with friends; I wanted to watch a movie or I would provoke friends to call me in the evening to interrupt me from getting my writing done. I’d make all kinds of excuses and there was one thing I’d always tell myself:

‘Don’t worry about it, it is just one day.’

The problem was that there was always another tomorrow and always more excuses to make. Even now I can think back to these weird days when I was always just a little too tired in the evening to write.

The worst kind of excuse

The worst thing with these excuses is that we believe in them. They are plausible and rational enough to be true. When you are tired or feeling unwell you won’t be able to write as well as when you’d  be completely rested.

To not sit down and write is the easy way out. Remember my case that I mentioned above. It can easily become a habit to push things off further and further.

The worst excuse you can make is to tell yourself that you can just continue tomorrow. It is the most dreaded word for anyone who wants to get his work done or to make a new habit stick. The worst thing is that it is one of the most believable excuses. What is one more day? Why should it matter?

The problem is that you might do the same thing the next day. That day you might not be tired, but you are invited to go out with friends. Again you push things off. With every day, you believe the lie a little more. Soon enough the word tomorrow turns into next week. This means often Game Over for any new habit.

Overcoming Excuses

So what do you do? Here are nine ways that can help you stop making excuses and getting your writing done:

1. Taking personal responsibility

We often blame others or our surroundings for not being able to write. We couldn’t write because friends came over, your significant other needed your help, or there was no way you’d miss the movie on TV and the list goes on. Instead of saying that it is not your fault, take responsibility. It is you who didn’t want to write and to make an effort of finding other things to do instead.

2. Review your excuses

Look at the most common excuses you make. If you always tell yourself you are too tired, then you might start writing too late in the evening and it would be better to write earlier. Make the necessary adjustments. Reviewing is one of the best ways to stop making excuses.

3. Don’t start too big

Look at your daily writing quota or time. Maybe you are trying to do too much? After a normal workday, it might not be the best idea to force yourself to write for another two hours. Instead, lower the number. Put the focus on assuring that you get your writing done. It is worth much more if you write 500 words per day than wanting to write 2000 and not getting them done.

4. Look back at your past success

Just look back at the last couple of days when you did your writing. How were you able to write yesterday? What changed so you can’t muster up the energy to do it today? There is most likely no reason at all.

5. Don’t expect perfection

While you should always try to do your best work, at times it is just not possible. Accept the fact that on certain days the writing just won’t go well or you might not be at peak performance. On those days try to get your work done and last through it though. Remember that the first draft of everything is shit.

6. Remember why you write

When you notice that you are looking for an excuse to not get your writing done, ask yourself why it is you are writing. What is it you want to accomplish? What are your big goals? Do you want to give up, because you are a little too tired?

7. Have measurable short-term goals

Getting published or writing a bestseller are great long-term goals, but often they are too far away to motivate us to get our daily writing done. Instead, have measurable short-term goals. For example, trying to write 15.000 words per month would put you at about 500 words per day. You can do the same by saying you want to write each day for a specific time period without fail, for example two weeks. These goals are both measurable, not too hard to accomplish and they give you a sufficient motivation to keep going.

8. Visualize your success

Imagine what it will feel like once you have done your writing for the day. Think about how proud you can be of yourself after you put in this extra hour or these extra thirty minutes. You can also visualize yourself typing out ‘The End’, getting published or any other big goal you set for yourself. It’s a fantastic way that will help you stop making excuses.

9. Positive reinforcement

This is a very easy way that to my surprise many people forget. Whenever you have doubts and want to make excuses about your writing, give yourself positive reinforcements. That way, you’ll eventually be able to stop making excuses.

If a thought like ‘Well it is pretty late already, maybe I should continue tomorrow’ comes to your mind, state out loud that ‘you can do it’. You should try to reword your excuses to make them positive. Instead of ‘I am tired, I can’t…’ tell yourself ‘I might be tired, but I can still…’ As easy as it sounds, it can be a viable way to get yourself motivated.

What it comes down to is that you should look at yourself and find out if you have a serious reason not to write, or if you are just looking for an easy way out.

Want more tips about writing? Check out my articles on writing by hand and how to build up self-discipline.

As a writer, the two most important things you have to do are writing a lot and reading a lot. The advent of the internet changed many things, one of them the profession of being a writer. There are now many writing tools available that can make writing just a tad bit easier for you.

In this article I want to introduce some of these tools, but also want to talk a bit about other useful techniques. Today, software exists for pretty much anything. In this section I want to share three writing tools I used and which helped me a lot to become a better writer.

Writing Tools – Hemingway

This simple website was an absolute game changer for me. Hemingway shows you four things: adverbs, instance of the passive voice, phrases that have a simpler alternative and sentences that are hard or very hard to read.

When it comes to adverbs, no one said it better than Stephen King:

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

Adverbs make your writing weak. You’re showing, not telling. Hemingway marks every single adverb in your draft. Now, I don’t suggest you remove all of them, but have a close look at them. Instead of telling what’s happening, can you show it? Take this example:

He was running away quickly. -> He sprinted.

Going through your draft with Hemingway helps you identify instances as the ones mentioned above and editing them can make your writing much, much stronger.

The passive voice exists for a reason: to show what’s happening to someone or something. The problem is that many aspiring writers use it far too frequently, and in turn their writing becomes weaker. Hemingway will identify all instances of the passive voice. Once you find them, go over each one of them and make sure the passive voice is necessary. If not, reword the sentence. Take another example:

The door was closed by someone. -> Someone closed the door.

That’s much better, isn’t it?

Now I want to come to the last point, sentence-length. When I first started to write seriously, my style was all over the place and so were my sentences. My early drafts and even finished stories are riddled with convoluted sentences, run-on sentences and sentences that can be divided into two or more shorter ones.

Again, long and complex sentences have their place in writing. There are even some writers who’ve created their entire style around long, and complex sentences. The problem is that it takes more experience to make those sentences work well. The lengthy sentences of most aspiring writers aren’t complex, they are convoluted.

Hemingway helps you to identify those sentences that are hard and very hard to read. When I started to use it, I went through my copy and went over all of those sentences one by one and started rewriting them. I did this because I realized that my sentences were nothing but a convoluted mess. I told myself that I first had to master writing in short, concise sentences before I should move on to more complex structures and a more complex style. Hemingway helped me tremendously by telling me which of my sentences might need rewriting. Once I went over them and divided them into shorter sentences, my stories became much easier to read, more concise and overall stronger pieces.

You can try out Hemingway here.

Writing Tools – Grammarly

This is another outstanding writing tool. Grammarly is one of the best, if not the best, grammar and punctuation checker out there. It offers a free version and a premium version. While the free version does an okay job in picking up the most obvious mistakes, Grammarly truly shines in its premium version. If you are serious about polishing your stories up, you won’t get too far with the free version.

Working with Grammarly has multiple significant advantages.

The first is that it shows you all your grammatical and punctuation errors. As a non-native speaker, English grammar and punctuation were always a bane to my writing. I either used too many or too few commas and my drafts were riddled with awkward grammatical constructions. Once I started using Grammarly’s premium version, though, I could fix most of those mistakes in a matter of minutes.

A second significant advantage of Grammarly are its stylistic advice, advice on word choice and simpler alternatives to the words you’re using in your draft. This can help to make your draft easier to read and strengthening your writing overall.

The last and most important advantage in using Grammarly is that you’ll pick up more about punctuation and grammar yourself. After a while you’ll just pick up on your most common mistakes because they are pointed out by Grammarly repeatedly. You could say it teaches you about grammar and punctuation simply by using it. In the two years I’ve been using Grammarly, my punctuation and my grammar skills improved tremendously.

You should definitely give Grammarly a try to see how well the free version works for you. If you’re a professional writer and plan on selling your pieces, you might want to consider the premium versions since it offers way more features and is well worth the price.

You can check out Grammarly here.

Writing Tools – ProWritingAid

As I mentioned above, I’ve been using Grammarly for two years, but I switched to using ProWritingAid about a month ago.

Changing from Grammarly to ProWritingAid felt like changing from a Bachelor’s to a Master’s degree. The difference between both writing tools is huge.

Now don’t get me wrong, Grammarly is absolutely amazing for fixing punctuation and grammar errors. It might be the best writing tool available for that singular purpose.

ProWritingAid however shines in a variety of unique ways that make it a much more useful tool for someone who’s writing fiction. It offers over twenty reports that help you analyze your writing in various unique aspects.

It includes the usual grammar checker (or report), but the style report is already much more powerful than anything Grammarly offers. ProWritingAid offers you various useful suggestions on how to improve your style by suggesting the removal of weak phrases, highlights wordage difficulties and instances of the passive voice.

The many other reports include repetitive usage of words, pacing issues, clichés and much, much more.

I could go on forever about how useful this tool is for fiction writers, but it’s best if you check it out yourself. A word of warning though, ProWritingAid can overwhelm you at first. It’s best to focused on grammar and style first and slowly familiarize yourself with all the other reports it offers one by one.

ProWritingAid is an extremely powerful too and can offer you a lot of help with not only your writing but identify in which areas you can improve the most in.

You can check out ProWritingAid here.

Use the discount code TTHRALBGXU to get 20% off.

Conclusion

Those are the three writing tools that I used as a fiction writer and which helped me the most. Hemingway is something that any aspiring writer should use, in my opinion. The decision between Grammarly and ProWritingAid is more of a personal one and depends on what you’re looking for. My suggestion is to try out both tools and decide which one is most useful to you.

Want to learn more about writing? Check out my articles on planning vs. action and my article on writing by hand.

In my years of writing, I’ve picked up various books on creative writing. In this list I want to present those books I regard as the best writing books out there.

Many of the writing books on this list helped me to understand the writing process better in various ways. There are many books on this list that focus more on the technical aspects of writing. Yet, there are other books I think an aspiring writer should check out. There are books that focus more on the writer’s life, the right mindset or muse on about the nature of writing and creativity.

This list comprises the best writing books I’ve read over the years and which I’d recommend to aspiring writers.

A word of warning, though: The most important thing an aspiring writer can do is to sit down and write. While reading books on the craft can help you speed up the learning process, you won’t improve unless you write. Should you be looking for other advice, you might want to check out my articles on writing.

Table of Contents

• Best Writing Books on the Writing Life
  • Bird by Bird
  • Zen in the Art of Writing
  • Becoming a Writer
  • The Faith of a Writer
  • The Writing Life
• Best Writing Books on the Technical Aspects of Writing
  • On Writing
  • The Elements of Style
  • The Art of Fiction
  • Stein on Writing
  • Writing Fiction
  • How to Write a Damn Good Novel
  • How Not to Write a Novel
• Best Writing Books on Creativity
  • Art & Fear
  • Steal Like an Artist
• Best Writing Books – Biographies and Memoirs
  • A Moveable Feast
  • A Writer’s Diary

Best Writing Books on the Writing Life

The books in this section focus less on practical advice, but on a topic I think is equally important, the writing life. Many of the books mentioned here talk about such topics as mindset, the nature of writing, a writer’s mentality and what it means to live by the pen.

Bird by Bird

Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird is all-around great and one of the best writing books out there. The book focuses less on the practical aspects of the craft, but aims to give light to such topics as the writer’s life, the mentality and first drafts. It also talks at length about many of the problems a writer can encounter.

Many of the practical advice in this book won’t be anything new to more seasoned writers and those who’ve already read other books on the craft. The reason I wholeheartedly recommend this book is because of the chapters that focus on mentality and the writer’s life. It’s those chapters that resonated with me the most and that showed me that writing is not only a creative art but also a hard one.

Zen in the Art of Writing

Ray Bradbury is a writer most famous for his novel Fahrenheit 451. However, he’s written over 20 novels and over 600 short stories in various genres, making him one of the most prolific writers of all time. Zen in the Art of Writing can be best described as Bradbury’s manual on writing fiction and the writer’s life. It’s because of his ideas on the latter topic that I regard this as one of the best writing books I ever read.

While the book gives some practical advice, focusing on how to come up with story ideas, the majority is spent on discussing mindset and the qualities a writer needs. There are also chapters that give more insight into the writer’s life.

Zen in the Art of Writing is a quick read, but one that provides any aspiring writer with a lot of valuable advice.

Becoming a Writer

Dorothea Brande’s book Becoming a Writer shines most because it focuses on a topic rarely discussed in other books on writing, self-discipline. It outlines topics such as building a writing routine, sticking to it and how to unlock one’s creativity.

What elevated this to one of the best writing books out there were the many exercises that accompanied the book.

Since I believe self-discipline and sticking to writing every day is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing for aspiring writers, I can’t recommend this book enough.

The Faith of a Writer

The Faith of a Writer is written by Joyce Carol Oates, another famous and popular American writer.

While Oates provides the reader with some practical advice, what made this one of the best writing books were the other topics she discussed. The book focuses on being a writer, a writer’s mentality, and other topics related to the writer’s life.

I think it’s interesting to read about those topics and the different perspectives different writers have and Oates can provide her readers with some great insight.

The Writing Life

Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life is a short little book on writing that might also be the most heartfelt read on the craft I ever experienced. Dillard talks about the beauty of the craft, the writer’s life, and what it means to be an artist.

The most important insight I took from this book was Dillard’s opinion that a writer has to look at the world with the same wonder as a child. This, however, is not the only brilliant piece of advice in this book.

The Writing Life is a short, yet beautiful little book, one that resonated with me and that I consider one of the best writing books ever written.

Best Writing Books on the Technical Aspects of Writing

Now I want to come to the best writing books that focus on the practical aspects of writing. These books give detailed advice on most technical aspects of the craft. Many of these books here are handbooks and differ from the ones mentioned above. They are not designed as simple reading, but to look up certain aspects of the craft. Still, all the books here are amongst the best writing books I’ve read.

On Writing

On Writing by Stephen King is one of the most popular books on writing out there. The first part of the book is more a memoir, focusing on King’s early life and career. It’s the second part of the book, however, that’s filled with advice on the practical aspects of the craft.

Most of the advice in On Writing isn’t as in depth as that in the other books presented in this section. I still consider it invaluable, especially for aspiring writers new to the craft.

The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style is a must read for anyone who wants to write fiction in English. It’s not only one of the best writing books, but also one of the most important ones.

The book will teach you anything there is to know about English Grammar and style. It’s not farfetched to say that this book is essential reading for any aspiring writer. The reason this book is so important is because of a simple rule: To break the rules, you first need to know them.

In the newest edition of this little book, it also includes more contemporary topics, such as word processing software and writing in the digital age.

The Art of Fiction

The Art of Fiction by John Gardner is probably one of the most detailed and best writing books I ever read, if not the best. Gardner gives amazing, in-depth advice on every aspect of the craft, including advanced topics such as rhythm or theme, which are rarely discussed in other books.

However, Gardner’s writing can seem somewhat overblown or even pretentious. Yet, don’t make the mistake to disregard the book for that reason. The Art of Fiction is a fantastic book and more in-depth than any other I read on the craft.

I’d also like to recommend his book ‘On Becoming a Novelist’ which focuses more on the nature of writing and the qualities a writer needs.

Stein on Writing

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein is yet another fantastic book on writing featuring vast amounts of helpful advice. He provides insights from a lifelong career in writing and publishing.

The advice in this book is not only detailed, but often accompanied by examples from popular fiction.

Some parts of the book, however, focus on non-fiction, so those might not be of too much interest for aspiring fiction writers. Still, the chapters dedicated to fiction are fantastic and make this one of the best writing books out there.

Writing Fiction

Writing Fiction is not a normal book on writing, but a writing course in book form. The book starts out by giving advice on finding inspiration before it focuses on each element of fiction per chapter. Each chapter offers an in-depth discussion of its respective topic, such as characters and dialogue. Each chapter is also accompanied by many useful exercises.

Writing Fiction is one of the most practical books on this list, because of the exercises it features. If one’s looking for a book that helps take action, Writing Fiction is probably the best choice out there. It’s a great book, and because of its practical orientation, I consider it amongst the best writing books.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel

Here we have another book that gives not only advice, but guides the reader through writing a novel. James N. Frey discusses every aspect of the dramatic novel and gives fantastic advice about each one of them.

The book, however, focuses more on commercial fiction, meaning fiction that sells and doesn’t talk about more advanced topics. Nonetheless, it’s one of the best writing books out there, not only because of the examples it features. What makes this book so good, is the discussion of more fundamental topics such as outlining and planning a novel, something that’s invaluable for aspiring writers.

How Not to Write a Novel

This book is the odd one out on this list, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a great one.

The book takes an entirely unique approach. It doesn’t talk about what to do, but what not to do. The bad examples and the overall style of the book are hilarious. But don’t be mistaken, the advice is still invaluable.

I learned a lot from this book. It’s often the case that one can learn more from bad fiction and this book is no difference. The book is also useful for advanced writers who struggle with certain aspects of the craft.

Best Writing Books on Creativity

Creativity is a topic that’s not only important for writers but for all artists out there. I recommend giving the two books mentioned here a try. They will give you great insight into not only the creative process but also on creativity.

Art & Fear

Art & Fear is a book that I’d recommend to anyone out there who wants to become an artist. The book doesn’t focus so much on writing or creating art. Instead, it focuses on many of the mental barriers we encounter as artists and creatives.

The book also focuses on creativity itself, how to get more creative and what it means to be an artist. It provides the reader with many examples from famous artist and outlines many common misconceptions about art.

It’s a book that’s written by artists for artists. While it doesn’t focus on writing alone, I still consider it one of the best writing books or one of the best books on the creative process.

Steal Like an Artist

This handy little book provides you with anything you need to be creative. The book comprises many examples, tips, hits and charts on how to reach out to your creative side.

While the title might seem odd, it presents one of the core ideas of the book, nothing we create is truly original.

When I read this book, I considered many of the advice simple and almost self-explanatory, until I thought about it. It’s often the case that we as creatives, or humans often disregard the simplest and most fundamental things.

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon is a short, but interesting read that gives you a lot to think about. While it’s, yet again, not a book solely on writing, I highly recommend it to any aspiring writer and creative out there.

Best Writing Books – Biographies and Memoirs

Biographies and memoirs rarely provide practical tips on writing or other aspects of the craft. Yet, it can be very interesting, insightful and even inspiring to read about the lives of other writers.

A Moveable Feast

This little gem by Hemingway is a fantastic read. In it he reminisces about his life in Paris as a young man. He recalls the time he spent with Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald. It’s the type of book that gives you a feeling for the writer’s life.

The book made me happy, and it made me want to pack my bags, move to a different city and live by the pen, just as Hemingway did.

The book also paints a very private picture of young Hemingway, but also shows us what an interesting, yet strange man Scott Fitzgerald was. I can’t recommend this book enough to both fans of Hemingway and to anyone who considers a career in the arts.

While not a book on writing per se, I still consider it one of the best writing books out there.

A Writer’s Diary

The collected diaries of Virginia Woolf paints a very private and at times troubled picture. The book shows us how hard it can be to write novels and finishing them.

While you can find some brilliant advice on writing and what it means to be a writer between the many pages of this book, it’s foremost a biography of Virginia Woolf.

I enjoyed this book a lot, but it can get depressing, which might be nothing new to those who know a bit about Virginia Woolf’s character.

While the book doesn’t teach you about the craft per se, it presents you with the inner workings of a writer, a troubled person, and the toll a life by the pen took on her.

Aspiring writer’s are often plagued by a multitude of problems. Taking a step back from the monitor in front of you and instead writing by hand for a while can have great results. And it can help to fight one of the biggest foils every writer will encounter:

We all know the inner critic. It’s this nasty, nagging voice in the back of our head telling us that what we wrote isn’t just right.

“Are you sure you spelled that word right?”

“Don’t you need to add a comma there?”

“My, this sentence sounds a bit awkward, doesn’t it?”

Those are just some of the many annoying comments this little voice would make. I’d, of course, trust them and go back to edit what I’d just written. This wouldn’t happen only once, but again and again and again. After an hour, I’d close my word processor in frustration and give up for the day.

That happened to me countless times when I first started out writing. I’d finish a few sentences, or maybe a paragraph only to go back to edit and rewrite it, often multiple times.

It was hard to say to the least, and I didn’t get anything done. At the time I was attending university. It was more by necessity than choice that I started to write on the go, by hand. Moreover, that’s also the time when I learned how to fight back against my inner critic.

It was by writing by hand.

Thinking back now, it’s almost unreal how much I struggled with the above problems. Back in the day though, those were serious issues, hindering me from getting anything done.

Here are six reasons how writing by hand can help you to overcome your inner critic and in turn become a better writer.

1. No Backspace or Delete Key

This might not sound like a big deal, but it’s huge. When you’re writing on a computer, you can delete words or whole sentences without any repercussion.

On a sheet of paper, you can’t. All you can do is cross out words or sentences and then write them again.

After doing this a few times, you will notice how ridiculous of an effort it is. You’ll start to wonder what you are doing when you stare at half a page of nothing but crossed out words. It will get frustrating.

2. Writing by Hand Takes More Time

This one ties directly into the first point. Typing out a paragraph on a computer is quick. Do the same by hand, and you’ll realize that it takes much more time?

When you write by hand, you will start to value your time much more. Most of us only have a few hours per day to spare on our writing endeavors, if that. Filling up a whole page by hand will take much longer than on a computer.

When you do nothing, but edit and rewrite things over and over again, you’ll come to realize that you are not doing it right.

3. You See the Work You’ve Done

This is of course not exclusive to writing by hand.

What I’m referring to is that you can see all the edits, crossed out words and sentences. When you see nothing but pages filled with crossed out words and sentences, you’ll start to realize that you’re not moving forward in your story. Instead, you’ll see how much time you waste over-editing and rewriting.

On the other hand, finishing up one or multiple pages by hand also shows you that you did some work. It’s a great feeling and quite motivating. I still have my old, filled up notebook around to this day.

4. Editing Becomes Visual

When you edit on a computer, you can delete what you don’t like and type it out again. On a sheet of paper that’s not possible.

If you listen to your inner critic too much, you will end up with pages of crossed out and rewritten sentences. At this point, you will start to wonder if any of this makes any sense. Is it really worth it to listen to this voice in the back of your mind, or should you wait and edit later?

There’s no better way to learn than to see what you’re doing wrong right in front of your eyes. When I saw nothing but an over-edited mess, I realized that what I was doing didn’t work.

5. You’re Not Bound to a Computer

A change of scenery can do wonders for a creative mind. Being stuck at the same place day after day while trying to change, makes things harder.

So when you fight your inner critic, changing things up is a great idea. All you need to write is a pen and a sheet of paper. You can write at a café, the library, a park, a bench, at the beach, hell almost anywhere you want.

Changes often correlate with one another. Moving to a different location, while trying new ways of writing, will help to ingrain those into your mind.

6. You Can Go Wild on the Page

On a computer screen, your writing is nicely formatted in printed letters.

When you write by hand though, you can do things a bit differently. There are no restrictions anymore.

Think about the novel House of Leaves for example. Some great editing choices made it quite a bit more interesting. On a sheet of paper, you can do the same thing. You can play around with elements of Metafiction.

The point is that trying out new things and experimenting can help us to think outside the box.

It’s another thing that helped me back in the day. Conformity breeds habit, in my case the habit of editing on the go and trying to make my writing perfect. By going against it and trying a variety of things on paper, I got more creative. I ultimately learned how to break free from the shackles of the inner critic.

Those are of course my personal experiences. If you, however, suffer from the same problems I outlined above, I urge you to give writing by hand a try.

Want to learn more about writing? Follow me here on Medium as I plan on publishing more articles about the craft in the future.

Interested in my fiction? Why not check out the following stories I wrote: The Room of Change, Robert’s Repairs or Not All Lighthouses are Built to Guide Ships.

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