25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now)
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I read this cool article last week — “30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself” — and I thought, hey, heeeey, that’s interesting. Writers might could use their own version of that. So, I started to cobble one together. And, of course, as most of these writing-related posts become, it ended up that for the most part I’m sitting here in the blog yelling at myself first and foremost.
That is, then, how you should read this: me, yelling at me. If you take away something from it, though?
Then go forth and kick your writing year in the teeth.
Onto the list.
1. Stop Running Away
Right here is your story. Your manuscript. Your career. So why the fuck are you running in the other direction? Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing. If it’s what you want, then pursue it. This isn’t just true of your overall writing career, either. It’s true of individual components. You want one thing but then constantly work to achieve its opposite. You say you want to write a novel but then go and write a bunch of short stories. You say you’re going to write This script but then try to write That script instead. Pick a thing and work toward that thing.
2. Stop Stopping
Momentum is everything. Cut the brake lines. Careen wildly and unsteadily toward your goal. I hate to bludgeon you about the head and neck with a hammer forged in the volcanic fires of Mount Obvious, but the only way you can finish something is by not stopping. That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.
3. Stop Writing In Someone Else’s Voice
You have a voice. It’s yours. Nobody else can claim it, and any attempts to mimic it will be fumbling and clumsy like two tweens trying to make out in a darkened broom closet. That’s on you, too — don’t try to write in somebody else’s voice. Yes, okay, maybe you do this in the beginning. But strive past it. Stretch your muscles. Find your voice. This is going to be a big theme at the start of 2012 — discover those elements that comprise your voice, that put the author in your authority. Write in a way that only you can write.
4. Stop Worrying
Worry is some useless shit. It does nothing. It has no basis in reality. It’s a vestigial emotion, useless as — as my father was wont to say — “tits on a boar hog.” We worry about things that are well beyond our control. We worry about publishing trends or future advances or whether or not Barnes & Noble is going to shove a hand grenade up its own ass and go kablooey. That’s not to say you can’t identify future trouble spots and try to work around them — but that’s not worrying. You recognize a roadblock and arrange a path around it — you don’t chew your fingernails bloody worrying about it. Shut up. Calm down. Worry, begone.
5. Stop Hurrying
The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward in quantity. As if we’re all rushing forward to squat out as huge a litter of squalling word-babies as our fragile penmonkey uteruses (uteri?) can handle. Stories are like wine; they need time. So take the time. This isn’t a hot dog eating contest. You’re not being judged on how much you write but rather, how well you do it. Sure, there’s a balance — you have to be generative, have to be swimming forward lest you sink like a stone and find remora fish mating inside your rectum. But generation and creativity should not come at the cost of quality. Give your stories and your career the time and patience it needs. Put differently: don’t have a freak out, man.
6. Stop Waiting
I said “stop hurrying,” not “stand still and fall asleep.” Life rewards action, not inertia. What the fuck are you waiting for? To reap the rewards of the future, you must take action in the present. Do so now.
7. Stop Thinking It Should Be Easier
It’s not going to get any easier, and why should it? Anything truly worth doing requires hella hard work. If climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro meant packing a light lunch and hopping in a climate-controlled elevator, it wouldn’t really be that big a fucking deal, would it? You want to do This Writing Thing, then don’t just expect hard work — be happy that it’s a hard row to hoe and that you’re just the, er, hoer to hoe it? I dunno. Don’t look at me like that. AVERT YOUR GAZE, SCRUTINIZER. And get back to work.
8. Stop Deprioritizing Your Wordsmithy
You don’t get to be a proper storyteller by putting it so far down your list it’s nestled between “Complete the Iditarod (but with squirrels instead of dogs)” and “Two words: Merkin, Macrame.” You want to do this shit, it better be some Top Five Shiznit, son. You know you’re a writer because it’s not just what you do, but rather, it’s who you are. So why deprioritize that thing which forms part of your very identity?
9. Stop Treating Your Body Like A Dumpster
The mind is the writer’s best weapon. It is equal parts bullwhip, sniper rifle, and stiletto. If you treat your body like it’s the sticky concrete floor in a porno theater (that’s not a spilled milkshake) then all you’re doing is dulling your most powerful weapon. The body fuels the mind. It should be “crap out,” not “crap in.” Stop bloating your body with awfulness. Eat well. Exercise. Elsewise you’ll find your bullwhip’s tied in knots, your stiletto’s so dull it couldn’t cut through a glob of canned pumpkin, and someone left peanut-butter-and-jelly in the barrel of your sniper rifle.
10. Stop The Moping And The Whining
Complaining — like worry, like regret, like that little knob on the toaster that tells you it’ll make the toast darker — does nothing. (Doubly useless: complaining about complaining, which is what I’m doing here.) Blah blah blah, publishing, blah blah blah, Amazon, blah blah blah Hollywood. Stop boo-hooing. Don’t like something? Fix it or forgive it. And move on to the next thing.
11. Stop Blaming Everyone Else
You hear a lot of blame going around — something-something gatekeepers, something-something too many self-published authors, something-something agency model. You’re going to own your successes, and that means you’re also going to need to own your errors. This career is yours. Yes, sometimes external factors will step in your way, but it’s up to you how to react. Fuck blame. Roll around in responsibility like a dog rolling around in an elk miscarriage. Which, for the record, is something I’ve had a dog do, sooooo. Yeah. It was, uhhh, pretty nasty. Also: “Elk Miscarriage” is the name of my indie band.
12. Stop The Shame
Writers are often ashamed at who they are and what they do. Other people are out there fighting wars and fixing cars and destroying our country with poisonous loans — and here we are, sitting around in our footy-pajamas, writing about vampires and unicorns, about broken hearts and shattered jaws. A lot of the time we won’t get much respect, but you know what? Fuck that. Take the respect. Writers and storytellers help make this world go around. We’re just as much a part of the societal ecosystem as anybody else. Craft counts. Art matters. Stories are important. Freeze-frame high-five. Now have a beer and a shot of whisky and shove all your shame in a bag and burn it.
13. Stop Lamenting Your Mistakes
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you fucked up somewhere along the way. Who gives a donkey’s duodenum? Shit happens. Shit washes off. Don’t dwell. Don’t sing lamentations to your errors. Repeat after me: learn and move on. Very few mistakes will haunt you till your end of days unless you let it haunt you. That is, unless your error was so egregious it can never be forgotten (“I wore a Hitler outfit as I went to every major publishing house in New York City and took a poop in every editor’s desk drawer over the holiday. Also, I may have put it on Youtube and sent it to Galleycat. So… there’s that”).
14. Stop Playing It Safe
Let 2012 be the year of the risk. Nobody knows what’s going on in the publishing industry, but we can be damn sure that what’s going on with authors is that we’re finding new ways to be empowered in this New Media Future, Motherfuckers (hereby known as NMFMF). What that means is, it’s time to forget the old rules. Time to start questioning preconceived notions and established conventions. It’s time to start taking some risks both in your career and in your storytelling. Throw open the doors. Kick down the walls of your uncomfortable box. Carpet bomb the Comfort Zone so that none other may dwell there.
15. Stop Trying To Control Shit You Can’t Control
ALL THAT out there? All the industry shit and the reviews and the Amazonian business practices? The economy? The readers? You can’t control any of that. You can respond to it. You can try to get ahead of it. But you can’t control it. Control what you can, which is your writing and the management of your career.
16. Stop Doing One Thing
Diversification is the name of survival for all creatures: genetics relies on diversification. (Says the guy with no science background and little interest in Googling that idea to see if it holds any water at all.) Things are changing big in these next few years, from the rise of e-books to the collapse of traditional markets to the the galactic threat of Mecha-Gaiman. Diversity of form, format and genre will help ensure you stay alive in the coming entirely-made-up Pubpocalypse.
17. Stop Writing For “The Market”
To be clear, I don’t mean, “stop writing for specific markets.” That’s silly advice. If you want to write for the Ladies’ Home Journal, well, that’s writing for a specific market. What I mean is, stop writing for The Market, capital T-M. The Market is an unknowable entity based on sales trends and educated guess-work and some kind of publishing haruspicy (at Penguin, they sacrifice actual penguins — true story!). Writing a novel takes long enough that writing for the market is a doomed mission, a leap into a dark chasm with the hopes that someone will build a bridge there before you fall through empty space. Which leads me to –
18. Stop Chasing Trends
Set the trends. Don’t chase them like a dog chasing a Buick. Trends offer artists a series of diminishing returns — every iteration of a trend after the first is weaker than the last, as if each repetition is another ice cube plunked into a once strong glass of Scotch. You’re just watering it down, man. Don’t be a knock-off purse, a serial killer copycat, or just another fantasy echo of Tolkien. Do your own thing.
19. Stop Caring About What Other Writers Are Doing
They’re going to do what they’re going to do. You’re not them. You don’t want to be them and they don’t want to be you. Why do what everyone else is doing? Let me reiterate: do your own thing.
20. Stop Caring So Much About The Publishing Industry
Know the industry, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. The mortal man cannot change the weave and weft of cosmic forces; they are outside you. Examine the publishing industry too closely and it will ejaculate its demon ichor in your eye. And then you’ll have to go to the eye doctor and he’ll be all like, “You were staring too long at the publishing industry again, weren’t you?” And you’re like, “YES, fine,” and he’s like, “Well, I have drops for that, but they’ll cost you,” and you get out your checkbook and ask him how many zeroes you should fill in because you’re a writer and don’t have health care. *sob*
21. Stop Listening To What Won’t Sell
You’ll hear that. “I don’t think this can sell.” And shit, you know what? That might be right. Just the same — I’d bet that all the stories you remember, all the tales that came out of nowhere and kicked you in the junk drawer with their sheer possibility and potential, were stories that were once flagged with the “this won’t sell” moniker. You’ll always find someone to tell you what you can’t do. What you shouldn’t do. That’s your job as a writer to prove them wrong. By sticking your fountain pen in their neck and drinking their blood. …uhh. I mean, “by writing the best damn story you can write.” That’s what I mean. That other thing was, you know. It was just metaphor. Totally. *hides inkwell filled with human blood*
22. Stop Overpromising And Overshooting
We want to do everything all at once. Grand plans! Sweeping gestures! Epic 23-book fantasy cycles! Don’t overreach. Concentrate on what you can complete. Temper risk with reality.
23. Stop Leaving Yourself Off The Page
You are your stories and your stories are you. Who you are matters. Your experiences and feelings and opinions count. Put yourself on every page: a smear of heartsblood. If we cannot connect with our own stories, how can we expect anybody else to find that connection?
24. Stop Dreaming
Fuck dreaming. Start doing. Dreams are great — uh, for children. Dreams are intangible and uncertain looks into the future. Dreams are fanciful flights of improbability — pegasus wishes and the hopes of lonely robots. You’re an adult, now. It’s time to shit or get off the pot. It’s time to wake up or stay dreaming. Let me say it again because I am nothing if not a fan of repetition: Fuck dreaming. Start doing.
25. Stop Being Afraid
Fear will kill you dead. You’ve nothing to be afraid of that a little preparation and pragmatism cannot kill. Everybody who wanted to be a writer and didn’t become one failed based on one of two critical reasons: one, they were lazy, or two, they were afraid. Let’s take for granted you’re not lazy. That means you’re afraid. Fear is nonsense. What do you think is going to happen? You’re going to be eaten by tigers? Life will afford you lots of reasons to be afraid: bees, kidnappers, terrorism, being chewed apart by an escalator, Republicans, Snooki. But being a writer is nothing worthy of fear. It’s worthy of praise. And triumph. And fireworks. And shotguns. And a box of wine. So shove fear aside — let fear be gnawed upon by escalators and tigers. Step up to the plate. Let this be your year.
* * *
Did you know that Chuck has a small army of writing-related e-books available? Each brined in a salty spice mix of profanity, inchoate rage, and liquor? Check ‘em out, won’t you?
Try: CONFESSIONS OF A FREELANCE PENMONKEY
$4.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
Or its sequel: REVENGE OF THE PENMONKEY
$2.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
And: 250 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WRITING
$0.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
Or the newest: 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER
$2.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
About The Author
ChuckWendig
Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He is the author of the novels DOUBLE DEAD, BLACKBIRDS, and MOCKINGBIRD. In addition, he's got a metric boatload of writing-related e-books available, including the popular 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with wife, dog, and newborn progeny.
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- FAIL WHALE
- Transmissions From Baby-Town: “Nine Months” February 22, 2012
- 25 Things I Want To Say To So-Called “Aspiring” Writers February 21, 2012
- Now Available: 500 More Ways To Be A Better Writer February 20, 2012
- Flash Fiction Challenge: Making A Sandwich February 17, 2012
- What’s The Poop, Wendig? February 16, 2012
501 Responses and Counting...
Huzzahs are in order Chuck. This is, rather seriously, exactly what I needed to hear tonight. I expect I will return to this post (and a few others) many times as I work on my new years resolution. The resolution that this year not only will I polish works to the point of being publishable but that I will either get payed or get rejections for said works.
I’m just glad you didn’t say anything about masturbating or robbing liquor stores.
Hell yeah! This is a post that I’m going to print out and reread everytime I think I want to quit what I’m doing. This is like the best post for writers ever, I have no idea why nobody listed all those things before!
@Samuel:
If I said to stop doing those, I’d be a total hypocrite.
– c.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
Funny, I just posted this as a Facebook status, but I will repeat it here:
Quod me nutrit me destruit. (That which nourishes me destroys me.) Today’s happy new year’s thought brought to you by Christopher Marlowe. To paraphrase the Bard’s echo of the sentiment, we all on the ashes of our youth doth lie, consumed by what we were once nouished by. The clock is ticking folks. Whatever you were waiting to do, stop the waiting and start the doing.
Dan
Another awesome list Chuck! And a great one to start off the new year. Some of these I needed to hear (and I won’t say which ones)
I was all set to start some writing today, but then I was told by Keith Rawson to read Chuck Wendig’s post on things writers should stop doing. Now after taking time to read this, I just can’t get my head to writing again. I was so ready to write this morning, but now the rhythm is gone. I probably shouldn’t have read this post, but I did. And ate that whole pack of chocolate covered donuts. I shouldn’t have eaten that last one. Now I have to poop.
Thanks Chuck and Keith. I know what you’re trying to do. Distract us pathetic pond scum before we evolve. Well done.
I shouldn’t have drank that Yoohoo either. Man… gotta go! Thanks!
@Ron –
Go poop, have some insulin, and write. Don’t make Rawson get out the cattle prod.
– c.
@Dan:
Put differently:
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
– c.
This. On my wall.
[...] Writers might could use their own version of that. So, I started to cobble one together. And, of course, as most of these writing-related posts become, it ended up that for the most part I’m sitting here in the blog yelling at myself first and foremost. 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
That is some absolutely awesome advice, and there were things I really needed to hear, too.
I love this. Cant say it any other way.
Thanks, all!
[...] If you write, you should read this: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
Excellent piece, even excellenter avatar. (First time here, Chuck.)
Welcome, @Dan!
Sorry the floor is, erm, so sticky.
– c.
Your theory that we should not be afraid of Mecha-Gaiman is intriguing, and I will gladly push both it and my fear onto any escalator I see.
Couldn’t agree more. Nail and hammer well placed on this one.
As someone who has their own site and writes regardless I can appreciate this post. Check put the site if
you’re inclined – feedback is appreciated.
Great advice:) I’m going to share this … as I get back to work on my next book.
I love this post. Thanks.
Everything’s great here, except 11. “Blame” is a spin word for “accountability.” Who’s to say you can’t fight *and* hold people accountable for their misdeeds and mistakes?
You can’t just stop complaining about things you believe erode literary culture and the literature business model, simply to become individually successful. That’s as dumb as trying to be Sailor of the Week on a sinking ship.
Also, telling people not to complain about the misbehavior of those who have greater power than them is … well … kinda slavish. “Don’t blame the hiring manager for being biased, just work harder!” Really?
Now, using other people’s bad behavior as an excuse to quit (or to suck and refuse to improve beyond suckage) is dumb, sure. Of course, if you’re quitty or sucky, you shouldn’t be complaining about the biz at all, because you shouldn’t be writing. And, I’ll be the first to say that complaints should be rationally thought out, not just the sour grapes of rant.
But, individual success is a subset of communal success, and if the community process is inefficient because people up top are “doing it wrong,” it’s vital to the continued health of that community that lots and lots of people down below Billy Beane the process: examine the flaws, point them out, and argue for alternatives. Vigorously, even resentfully. If necessity if the mother of invention, resentment is the labor pain of its implementation.
Far better to carry progress to term than miscarry (as your elk did) by stifling dissent.
It’s not so much what you had to say that *sticks*, Chuck (because, frankly, I’ve heard this all before–heck, I’ve said this all before), but the way you said it!
LOVE this all, printing out for the office–plus now my husband can just point to a number instead of ranting at me
Re: #3–how?! I sort of get how to stop writing in someone else’s voice, but how the HELL do you identify the elements that comprise your own voice? Isn’t it a little like trying to see if a pair pants make your own ass look big (without a three-way mirror?). A lot of stretching and craning that gains you nothing? I had to stop thinking about my voice entirely and focus on everything else because it was driving me mad…and don’t say that’s the answer–you said you could identify the elements that comprise your own voice. How, for the love of God, how?
Like my brother told me when I said editors and agents don’t think tiger sharks are romantic…”But a woman will screw a vampire ( a dead person) and go down on a werewolf ( a dog)–write the damn book girl.”
Your article was point on.
Oh. My. God. This is the best thing I’ve read in 2012. That might not sound impressive, but right now I’m suspicious that come Dec 31, 2012, it will still be the best thing I’ve read in 2012. I was laughing out loud and nodding my head through most of it, and fidgeting and feeling uncomfortable through some of it, which makes it dead-on perfect. (Well, maybe not perfect…I think you have an extra “you” after “drawer” in #21, but close enough to perfect for me.)
Plus I kinda have a fetish for someone saying “fuck” to me a lot. I plan to share this hard and often.
Wow, guilty as charged! It’s very hard to keep a positive mind when you are trying to write for a living. I love writing, and I write everyday. Therefor, I am a writer. My favorite was number 24: Fuck dreaming, start doing.
Very good list, sir.
Thanks. My balls hurt, but, damn did I need this!
Thanks for the New Year’s post, Chuck. I really appreciate the reminder to not worry and to let go of fear. I’m about to launch a new book that’s a space opera, and I’ve been doing some (not a lot) of worrying about it because it’s a different type of story from the others I’ve self-published that have been successful. It’s ironic that I jumped into self-publishing with NO expectations, and ended up doing very well. Now that I know what possible–both positive and negative–it’s harder to jump. I guess the diving board is higher.
But I appreciate your push.
I’m going to send the link to your blog to all my writing groups.
If anyone needs more incentive about writing and self-publishing, I blogged about my sales numbers for 2011. http://drdebraholland.blogspot.com
Excellent advice and true statements. Definitely a post to keep and share. As for #21, I can vouch for that. Back in 1994, everyone told me it would be impossible for an unknown writer to sell a story collection. It turns out, everyone was wrong.
Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely check out your e-books.
Dude.
This Rules.
Most excellent fucking motivation speech I’ve heard in a while. I ascribe to all of those as my writing partner and I flog each other with those as we push thru the flotsam and jetsam to get our work out to the reality allergic viewing public.
From one terrible mind to another, rock on chuck.
I dunno. If I “stop dreaming,” I might “start throwing myself off bridges.”
WORD.
I want to forward this to every writer I know
These should be immortalized, emblazoned on stone tablets and carried down the mountain, or hotel staircase, at every writer’s conference for the unwashed masses to behold and remember.
Thanks jerk. Now I’ve run out of excuses as to why I haven’t finished one of my plays in a couple of years now. How am I going to continue to explain why I play hours of video games every night instead of writing now?
Time to get unafraid in 2012 I guess…
Thanks dude, i’m on it!:-)
Man, this is good stuff.
“Roll around in responsibility like a dog rolling around in an elk miscarriage. Which, for the record, is something I’ve had a dog do, sooooo.”
Oooh, yeahhh, they do that. They also roll in horse shit. But the absolute worst in my experience was a dog rolling on a rotting chicken that died in the woods.
And they try to get it on their neck; kind of like a woman applying perfume. Ack!
Where the fuck is the like button? Just what I needed. Thank you.
I often find that STOP STOPPING and STOP DOING ONE THING often fight each other. It’s hard for me to diversify when I haven’t finished a project. I want my head in that one project until it’s complete. I don’t want to get out of that story world until the story’s told. But alas…I guess my brain will have to grow and I’ll get smarter and eventually be able to work on both transmedia & scripts & children’s books. Oh, while cooking egg rolls and taking care of toddlers.
I love this post! The reason is because it is right to the point and not around the bush (like many other bloggers and writers love to be). I see a lot of things I will stop doing, myself. 2012 is going to be a good year for many writers. If they can stop some of their bad habits. Thanks for sharing!
Killer, honest stuff…….thanks for being a guy who gives it and a guy who gets it.
[...] way you can finish something is by not stopping. That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.” Chuck Wendig Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers [...]
For writers, there’s no better list. Brilliant. Thank you.
A zillion tiny yeses and one huge fucking amen.
Especially 24 and 25. Everyone always says ‘dream big,’ and I say, ‘go big.’ What good is a big dream? It’s still stuck in your head.
This is a GREAT list! I love it! Thanks!
Seriously love this. Thank you for posting! Brilliant!
The best post I’ve read this year. I’m breaking out the big box of vino and spreading the word because I’m a writer, dammit!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing – there is some language not preferred by most in this post – but once you skip past it [...]
This was an awesome post and couldn’t have been more timely!
I think one of the most important advice was left out. Some of the new authors need to stop selling their fucking books on amazon’s kindle for .99cents. As an established author, I worked hard to develop a following, but 15 books later, I’,m fighting for position with these new authors in order to gain new readers. Don’t they realize that they are giving up 70% of their profits to amazon at that price? Meanwhile, keep pushing and pen that great story that you feel is fighting to come out. Be a great business person, not just a great writer.
Check out all my hot books on amazon and barnes and noble. No, they’re not listed for .99 cents, but they’re worth every dime that you will pay for them. Happy new year to all!
Love this – especially #24…okay, and #19 too…..and #14 and #15 rock……need to get some of these tattooed on body parts.
Thanks Chuck.
“That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.”
I swear on all that is holy and not, I want that embroidered on the pillow that I put my head on each night, various and sundry hand towels, and possibly tattooed on my knuckles (yes, it’d be a large tattoo, but I’d see it when typing, damnit.) Excellente! (Picture the accent over the e, please–I don’t know how to make it.)
FUCK YEAH!
AND DOUBLE FUCK YEAH to #9 for me. NINJA BLENDER plus alottafuckinKALE
= I’m done.
My fav among favs: Shit happens. Shit washes off. Needed to hear that. Going to go take a long shower then put something pretty on.
comparing writing to a hot-dog eating contest and all the many other comparisons, plus a lot of good thoughts and some cussing – love it! thanks for the inspiration!
I think I love you. will you marry me and repeat these lovely fucking aphorisms nightly before we…you know…cuddle? Seriously
fucking
awesome
Beer Wench a2
You had me at “beer wench.”
But I’m probably going to have to tell my wife. I think she’ll be okay with it.
– c.
What a wonderful post to start the New Year off! You are right on and to the point. I see a few bad habits of my own that you just gave a quick kick in the butt to. Okay, fingers on keys and back to the manuscript, and a Happy New Year to you!
This post made me sweaty, in a good way. It fits my current mode of rarrrgh-beast-writer-warrioress-ness.
And, oddly enough, the Chinese insist it’s my year. I’m not big on horoscope BS but I’ll take a apparent advantage and run with it when I have to and I absolutely have to, it’s all about the axes in my DNA. Rarrrrgghhh etc…
Wicked post.
Printed this out. Will make great use of this. Even now plotting ways to escape my office early to go sit and a coffee shop and write. Screw getting paid. . . must write now!
When I finally realized that I was never going to write like the the authors I loved and just started writing how (and what) I wanted to, it was like someone blew out the little candle I was huddled under and flipped the switch on a dozen spotlights.
Thanks for this. I need to re-read it often. And I need a box of wine.
Holy shit this was fantastic! It was my first blog post read of the New Year, and damnit was it refreshing. First time here, definitely not the last!
Thank you so much for this.
Bloody hell, I love this! Just what I needed to hear, are you a mind reader???
I would pay much money for a Mecha-Gaiman
Move over Dr. Oz–you are my new doctor feeeeel-goood for 2012!
thanks for the proverbial and verbal squeeze of my heart! fears and self-doubt be gone!
cheers!
*raises hand* I second the part about smearing your heartsblood on the page.
The worst snag I hit in this editing round, I hit because I was trying to make something work in a way that had nothing to do with why *I* loved the story. I was trying to write a scene that reinforced what other people had told me my book was about. And I sucked at it. But as soon as I figured out how to make that scene feed into what I wanted for the book, it all fell into place. Go figure.
As a journalist (every word applies in that field, too) I’m sorry Christopher Hitchens wasn’t alive to read this. He would have loved it. I know I did. Great stuff.
Excellent advice. I had trouble with a few of them. Hopefully moving on =-)
Okay I would print this out and put on my wall…if it didnt have a bunch of things in it I dont feel like explaining to my three sons – living in a house with beavis, butthead and cornholio…(damn I wish they never saw those videos on youtube)…they would take “Elk Miscarriage” and run with it.
What do you say to the nagging self doubt. Doesnt matter how many times people say they love my writing…I am pretty sure they are all just being nice…
i write because it keeps the voices in my head quit…mostly…I write because I love books and stories and I have stories inside me I want to share with other readers. But at the same time I worry and fear i am wasting my time…and its really all just crap.
Amen. Planning out goals, I’d identified 14 and 25 as must be done. I so needed to read this. You are dead-on. Fear is nonsense.
#26: STOP Researching!
Researching is NOT writing. I don’t care if your story is about Budapest in the 17th Century, spending 80 hours in the local library trying to get a “feel” for the subject matter ain’t writing. WRITE it! Figure out the details later.
#27: Lose your book/screenplay/novel virginity already!
Finish it! Does it matter that it’s 112 pages double-spaced and filled with typos? Not the first time out of the gate. Finish it so you can say it’s finished. Have a beer. Tell your friends. Brag about it! You did something that very few people do. All writing is re-writing anyway. Sentence structure and typos and weird word choices can be fixed at a later date. Get it done.
All right I’m lacing up my ass kicking boots and sitting my ass in front of the computer! How many of your posts can I have on my wall before it becomes stalker-ish?
DB:
I have a post on here about self-doubt –
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/09/27/writers-must-kill-self-doubt-before-self-doubt-kills-them/
– c.
Thanks for this, Chuck — just parachuted in from Twitter, and am floored.
Best line: “Roll around in responsibility like a dog rolling around in an elk miscarriage.”
I needed this today. What a great post to kick off the New Year. Thanks Chuck!
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 3:37 [...]
This is priceless! Lots of favorite phrases, here’s one: “Worry is . . . a vestigial emotion, useless as — as my father was wont to say — “tits on a boar hog.”
I spent last year taking most of this advice and, in 11 months, cranked out a 500-page first draft of my first novel. My secret? Showing up, every day. Whether I “felt like it” or not. Your list will definitely help me to stay motivated for this next phase — ruthless editing. It’s way too fat right now.
Thanks for doing this. Will be sharing liberally. Love your voice. Very distinctive, made me laugh out loud.
Watch out for those escalators!
This is great Chuck. Thanks for the kick in the pants
P.S. Box wine rocks!
@Julie:
BOX WINE FTMFW.
– c.
With all of the fuckery around the net, I can’t believe I finally found someone who spouts positive, unsugar-coated shit about writing. You sir are a beacon of light for deranged minds to flock towards.
Ohh, @Samuel, Is masturbating and robbing liquor stores at the same time OK or should I not do that?
Chuck,
FUCK YEAH.
Thanks for putting into words what I’ve been thinking.
I’ve forwarded this to every creative person I know.
Best,
Scott
Personally, I find the overuse of swear words is something writers should stop doing, just to pepper their writing with “colorful” language. Your voice doesn’t need to include the “f” word or “sh*t” in every other sentence.
Magnificent. Thank you.
And I’d just resolved (resoluted?) to make 2012 my year of taking more risk and being more honest in my work, and here comes another brilliant list from you to confirm that, yes, it’s going to be that kind of year. Thanks for sharing your passion.
Effing great!
[...] And that’s it. Nothing grand, nothing out of my control, no vague hopes and wishes. Mr. Chuck Wendig, whom I stalk on the twitters (@ChuckWendig) has a great post up today where he speaks eloquently to the point of only focusing on what you can control. Read it. Now. [...]
Duodenum? Mecha-Gaiman? I love it. Nice piece.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. [...]
[...] time off from writing, or creating, or querying — whatever. And so maybe you need this kick in the pants from author Chuck Wendig, that’s making the rounds on Twitter today. A taste: Stop Hurrying. [...]
You are seriously The Man. This rocks.
21 is so freaking right. I am tired of people trying to tell me what they think will or won’t work. They ought to just shut up and go back to flipping burgers. Everything has been done before but we still watch/read the remakes.
It doesn’t have to be the most original idea ever invented for it to work.
This is so great. I’m putting this all over my apartment.
Great thoughts ~ thanks!
I wonder if the people who need to read this will because they should!
I feel blessed that I just write what I write and have no long term goals to get published. I am self published. I blog!
But still…you cite so many things that I see and hear from others that I often wish they would stop doing. Copying someone’s else voice, churning out so much product that it all becomes noise, and whining, whining, whining.
Someone needed to say it; glad that you did.
OK, this freaking rocked.
Having spent the past two weeks writing till 3 AM, getting up at 7 AM and writing again — and acting like a complete freaking psycho — I really got a lot out of this. It’s my new 25-step program (12 aren’t enough for me, apparently).
Especially valuable were #7 and #9. As I’m screaming, “Why is this so fucking hard!” next time, I can just remember that I’m meant to be screaming. And #9 — I’m guessing M&M, coffee and pizza aren’t really part of a balanced diet when you eat them every night for a month… Just guessing there.
As a brand new writer who just got his first short story published, I greatly appreciate this article. Thanks so much for writing it!!!!
Nice post.
Two things:
1. We need to stop telling every fuckstick with a word processor that he or she can be a writer. Used to be writers were shamans (and sha-women). Too many people are writing today. It should be like those guys who used to perch on the top of the skyscrapers and catch red-hot rivets in a leather mitt. Nobody should be able to do it. Except for about twenty people. Writing is not easy, never has been, never will be. Unfortunately, the function the market once played (weeding out the wannbes) has been usurped by the Electronic Scourge.
2. Good writers get the best sex. It’s a form of natural selection. That’s what it all boils down to. If you write well, you get humped and sucked and fingered and blown and mounted much more than the mere mortal. (See note #1.) It’s why they invented writers’ conferences and writers’ retreats. And box wine.
for being written by someone writing as though they’re an authority on writing, this is terribly written
wow.. i could gush and gush over how awesome this is.. but I won’t.
However, if periodically throughout the year, you google the Phrase “TThat story isn’t going to unfuck itself.” I will be the one posting it everywhere. (and linking back here)
Writ in letters high. Nice job. For transfer to the desktop as a link to sanity.
Mine: “Just shut up and write” (I currently only have small post-it notes)
This is what I needed to hear thank you for putting it so in your face I will print this and keep it up in my office.
This is some seriously funny shit! I’m going to come back and read this every time I get a rejection, every time someone calls my writing a hobby, or when anyone is mean to me. Thanks!
Thanks.
[...] 25 Things [...]
On the money. A great list to start the year. Off to fix my plot.
For the love all things holy and un-, YES. THIS is what I’ve been trying to tell people, although generally not so succinctly and all in one place. And with slightly less profanity. I get so tired of the excuses and whingeing. Just freaking write your book already. Thank you for writing this, Chuck!
[...] January 4, 2012 by Liz | 0 comments var addthis_product = 'wpp-262'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true,"data_track_addressbar":false};if (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}As part of my 2012 resolutions, I had said that I was going to blog and write more. In fact, I had written the entire post, but then ended up changing it up after I read this article: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
Chuck, you sound like one of the Marine Doms who took up residence in my head last year. Master Adam said pretty much the same thing–and got me to take a chance on my “plain-Jane” voice, my overly long erotic romance novels that leave readers screaming, crying, and laughing (sometimes within a couple pages), and haven’t let me chicken out on self-publishing my first novel. (That was such a success, I didn’t have fear for the second two–no time, because I was overreaching and writing/publishing three full-length novels in seven months (books that are 58k, 115k, and 137k respectively–we aren’t talking short sex romps here).
So, from your list, the one I plan to work on THIS year is giving myself overreaching. I’m giving myself ten months to research and write the next three in the series (plus go to three romance writer/reader conventions, take a couple vacations with my hubby, and enjoy life a bit). Then I’ll take off two months to enjoy the holidays I missed this past year on my breakneck pace to “get the books out there as fast as you can.”
One I can add to the list: Stop believing readers can’t wait for your next book–they can. I just tell them, anticipation is good for li’l subbies. (Okay, I tell my Doms/Domme readers that, too. Equal opportunity BDSM-themed writer here.)
Good luck to everyone making your goal this year! If someone told me a year ago that I’d be where I am today (while I was still stuck in an impossibly stressful evil day job and going nowhere), I’d have said they were nuts. Now, 10,000+ books sales later and well on my way to my new career, I says shoot for the stars.
Kally
Kally
kallypsomasters.blogspot.com
I am 99.99% finished with a manuscript. My first, actually. This is genius. Pure genius. And I Thank you
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. [...]
Best advice ever: That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.
Thanks for this today, Chuck!
[...] are your New Year’s Resolutions? If you need some ideas, check out this great post I found via Kristan [...]
I’m pointing my students at this – great and useful advice. Thanks.
That is great advice. “To reap the rewards of the future, you must take action in the present.” So true. Actions speak louder that words ….. These rules could be twisted for anything in life really. So many people fail to achieve their dreams because the never bothered really trying.
Just what I needed to read today! Thank you.
An excellent, excellent essay for writers. Thank you for the hard work and consideration than went into putting this together.
Warm Regards,
Howard
Amazing… great, simple advice… copying this and sticking it to the wall over the computer desk…
Armand Rosamilia
I re-blogged via a link. I really enjoyed this post.
Extremely useful and thought provoking. It came at the perfect time for Cecilia and I. It reaffirmed all our earlier considerations about many of the topics touched in your post. Thank you.
This is a masterpiece. Someone needs to perform this as a righteous monologue on stage. I needed this.
Fantastic. Yes, do more, worry less.
This is an amazing article. I read the one that inspired it and thought it was equally as amazing. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Gave me a lot of food for thought that I can continue to apply and share with others.
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 7:37 [...]
[...] something from it, though? Then go forth and kick your writing year in the teeth. Onto the list.Via terribleminds.com This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← Connect With Your [...]
You know, as a devoted fountain pen user…I can say it would really not work very well to fill a pen from a spurting vein. You’d suck up a few drops of ink and lots of air.
Then the blood would dry up and clog the feed, and you wouldn’t be able to write anymore.
Okay, I’m done being a wet blanket now. It was a nice image! It functioned metaphorically! Just not, you know, to the few remaining actual fountain pen users out there.
As per usual, Chuck, great work.
I never thought someone screaming at me could be so motivating.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an escalator I need to punch the shit out of. And then feed it the Duggar family.
Thanks for this, particularly for making me look up the word haruspicy. I’m sure I can use it somewhere.
Agree with all except for the dreaming. Have to keep our dreams alive and make them come true.
[...] Read it by clicking here. [...]
Fantastic post! Thanks for the push…forward.
I was going online researching for one of my first scripts that I’m taking extremely seriously, and I came upon this on facebook-this makes me more motivated to keep doing what I’m doing and to care less about certain things. thanks for the article man!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Say, it is true, honest, good, smart, and savy, but negative. Could you say it in the positive with all of the former, too? Like, ‘Start to put yourself into it.’ Rather than, ‘Stop leaving self out of it.’ And, ditto for all? There seems to be something to do with human nature that genuinely responds best and wants the positive even though it thinks the negative.
This was a great post! Thank you very much for giving me some great advice for kicking off the new year. I’m totally passing this onto my school’s Creative Writer’s Club!
stop analyzing
What a great post! You’ve nailed it all right.
[...] a related note, Chuck Wendig has a list of 25 things that writers should stop doing. Some interesting points [...]
Thank you for the post, and I love your humor. I love your books too, and I will definitely print out the list and put it up so I can see it everyday. I need to take action because these projects will not write themselves.
This is amazing and totally motivating. I was recently at a poetry reading where both poets were so incredibly raw and I was left feeling like I would never write at my best until I could, like you said, “stop playing it safe”. I read that one and immediately sat down and wrote the most ugly and honest thing I’ve ever written. Now hopefully I have the courage to someday share it, but shit, at least it’s on paper. Baby steps. Thank you, man.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing is a great article I came across that basically knocked all the sense into me that I could ever need (with a few swear words along the way). [...]
Thank you for your very colorful visuals:) you made me laugh out loud.
This is fantastic. Concise, fun to read and excellent advice all around. Thanks very much!
That was just the bitch slap I needed. Thank you, sir.
Hilarious!!! Loved every damn word of this.
This post is going viral to every writer I know.
OMG – I love this! I have been doing a few of these don’ts, but no more. Thank you for this:)
I know – I should be writing – but instead I’m tweeting this brilliant piece right now.
I think i love you. Great list. May commit to memory.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Great work, Chuck. Loved it.
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ Share this:EmailPrintFacebook This entry was posted in Friends, MacBook Pro Blogging, Workshop, Writing by Katinka. Bookmark the permalink. [...]
Having read this wonderful article, and having seen David Fincher’s wonderful new movie, I think as a screenwriter and director, my Prime Directive should be to ask the question “What would the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo do?” She wouldn’t whine and complain or let people (the industry, circumstance) fuck her over. When it comes to screenwriters especially, I’m reminded of something a ’30s Hollywood mogul said. (I think it was Louis B. Mayer.) “The most important people in Hollywood are the writers — but we can’t let them know that.” Well, guess what. I’ve just let you know that. What are you (and me) gonna do about it?
Received link from a friend as I was whining and complaining about being afraid I wasn’t good enough as I was preparing to send out queries to several agents. Although the yak factor hovered near critical mass, I swallowed it down and submitted to 5 agents today, another 5 by week’s end. And that tattoo thing…this story is not going to unfuck itself…totally need to have that one on my forehead, backwards, so when I look in the mirror…thanks for the reinforcement.
Thanks for the “gentle” reminder. Srsly~I needed to read this.
Fantastic as always Mr. Wendig.
I need to print this out and post it where I can see while I’m writing and contemplating any of the destructive behaviors you describe.
Thank you for knocking this one out of the park.
THIS whole list! I need to print this out and staple it to the foreheads of the people around me.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Add your comment 0 Responses to this post Add your comment [...]
NO need for the F word up there. Did not add anything. Shame to read that up there before an informative good article. Made me think less of the author.
NO need for the F word right next to headline. Makes me think less of author.
[...] Chuck Wendig has written a list of Don’ts for writers looking to become more productive and self-motivated. Stop Worrying, Stop Controlling and Stop Making Excuses are amongst the orders on the list. Fair enough. I’m not very motivated though, and I am great at making excuses, so here are my Stops for the modern procrastinator. [...]
An excellent post. Thanks for this, Chuck.
Not sure if this has been said before, but these are not only for writers, for anyone in a creative genre — and words for living as well. Well done. Just the kick in the pants I or anyone needs for the beginning of 2012.
Thanks for coming by, @Terri and saying so.
love this blog – a good reminder on my current quest.
[...] … and if you’re a writer. Here’s 25 to 30 things to stop doing [...]
On #12:
Every time someone asks me what I want to do, I can’t answer because I always felt like it was just odd of me.
On # 23:
I’m a very private person and it scares me to share a thought that reflects my feelings!
Thanks for putting those two issues into words. I needed to realize that and I have to improve on those two weaknesses.
Ouch!
But such good advice- on my wall, too!
Now that was f…king awesome. I often got told I could not use F…k in my writing. And until now I have never come across anyone that had used it more then I have in my latest novel that will not get released any time soon. Inspirational to say the least… And I can certainly say with great confidence and affection. F..k those that don’t like it cause we all get F…kd, its just a matter of depth and velocity!!!!
Wow, what a fantastic post!!! Thanks for yelling at us all! I think I needed it today!
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/?mid=56 [...]
[...] Keris posting about feeling the fear along with this post, also via Keris, called 25 things writers should stop doing. [...]
*love*
all I got with only one cup down, but it’s a big ole word.
It’s so true. The fact is writing is a big scary monster, and most writers are wimps – I know I am.
Great article. I’ll share this with all my writer friends.
Lord! I’m guilty of all.
Thanks for the frickin’ wake-up call!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. [...]
Your post has been making the rounds among my writing colleagues. Words cannot express how much I love this. Can’t wait to purchase your book and read more.
I love you!!! I’m only up to 16, but am in happy tears. THANK YOU! I LOVE variety, have fought the crappie story that we must fine-tune our direction always. Just finished an ‘adult satire’, way different than my other books, and it was a blast.
Tanks! I love words with numbers down the side.
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 8:12 [...]
[...] that CA Kobu and the Year with Myself advocates seems to meet headlong with the brashness of terribleminds, but instead of a collision there is a melding. I need to be tough with myself this year, to be [...]
Although I am far away from being a writer,…..its a great manual for the writers…in fact it encourages to become one..
Thanks for the hard (and hilarious!) slap of truth. It’s all the things we know, but forget, beneath all the other self-imposed stresses of being a writer. You started my year out with a much needed smile.
Thank you sir, may I have another? Great stuff – especially #23 and the one about finding one’s voice. Good luck to all in this game!
I think you are my new hero…
i needed that kick in the ass!
Excellent letter. Thanks, Chuck. I’ll read this from time to time.
Joan
Oh, man. This is awesome. But can we please add STOP TWEETING AND BLOGGING AND FACEBOOKING ABOUT EVERYTHING LITTLE THING YOU DO THAT HAS TO DO WITH WRITING? I don’t want to know how much you love your WIP today or that you just wrote an awesome scene or how long it’s taking you to review first pass pages or any of that nonsense. Blog about substantive things related to the craft and/or business, if you must, and keep the rest of that nonsense to yourself. You’re wasting your own time and everyone else’s, too!
I’m only half through 25 things, each rings loudly in my head. Such a brilliant list to getting my juices flowing in 2012. Muito Obrigando
For me? STOP STOPPING and STOP THE SHAME.
That’s just some of the best freaking advice I have ever heard.
I think Patrick Rothfuss has another book coming out this year… or book two of “The Name of the Wind” will be out in paperback. If you have not read it, you should. Best new epic fantasy in a looong time.
Laughed myself out of bed this morning.
[...] read the article “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing” this morning and one part stood out to me: But being a writer is nothing worthy of fear. [...]
[...] it's good advice, because I keep wincing each time I read one of the items. #ddtbEmbedded Link 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing Leave a CommentName *E-mail *WebsitePersonalized (email address-based) comment photos can be [...]
Great post, Chuck. What a way to start off 2012.
[...] can read it here: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing Filed Under: Uncategorized | [...]
[...] six years I’ve come to realize in the end it’s done nothing but frustrate me. This BLOG really opened my eyes. Especially numbers 17, 18, and 19. There is just too much I can’t [...]
Excellent suggestions. We especially relate to Numbers 14 & 17.
T H A N K Y O U !!!!
Nice one, Chuck. It’s not often someone makes me laugh. I might just have to read this everyday.
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ [...]
I know! Right? I just found out that I did not get even an honorable mention for my short story the other day in a nationwide contest. So I figured my genre’ is not what people want. After reading Chuck’s post, I’m going to keep on writing. At least I like my short stories. Thanks!
Great list. I will use for writing and will adapt to other projects in my life. Thank you, Chuck!
I read this thinking you were talking to “me”, but then I saw the massive number of comments where it appears you are talking to all of us. Regardless, I heard you, I heart you, I think I love you because anyone who can incorporate the word fuck in a post or a novel so effectively is my kind.
Love to you. This is the best Christmas gift “ev-ah”. You shouldn’t have, but I’m glad you did!
[...] finally managed to unshame myself (I have Chuck Wendig’s 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now) to thank for this and yesterday’s [...]
I’m going to curl up in the corner and suck my thumb for 47 minutes (one minute per age, it just seems appropriate) then I’m going to read this again. Then I’m going to print it out, put it on the wall over my desk and get back to work on my career.
Excellent list!
I love this. Period. Pulls no punches, straight to the point.
Ha, absolutely love the list. A motivational kick-in-the-arse for the New Year.
My butt hurts. Was that you kicking it? Thanks, my new friend.
I have been writing here and there as long as i can remember but I was always so unsure of what I was writing that I usually gave up about 90 pages in. Lately I have been writing just to write, seeing what flows I suppose and this list has really helped me to see that no matter what happens I need to keep writing. I am completely ignorant when it comes to what to do with my work once I finish but this helps me to say “fuck it its my story” and if no one except me likes it then it was worth it. Thanks for the confidence boost.
Brilliant! This has helped me a lot. Nothing better than advice laced with insane humour!
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com (via @gracecurtis) – Today, 12:48 [...]
Super. Excellent. Can’t say enough good. Won’t say anything negative (cause I’m a writer and can always say something negative). Love this. I’m looking into this guy’s books.
[...] This post by Chuck Wendig has been making the rounds, and for good reason. It’s a good kick-in-the-pants approach to a new year’s writing resolutions. A few of my favorite points: Stop Thinking It Should Be Easier It’s not going to get any easier, and why should it? Anything truly worth doing requires hella hard work. If climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro meant packing a light lunch and hopping in a climate-controlled elevator, it wouldn’t really be that big a fucking deal, would it? You want to do This Writing Thing, then don’t just expect hard work — be happy that it’s a hard row to hoe and that you’re just the, er, hoer to hoe it? I dunno. Don’t look at me like that. AVERT YOUR GAZE, SCRUTINIZER. And get back to work. [...]
Tonight in your honour, I shall drink a box of wine (or parts thereof) and slap the bees off of my WIP.
Peace, Mari
Man that is fuck-off wicked. Mind if I re-post on the FB page for my site?
great stuff, getting out of the way and finding that zone where the muse strikes hard, just write, put it on the back burner then edit…..so simple a first grader can do it……i might add, do not be so anxious to write down every thing that comes thru your thought process, if you don’t remember it, then it wasn’t that ‘fucking’ important…..thx
@Keith –
Reposting is fine when it’s an excerpt — i.e., say, 5 or 10 of the 25. My hope is that people don’t copy/paste the entire post.
Thanks!
– c.
Got it. I just posted the link. No pasting (my Dr. made me give up glue).
Chuck, I fucking love you for this. I don’t know you but I love you. In fact, I love you so much would marry you or wreck your life or both if I was not already married and wrecking my husband’s life. Anyway, I will pass this to legions of students and colleagues. Now back to life in my feety pajamas…
#4 is absolutely CRUCIAL for writers to understand. Thanks for posting!
Excellent article.
As a matter of fact I think tthis 25 rules may apply to almost any aspect of our lifes.
Thank you.
So here’s a challenge to everyone who commented here: come back in a week and post the number of pages you’ve written.
That was lovely. Just what I needed. Sulking after many rejections of second novel. Agent still cheering me on. So I was writing short stories and publishing them online to a few muted cheers. I won’t do that anymore, thanks to you. On with the dance!
I am very grateful for this post. Thanks for sharing your inner dialogue with the rest of the world. With the rest of us writers. This isn’t stumbling upon the Fitzgerald’s and Hemingway at a party, and being invited back to Gertrude Stein’s for a thoughtful critique good, but it is still very good.*
I believe there is some form of truth in spirituality. Part of my belief system embraces the notion that when you share thoughts like these 25 that you have so graciously offered, that the power of those thoughts are strengthened in you. I believe that is true.
Allow me to offer a small token of a thought in kind.
Somewhere around my junior year in college, when I was transitioning to a guy who studies economics and not chemistry, I over heard that the “business club” had organized a tour of the local Herman Miller plant in Zeeland, Michigan. And there were seats still available on the bus. So I went. Now the Herman Miller plant in 1984 was a thing of beauty. Clean. We drove all the way around the building, and all four sides were manicured, groomed, in bloom. Neat and tidy. No dumpsters. The manufacturing plant itself was like an office. High ceilings. Colorful banners. A combination of natural and artificial light. Quiet. Orderly. No soot black walls and grease stained floors here. It was inspirational just to walk through the factory.
At the end of the tour, our guide escorted us back to the main doors and we stood in the large atrium saying our goodbyes. That is when he said “ah. You’re in luck. The founder of the company is here. He doesn’t come in all that often.” And with this he pointed at a frail, very gray-haired, bent over man in a small, glass-front office immediately to the right of the front doors. There he was. D.J. DePree.
So when I got back to my dorm fifteen minutes later, I called him. I asked for, and was granted, an interview.
I read the books about him before meeting him at his home one night. I found that during the interview he mostly recounted the stories that were already in the books that I had read. But I remember one story that he told, that he took special care to impress upon me. It was how he had progressed from a clerk to the president of the company in ten years. How he eventually became the owner of the company that he founded in his father-in-law’s name. Here is what he said:
“I read a story in Boy’s Life about how to figure out all the things you are supposed to do in a work day. I did that, and wrote them all out in a detailed list. Then I reviewed the list with my boss, and he agreed that those were the duties that my job entailed. So once I had it on paper, I started working hard to figure out how to get those things done in the first few hours of each workday. Then I’d spend the rest of the day studying trade journals, and reading design magazines and books, and trying to understand what was coming for the furniture market. That is how I came to embrace smaller, functional furniture, how I came to understand you had to design for the user, and came to eventually run the company.”
So there you go. A pearl of wisdom in exchange for your 25 diamonds.
Maybe that technique, augmenting the structure of your 25 motivational thoughts, might be organized into some sort of super productive formula for the writer. That, and stop while the writing is going good like Hemingway did, so the pump would be primed in the morning.
Thank you again for this post.
Dave Lance
Bedford, MA
*I refer, of course, to Woody Allen’s latest and perhaps most excellent film: “Midnight in Paris.” If you have not seen it, and if you consider yourself any stripe or form of a writer, stop everything and see it NOW. You will thank me.
Great read! That momentum Item is on point. I spend hours or weeks procrastinating but can’t stop once I start writing.
I love writers like you, you had me at fuck.
Months ago…well, longer than that, I told Fear: “You and me? We’re going places.”
He listened to me because I control him, not the other way around.
This is, to reiterate, a brilliant and concise list for every writer.
Thanks for writing.
Word.
Thank you for tapping into the minds of so many writers! Fantastic.
Ouch! I related to far TOO many of these. Well, we are in a new year. Great time for some resolutions.
Thanks. I needed that. “That story isn’t going to unf*#k itself” is my 2012, go to, words of wisdom.
[...] great piece here from Chuck Wendig for Terrible Minds offering twenty-five tips for all aspiring writers. Though it focuses more on writing of the fiction [...]
#26 Do not post material on the Internet that is fifty pages long. I just wanted to read your few pithy blurbs in hard the forest was defoliated.
[...] 1. Write the darn book (1st draft). If you don’t have a book, you don’t have anything. “Life rewards action, not inertia.” – Chuck Wendig, from his awesome post: 25 things Writers should stop doing [...]
Chuck,
I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet, so I can say with some certainty that this is the most vulgar site I have EVER come across.
You brought up some great points in the first few topics but I couldn’t get beyond your line about “a dog rolling around in an elk miscarriage” without vomiting into my trash bin. I mean, COME ON! Is that really necessary?
There has got to be another way for you to convey your message.
Just being on your site now is making me queazy and all these comments supporting you are only making it worse.
I’ve got to go throw up again.
–Shane
Brilliant. Love it. Just found your blog today when it was flagged up on Facebook by the Scottish Book Trust for Writers. I’ll definitely be back.
I feel like this was edited by Gordon Ramsey, but it is simply incredible. Made moreso by the fact that I am guilty of about twenty of these!
Sometimes a kick where it counts is what is really needed. This proves two things:
1. The pen truly is mightier than the sword.
2. The F-word can be used effectively!
Thanks Chuck!
Can I reprint on my blog? ( I will have to edit out the profanity, but that’s the only change I’ll make!)
Best,
Dave Cleinman
Holy crap! Plastering this shit, I mean this article on my wall next to my desk. Good reminders for me. Where do you get a blood sucking fountain pen? I could use one, for academic study of course.
Elizabeth
Great post! My second day reading and I will for sure be back tomorrow. Yours is a new favorite on my “blogs to read” list.
WOW. This is an awesome awesome list. I smiled when I read, “lest you sink like a stone and find remora fish mating inside your rectum….” WOW ROFL
But seriously, I’m gonna be pointing people to this blog post. It’s awesome. And I will work at following ur advice. Awesome stuff!
A friend turned me on to your list and I’m so glad she did. Not only is the list hilarious and dead-on, but I’m digging the entire site. This is one of the first urls I’ve bookmarked in a long time–which I’m not sure ranks as the highest of praise, but that was the intent.
I echo what some here have said: many of the items on this list aren’t new in that I’ve either been pepped by friends with them or beaten myself senseless with others, but what’s unique and disarming is your voice–it’s not just what you’ve written, but how wicked smart you’ve written it.
It’s good to laugh and learn. Thanks.
Stephen
ps. the tumblr site’s new so nothing by way of original material–yet.
I have been putting off a deadline – now due tomorrow. I keep telling myself my work sucks and if I were truly a good writer it wouldn’t be this difficult. *sigh* I’m capable of doling out praise for others and trust me, my standards are quite high, but. But, but, but but but.. Thank you for this reminder. It has been bookmarked and will be viewed often.
Good Lord.
I can’t believe I’ve actually crossed all these off my list in the last ten years. Particularly the last two, after the first novels came out.
I am genuinely stunned. But happy.
[...] to me from at least three different sources in the last two days, but in case you haven’t, here it is. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
Hey, all!
Glad you folks like the site and this post in particular.
As for those folks looking to copy this post elsewhere — I ask that you instead excerpt the post and link back here as opposed to copying the whole post in its entirety.
As for those folks uncomfortable with the profanity — well, while my goal is not to offend, that’s just how this blog tends to roll. It’s a NSFW (and in some cases, NSFL) kinda space. If you don’t like that, I suggest you move on. And I don’t say that with malice or anything, I just mean that you’ll surely find advise elsewhere that isn’t quite as… well, let’s just go with “scum-tongued.”
– c.
Perfect timing! Thanks Chuck! and my Indie band name is ‘The Itchy Nipples”
Excellent boot in the derriere for 2012 and a hoot to read besides being bang-on about the games we play to avoid writing. Thank you, great introduction to your site!
Fantastic post!
yup. needed just that, right now
All right, I’ll bite. What is Mecha-Gamain? Google’s just not turning it up.
Well written and true. I like what you say about the Market and the Industry…worrying about all that stuff is a waste of a (terrible) mind and antithetical to good writing or art.
[...] get to work…maybe I’ll go read Chuck Wendig’s kick-in-the-writerly-ass [...]
All good, but I’m afraid of Democrats. I assume that’s acceptable? But who gives a fuck?
Excellent list for the most part, but some of these are very hard to understand. Your prose is…how do I say it? A bit murky at times. I had to read #8 four times just to (kind of) understand what you meant. Perhaps you are writing for a very narrow audience?
I don’t know which I like better: your advice or your voice! But both will stick with me. Off to go buy your stuff!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing January 4, 2012 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. [...]
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 9:45 [...]
thanks for the asskicking. would love to know how folks printed this and had it maintain any kind of formatting and include the numbers.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Be Sociable, Share! Tweet This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Hitman. Bookmark the permalink. /* [...]
spot on…..just the kinda kick i the pants i needed…thanks man…cheers
This just might make me start that novel I’ve been sitting on for over 15 years while wasting time writing short stories, music and poetry — I’ve got the novel of the year right here in my mind that’s going to waste. Thanks
Just the kick in the ass I needed to get off the worrying horse and back to doing what is right to me, and that’s writing.
*Had a lapse in self wallowing for a week now and it was depressing me to no end. Indeed anything that keeps you from writing will make you ill. I’m sitting here nauseous while posting this… well maybe it was something I ate, I think it might be that, probably is.
[...] Excellent, must-read post on Writers Resolutions up at Terrible Minds. [...]
Diversification is a necessary prerequisite for evolution, but close enough.
Great post — no. 1 stings, though.
This is a really good list! I’ve already forwarded it to a friend.
I disagree with #9 though – I understand that being healthy is key to being alive to keep writing and that a lot of bad foods make you sluggish, but some people just work that way. A lot of writers’ most praised work have been at a low point like being addicted to drugs. I’m not saying anyone needs to literally suffer for their art, but passion wrought from despair is a very powerful tool.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing – Excellent advice for real writers. [...]
I need to print this and post it right over my damn monitor. YES! YES! TRUTH!
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ [...]
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 3:39 [...]
TEACH!
Very nice except for those unnecessary four-letter words which come in between as irritants.
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 4:25 [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
[...] Wendig posted about 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Chuck is crass – you’ve been warned, but he knows his [...]
One thing I can control is not using the “S…” word, especially for shock value. I think the baby word “poop” conjures up more graphic feelings in a reader, besides when a person uses the ‘s’ word, it shows the person has a smaller active vocabulary than the person thought, or that the person doesn’t take the time to edit themselves. The days of the Chicago Seven type language are long gone. Even Jerry Rubin uses better language now. Using the ‘s’ word to make yourself look like a rowdy, tough male writer is a matter of strength, wisdom, word choice and what the person stands for. Using the ‘s’ word is out-of-date. It’s time for someone to come up with more effective words.
Fabulous list. And my Indie band name is Merkin Macrame! What are the chances of THAT happening?! Well, if I had an Indie band, it would be, anyway… You are being added to my “Blogs I Read” thingy today. I’m RTing you and FBing you and all that shit. I am smitten…
Huzzahs and amens to ALL you’ve written; you are my hero for this day:)
For me, it’s all about #2.
[...] my writing career in 2012. Tune in tomorrow for the details. Meanwhile, take a look at this and this. The first is a few words of wisdom by which everyone should live. The second is a [...]
From the “wilds” of northwestern New Jersey (yeah, someone from NYC would probably have a heartache living out here
), this is a fantastic, funny list! 
Dean Wesley Smith linked to this, and I have to say, not only is the list spot on, but your humor is spot on, too.
Now I’m going to have to follow you – um, not in person but on your blog.
Thanks Chuck. Shared with my writing group. Pretty sure the advice will be priceless to many of them!
Well done.
Ya know, I don’t have enough caffeine coursing thru me just yet – in my above comment, I MEANT to say “heart attack” not “heartache”. ::shakes head, wondering where the hell THAT came from::
[...] 25 things writers should stop doing Share this:FacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. [...]
[...] and other things we might start trying to do, DING, DING, DING!, a friend forwarded to me this blog link from terribleminds.com, called “25 things writers should stop doing.” All I can say is [...]
Bar none, the best advice I’ve read about writing in ages. I will tell my Mira’s List fans about it. Love this!
[...] “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing” [...]
On the one hand, this post is awesome! On the other hand, I have to take issue with number 16, “Stop doing one thing.”
See, that’s kind of my problem. I do a lot of different things, and it makes it hard for readers to identify me. They can’t say, “I liked this Shevi Arnold novel, so I’ll probably like that one too.” Nope. You might like my funny book for middle graders, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to like my romantic ghost story for teens. Or you might like my funny science-fiction YA, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to like my literary fantasy. Not everyone likes reading a variety of things the way I do. In fact, most people have a favorite genre, and that’s all they like to read.
Think of all the biggest writing success stories, like Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, and even Amanda Hocking. Immediately one genre–maybe even one story–pops into your head: horror, Harry Potter, Twilight, and paranormal romance. They do one thing, grab an audience with that one thing, and stick with that one thing book after book after book. And it sells.
But me? I’ve picked the harder route. I write whatever I want when I want to write it. I write the books I’d like to read, which means I write all different kinds of books, because I like to read all different kinds of books. I do it because I don’t think I have a choice. It’s who I am as a writer, just like it’s who I am as a reader.
But if you can write one thing and write it well–if people can pigeonhole you as “that writer who curses a lot”–stick with it. It’s a blessing, not a, well, curse.
[...] the spirit of a new year, and inspired by this post for writers (which in turn was inspired by this post, and both posts are awesome, by the way), I have created a [...]
Thank you very much. To 2012!
And there was I blogging about having less time to write, due to having to up my hours at my day job, just when I thought I’d managed to cut them down, moany, apology, blahdy blah.
Cheers.
You just reminded me that the number of hours in a day is a matter of will, not a fixed number. If the Samoans can mess with a whole day with just one hop over the date line, then surely, so can I!
terrfic stuff here. And funny as shit.
good deal. Happy new year.
Thank you so much for a great article.
Shaming and worrying. My two big sins.
Thanks, Chuck. This was just the kick in the butt I needed.
Damn, I wish I could upload some of these onto a little recorder and when I started falling into bad habits it would automatically play them. Loudly.
Oh, maybe Sam Kinison’s voice could scream them at me? That would sure get the juices flowing. HA!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing - Profanity warning, but very salient points and amusing too [...]
Wow. This is just what I needed to hear.
Absolutely brilliant…it makes me wanna write immediately, well after my nap maybe
I printed this out. Just what I needed. Now, back to work.
[...] every person in this world should read. If you don’t like use of strong words… grow a pair. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]
[...] was Chuck Wendig’s list of twenty-five things writers should stop doing. I warmed to Wendig’s nearly caustic wit. His advice, obviously based in knowledge gained [...]
[...] great post, 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing, agrees with me. “That Story Isn’t Going to UnFuck Itself” should be chiseled [...]
Thank you so much for this post. I think you could feasibly add “Stop Reading writer advice blogs” because a lot of them tell you to do exactly what some of your list tells you NOT to do — worry about the market, stop, wait, etc. How about #26: “Stop Distracting Yourself”? I know I’m guiltiest of that one most of all…
I was going to just pick to particularly good points (I see people in my day job doing points 10 and 11 all the time. I mean, all the time…and I’m guilty of points 2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 15… oh you get the idea…) but darn, they are all good points. Want to keep this list. Fantastic post!
Holy Bearded Wonder! So many comments!
#4 & #12 hit me right in the ol’ Whiskey Sucker. Along with #25. Fear is the mind killer, after all.
Now that salad is finished and lunch-time reading is over, (#9). it’s back to writing.
Thank you, Sir Wendig of PensylTucky (did I spell that right? If not, I’m going to invoke #13.)
BTFO!
~C
[...] The mind is the writer’s best weapon. It is equal parts bullwhip, sniper rifle, and stiletto. If you treat your body like it’s the sticky concrete floor in a porno theater (that’s not a spilled milkshake) then all you’re doing is dulling your most powerful weapon. The body fuels the mind. It should be “crap out,” not “crap in.” Stop bloating your body with awfulness. Eat well. Exercise. Elsewise you’ll find your bullwhip’s tied in knots, your stiletto’s so dull it couldn’t cut through a glob of canned pumpkin, and someone left peanut-butter-and-jelly in the barrel of your sniper rifle. via terribleminds.com [...]
Great! I am a fan of lists in general, and this one applies mightily to me.
Plus I learned a new word.
Thanks!
Excellent advice. I believe I’m already following these tips already.
Thanks, Chuck.
Cheers,
-Andy Ruffett
What Samuel Said.
Also, “That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.” My new favorite sentiment.
Happy Noodles!!
Go Chuck! I love it!
Brilliance. You may be my new hero. Great way to start the new year–with a hearty laugh and a heavy dose of “get your ass in gear.”
I would like to stop doing those 25 things, but I am too busy playing computer games and avoiding writing.
AMEN! And “the galactic threat of Mecha-Gaiman” got big belly laughs. Thanks for this.
This is so good! I laughed, I laughed some more, got kicked in the seat of the pants, and am framing #12 so that when people ask me what good is writing, I can point to it and get back to my writing. Well done, happy 2012 to all us writers!!!
Holy shit, I needed to hear this. Thank you for the kick in the ass I so desperately needed.
You’re in my head—1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 24, 25 specifically. Although I’ve only been blaming myself. While the blame lies in the right place, it also doesn’t really push forward my projects. Neither does kicking myself for not doing them.
I gotta stop doing it wrong by doing it period.
Thanks, Chuck!
Note to self: stop reading brilliant blogs on ‘how to do it’. It takes up writing time. Just Do It. (Mmm. Nice line. Think I might pitch it to a sports company).
[...] it all, here’s 25 things that I should not be doing. That’s so many things. Like, more than I can count on appendages. Does this [...]
Chuck
First time here and I gotta say; great shot of tough love for the new years. Thanks.
[...] 25 things writers should stop doing (right fucking now) - fantastic advice! [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F*&#$*! Now) [...]
Hallelujah. That is all.
[...] Wendig posted earlier this week about 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. If you’ve been haunting Twitter or follow the #writemotivation hashtag, you might have seen [...]
26. After you’ve read about ten of these wonderful things, you’ve got the idea–so stop reading blogs and get back to work! (That’s about where I stopped–hope I didn’t miss anything too important!)
[...] a Book (by Ben Nesvig), The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World – Flavorwire, 25 things writers should stop doing AND for fans and haters of Twilight: If Famous Writers Had Written [...]
[...] 25 things writers should stop doing. • Could anyone have been more perfect for Snape than Alan Rickman? • Ha. • I think I’m [...]
wow. my first encounter with your site here, or with you as a human, and already i’m in. every single one of those 25 things is something i’ve screamed to myself at some point or another (usually at around 3am through a dense veil of zombie-idiot) this year.
here’s to the year we all have our weapons honed, and bring home a grizzly. or a politician. or a horde of vampire synchronized swimmers.
off now to poke around in your junk drawers, like an intrigued and nosy archaeologist.
thanks for this.
“Shit happens. Shit washes off.”
Best line of 2012.
Yes!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now) – If you only follow one of these links, writers, it should be this one. [...]
Great rant. I loved it and shared it. Now get back to writing!
LOVE the whole thing! I especially love this:
“Writers are often ashamed at who they are and what they do. Other people are out there fighting wars and fixing cars and destroying our country with poisonous loans — and here we are, sitting around in our footy-pajamas, writing about vampires and unicorns, about broken hearts and shattered jaws. A lot of the time we won’t get much respect, but you know what? Fuck that. Take the respect. Writers and storytellers help make this world go around. We’re just as much a part of the societal ecosystem as anybody else. Craft counts. Art matters. Stories are important.”
Shared on my FB page. Rock on.
Damn Chuck!…
No pussy-footin’ around! This is by far the best verbal bludgeoning I ever got.
Boy, did I need it – I am changing my middle name from “chicken shit” to “Fuck-dreaming-start-doing.”
Cheers.
I bookmarked it, so you know, I’ll be coming back!
This blog post (which I found via Kind Over Matter, and which I’m only half-done reading) does the job just by being laugh-out-loud funny and diffusing creative tension! Love it.
Reading this reminds me of the first time I saw Blue Man Group. A small theater off-Broadway in the early ’90s. I went back to my hotel room and started at the ceiling most of the night. The underlying thought was, “What the fuck am I doing performing when there are guys like this in the world?”
Everyone once in a while I see someone that has nailed a piece of art so completely that it’s hard to carry on… until I find my legs and realize I’m better for having experienced that which cut me off.
Great job, Chuck. Really great piece you’ve written.
Love it Chuck. Love every word of it. I’m going to read it everytime I feel down and wondering when do I call myself a “writer”
Thank you.
tweeted and fb’d
ALOHA
i hate the writing “BIT” of writing… LOVE the life of the writer…and YOUR list of what NOT TO DO…. MY only rule of writing is to NOT MINDFUCK THE ALPHABET TO DEATH
MAHALO
tokio
Excellent list and thank you.
I love it. You made laugh.Laughing is always a good thing. Very good tips.
Never heard of Chuck Wendig. Probably why he blogs. But here is some advice.
Many of Chuck’s ramblings melt into one another. He should learn how to edit himself and subscribe to the axiom, Less Is More. Gratuitous f-bombs do not make Chuck a hipster, nor do they lend street cred to his alleged authority. It’s lazy, flaccid writing. If that’s his “voice”, he should gargle, spit, and find a new one. Some of his humor is mildly funny. (Key words here are ‘some’ and ‘mildly’.) Does the world need another Things Writers Should Never Do article? No. But if someone’s going to try to defibrillate the subject, aim for original and salient. Not psuedo-cool.
[...] 25 things writers should stop doing. (via Sue Brown) [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
Wow, nice comment Guy, really feel inspired by it, I’m gonna print it of and read it every time I need to give myself a kick in the ass to get moving…
No, wait…Chuck, i meant to say Chuck.
Sorry Guy, if that is your voice you need to cheer up and get a new one – (skippity skip to 1:46) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beN7FftWNCM
[...] read this article a few days ago called “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now),” which served its purpose to wake me up to the coping mechanisms that keep me from [...]
Chuck, a friend posted a link in Facebook. I loved it, great advice to me personally. I especially loved #9 – visually stimulating and spot on accurate:
The mind is the writer’s best weapon. It is equal parts bullwhip, sniper rifle, and stiletto. If you treat your body like it’s the sticky concrete floor in a porno theater (that’s not a spilled milkshake) then all you’re doing is dulling your most powerful weapon. The body fuels the mind. It should be “crap out,” not “crap in.” Stop bloating your body with awfulness. Eat well. Exercise. Elsewise you’ll find your bullwhip’s tied in knots, your stiletto’s so dull it couldn’t cut through a glob of canned pumpkin, and someone left peanut-butter-and-jelly in the barrel of your sniper rifle.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing, by Chuck Wendig, is a wake up call on high decibel stereo blast. [...]
[...] most shared post of the week (from the hundreds I share weekly) is Chuck Wendig’s 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (right f*ing now). Give it a look if you haven’t [...]
Man, I ripped that toaster button off my toaster years ago.
[...] read the full post, go here. Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
[...] Chuck at terrible minds–25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F*cking Now)–’Nuff said. Related Posts:The Reading List–December 25 to December 31, [...]
WOW!! I cannot chose my fav cause they are all awesome!!
Oh man, I need this on a wall-scroll or poster or painted on the wall in blood or something.
Hah! Practical advice with a lot of humor., Excellent tips. Hard to give up whining and moaning, however!
Excellent…so well written that even I might start listening to the sage advice. And, thank you for a good dose of irreverent humor to spice it up!
[...] [...]
[...] my mind has been in somewhat of a fog, I decided I’d tackle another one of Chuck Wendig’s 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. We’re going to tackle #14: Stop Playing It [...]
[...] but I thought Chuck Wending’s post on Google+ was great fun. I’ve enjoyed both 25 Things a Writer Should Stop Doing . . . which has over 350 comments and counting. I’m continuing to benefit from Chuck’s [...]
I sat down to finish the novel I have bee procrastinating on, after checking my mail, of course, but someone sent me an email with a link to your site, so I read your list and a gazillion comments instead of working on my novel.That isn’t what you meant, is it?
[...] Minds’ Chuck Wendig wrote a much-Tweeted list of 25 things writers should stop doing (right f**king now). As you might be able to tell, operatic profanity is [...]
Me too, tyvm for sharing this..
well crafted!
…Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing. If it’s what you want, then pursue it…
…You’ll always find someone to tell you what you can’t do. What you shouldn’t do. That’s your job as a writer to prove them wrong. By sticking your fountain pen in their neck and drinking their blood. …uhh. I mean, “by writing the best damn story you can write.”…
…Fear will kill you dead. You’ve nothing to be afraid of that a little preparation and pragmatism cannot kill. Everybody who wanted to be a writer and didn’t become one failed based on one of two critical reasons: one, they were lazy, or two, they were afraid. Let’s take for granted you’re not lazy. That means you’re afraid. Fear is nonsense…
Hey Chuck:
The Truth hurts but we all need to hear it – more discipline and less boohooing will take us far – thanks for the raw & sharp kick in the pants – it has brought me out into the light of day! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant – framing this & placing it on my writing desk – this should be read once a day before taking paper to pen – it’s the best medicine for procrastination.
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/comment-page-7/#comme... Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
thanks Chuck. shot coffee out my nose and peed myself..and shared with all my readers.
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ [...]
[...] from Terrible Minds here after seeing it mentioned on Deb’s [...]
[...] Great article from Chuck Wendig on 25 things writers should stop doing. [...]
Good stuff, Chuck. Now let’s all take a little of this advice, ladies and gentlemen, and go eat well, run around the block, and WRITE! And stop reading blogs, websites, and Facebook for one afternoon.
[...] 25 things writers should stop doing (right fucking now). (Terribleminds) [...]
I love it. Now, I need to follow it! Thanks.
Well, holy freaking shit. Thank you for shoving a hard dose of reality down my already swollen throat.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy.. ’cause it isn’t!
Ah, where was this a year ago…. An entertaining look at what we all should be thinking. Thanks for the post.
[...] Wendig does it again, in this list post of things to stop doing. Mind you, No 2 on his list is to stop [...]
I likes it, but I can still be an alcoholic, right? (I’m lookin’ at you, number 9)
[...] I have a couple of links you might find enlightening, fun, or useful. First up, Chuck Wendig posted 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F*cking Now), which is a great list to incorporate into your New Year resolutions (if you do that kind of [...]
[...] recently came across a “colourful” but enlightening web article called “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now)” by Chuck Wendig (h/t to Nate Crawford at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia for [...]
Okay, so every time I think I’m stuck, I’m going to be thinking, WWCD? And I’m going to laugh, buy a box of wine, and carry on.
Love “This story isn’t going to unfuck itself”
Did a list of 5 ways to avoid procrastinating, and instead of putting off linking it…
http://neilmossey.blogspot.com/2011/08/5-tips-to-bust-writers-block-and.html
Thanks!
NEIL
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now). [...]
Beautiful. It outlined how people should live, in general. Thank you for writing
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 12:16 [...]
I want whatever it is you’re taking.
Thanks for the advice. Witty. Refreshing. Honest. Contagious.
I intend to re-read as necessary.
[...] This list, from the Terrible Minds blog, was inspired by this post “30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself.” Author Chuck Wendig says “I read this cool article last week…and I thought, hey, heeeey, that’s interesting. Writers might could use their own version of that. So, I started to cobble one together. And, of course, as most of these writing-related posts become, it ended up that for the most part I’m sitting here in the blog yelling at myself first and foremost. That is, then, how you should read this: me, yelling at me. If you take away something from it, though? Then go forth and kick your writing year in the teeth.” It’s a really great list. [...]
“That story isn’t going to unfuck itself.”
Wow. I love that more than I should.
This is the best and most motivating list for writers I have ever, EVER read. It’s dead-on. Thank you.
[...] Things Writers Should Stop Doing from Chuck Wendig’s awesome PenMonkey brain [...]
[...] I’ve been hanging out more with actual published writers lately, plus I read this incredibly awesome blog post on writerly resolutions (be forewarned, it’s also very profane), and the common thread of [...]
Stop taking the time to read crap like this article.
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing…Right F*&king Now. [...]
[...] we are. I’m going to quote from another terribleminds commenter, found last week at “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now)” — Amy Severson said: “When I finally realized that I was never going to write [...]
You forgot No. 26. If you clean out your foul mouth with soap and water and delete every instance of the word “fuck” people might take your work more seriously. They might even read past the first three instances.
@Louise –
It may be better instead to realize that profanity is part of language and my use of it isn’t wrong so much as it is simply not your preference.
– c.
[...] keeping with Chuck Wendig’s fantastic article from yesterday, I thought I’d go ahead and post this little bit of advice from Neil [...]
Epic shit. Honestly, I like the profanity (unlike some people). It feels fresh after all of the stale crap I read.
THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ BOUT…thank you!
[...] recently read Chuck Wendig’s post entitled, “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now).” It is brilliant, hilarious [...]
[...] love the straight talking, no nonsense approach of this article: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/. I especially love the line ‘Fear will kill you dead’. A lot of the sense in this [...]
[...] on either my Facebook or Twitter posted a list of 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. I’ve re-shared it on social media, but it’s worth sharing here on my blog. [...]
Hey Chuck. You’re advice is The Shit. Not to be confused with just plain ol’ vanilla shit. To say that would be blog response blasphemy. I have been afraid, I have been lazy, and I have been writing as if rich, white people with enough money to buy full priced books at “alternative” books shops, or display cases in yoga studios are the only ones who would read my shit.
So, in all of my confession loaded on organic black tea and home-made hummus, I scream “I’M SORRY!”. Not to you, but like you said in the beginning…to me. Now I’ll stop productively procrastinating and get to work. Thanks.
Love & Namas-fucking-té homie,
Berns*
[...] I’ll leave you with this list of 25 things writers should stop do with a BIG warning: Very Strong Language! If you can’t stand the F-word and other forms of [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing A fantastic post whether you’re making goals or not. By Chuck Wendig over at Terrible Minds [...]
Thank you… for that inspiring kick in the ass!
[...] “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F—ing Now)” by Chuck Wendig The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward in quantity. As if we’re all rushing forward to squat out as huge a litter of squalling word-babies as our fragile penmonkey uteruses (uteri?) can handle. Stories are like wine; they need time. So take the time. This isn’t a hot dog eating contest. You’re not being judged on how much you write but rather, how well you do it. Sure, there’s a balance — you have to be generative, have to be swimming forward lest you sink like a stone and find remora fish mating inside your rectum. But generation and creativity should not come at the cost of quality. Give your stories and your career the time and patience it needs. [...]
Wow, excellent tips and I can relate to so many of them. The stop stopping one is so important. I’ve found myself in the middle of something good a number of times where I’ve noticed the clock blinking 2,3 or even 4 AM and then my mind would tell itself to go to bed. I took me a while but I learned to ignore it. And doing so got me to actually finish things quicker.
Thanks for all the ideas,
James
http://blog.jvf.com
[...] further disturbance to the comfort zone, I ran across Chuck Wendig’s post on 25 things writers need to stop doing. It seemed to be the final push to make me sit back and [...]
Best article I’ve read in a long time. Thank you!
I quit my job today to write full time.
I QUIT MY JOB TODAY TO WRITE FULL TIME. (Sorry, I just need to say it again because I’m still in shock)
It was a meh, part-time, low-paying admin job, and I was being paid shit, and my husband is the big earner in the house by far, but still.. Dude, I took a leap. And this was BEFORE I read your most awesome blog post. I will be reading it again and again every day as I remind myself that I made the right choice. There’s a story in me – many stories – and it’s time I honour the writer in me. So thanks. Let 2012 be our year!
(And apparently, before I hit “submit comment”, I should honour the editor in me. Because job quitting or not, there was some editing to be had there. *runs off to sip coffee and read #13 again)
Here is a nice list of 29 things to do instead… http://vimeo.com/24302498
[...] As far as writing goes, I’ve been writing a bit, humoring myself with the “pay myself for writing” idea. I also came across this interesting link: 25 things writers should stop doing [...]
Number five. Yes.
[...] pulled out these writing snapshots after a friend sent me Chuck Wendig’s new year piece “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now).” Number 3, Stop Writing in Someone Else’s Voice, set me off. Writing from another point of [...]
Pennsyltucky? I haven’t heard that name since I lost my favorite bluegrass music station, way back. Good advice. All true.
[...] 10. And Chuck Wendig of Terribleminds let us know 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing: [...]
I’d like to add: Stop beating yourself up. I’m late getting a proposal to my agent and while indulging in procrastination landed here. It was worth it. I’m worth it and now back to work. Congrats on the progeny.
So great, I printed and posted it on my wall: http://t.co/4t7St6DB. Yes, that’s an ominous looking link, but it’s just an image from my tweet.
[...] Minds kick. I preface this piece letting you, the readers, know about Chuck Wendig’s blog titled, 25 Things A Writer Should Stop Doing. If you want to read Mr. Wendig’s post covering these 25 things, then follow the previously [...]
I definitely needed to hear some of these. Thanks!
[...] 3) The Threshold Author: Catherine Yiğit (@Yarzac), a writer who was born, bred and buttered in Ireland but who now lives as an expat (also mother and wife) in northwestern Turkey near the mythical city of Troy. Publication: The Skaian Gates: Notes from an Online Wanderer (Yiğit’s personal blog) Why it’s helpful: If you’re serious about bringing change to your life, sometimes it helps to take a “tough love” approach. Yiğit found the kick she needed for empowering herself and her writerly efforts when stumbling upon a program called “A Year with Myself.” The approach, she says, is actually gentler than that taken by the unmercifully profane Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig), author of the author-advice blog Terrible Minds. (Ironically, Yiğit cites the very same post by Wendig that I’d actually been considering for this top-ten list: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F****** Now.) [...]
My advice is to always start a book by writing Chapter 9.
It does not matter if it makes no sense to start there, nor that it makes no sense if Chapter 9 will not work with the eventual Chapters 8 and 10. Just write it. You can always throw it away later.
Starting a book is always hard and Chapter 1 becomes an immovable obstacle. If you start with a later chapter, it has not the same significance as Chapter 1. You are now writing; you get the momentum. Once the first chapter is complete (Chapter 9) you can start on the next one (Chapter 1) and before you know it, the book is done.
[...] Yiğit cites the very same post by Wendig that I’d shortlisted for this top-ten list: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F****** Now. But then I decided to use Yiğit’s [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing The good news is that masturbating and robbing liquor stores are not on the list. [...]
[...] But Terrible Minds says it better. [...]
[...] does these wonderful 25 Things lists, about a variety of issues. This one, about 25 things to stop doing as a writer, could also be applied to other aspects of your life that don’t have anything to do with [...]
[...] there was this post about what you must stop doing if you want to be a writer. (Language [...]
I was hoping that it would tell me things like “stop using too many adjectives” or “use imagery sparingly”. I’m sure this is helpful to people, but not quite what I was hoping for.
Good stuff. And don’t worry about the self flagellation. I use much coarser language in my notes to myself – to make sure that I get my own attention!
While some of the maxims here are for experienced authors, I’m gonna distribute this to all the NaNoWriMo people. I’m a NaNoWriMo winnah, and in my opinion, the greatest thing that I can do is *not* writing 50,000 words in November; but encourage the others in my group to make sure they reach their goal. There’s usually a good lot of first timers in each NaNo.
I was gonna win anyway, writing is the only way to get the stupid story outta my head.
[...] this, if you will, a sequel to the gone-viral post, “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now)” — sort of a mirrored-reflection be-a-fountain-not-a-drain [...]
“That was the sound of a tool chest…falling down the stairs.” –One of the bad guys in “Home Alone 2″
I think I’ve just had my nose mushed in, too. Ow. My muse is running away with the ISquirrelerod, my grownup brain is picking out how to build on your suggestions, and my writing time starts in two minutes.
And to the person asking about finding your voice: write a list of everything you love and everything you want to erase from the universe in your hatred of it. Every time you use something off the list in your writing, you’re expressing your voice.
Stop watching Netflix.
hahahaha!!! This is so funny, and just great. I need to stop all of them
Kurt.
Many people are great writers but when it comes to writing a story they just can’t I can’t READ or WRITE with me people tell me I’m a great story teller. One book it was grab by the publisher my friends who have written many stories can’t get them published, they have the words but can’t put them together, all I can say let it come from your heart and DON”T ask for help from any other writer. Just do by your self and when it is at the end DON’T ask your family what they think of it. It’s your story.
[...] published this great list of 25 things that writers should stop doing. I’m definitely guilty of putting writing off and moaning about how much I wish I could [...]
Trouble with self help things like this is they always bring out the perverse in me
eg #26 Stop writing! You will only exhaust all your best material and make a fool of yourself
[...] loved Chuck Wendig’s post on 25 things writers should stop doing. Hilarious and soooo on point! Share this:TwitterFacebookStumbleUponDiggEmailLike this:LikeBe the [...]
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } terribleminds.com – Today, 9:13 [...]
Ha! Love it, Chuck. I’m with Kristen Lamb. If you start a cult, you have my email.
love the kitty angel graphic too cute. i don’t have an official website but here’s on of my cat
http://www.squidoo.com/sullycat
but I will be adding this page to my http://www.squidoo.com/Epicballadofpoetry
links or as a big arrow link. I hope you will check it out & give me some feedback.
Rght now its poetry w/ some other creative writing items at the end. (but may make a seperate one for the creatve writing not sure)
all in all… Hope you enjoy what I wrote up. (& there’s more pages than those)
I’d like to know how you got that GLOBE of links under the RSS feed?
is there anyway I could possibly find one?
LOVE IT!
I’ve visited this page 116 times, and recommend it to at least 576 writing students, so I figure it’s about time I leave a comment:
Great advice. Thank you.
Thanks, @Lori!
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (This isn’t exclusively about fear but I just really liked it, consider this your bad language warning…) [...]
[...] Wendig did a sequel, of sorts, to his 25 Things Writing Should Stop Doing post. It’s, unsurprisingly, 25 Things Writers Should Start Doing. As always with Chuck [...]
[...] While geared to writers and certainly not appropriate for young or gentle readers, this list offers a harsh look at the things we do to stop ourselves. First step to fixing a problem is recognizing it, so read it and weep where appropriate. I certainly did. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ [...]
[...] I read and reread sites like The Absolute Write Water Cooler, Writer Beware , and my personal hero, Terrible Minds – Chuck Wendig. I do this because I want to know everything I can about everything. Publishers, agents, writing [...]
[...] Find the original list here. [...]
[...] wrote a piece called “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing Right F***ing Now” and a follow-up piece entitled “25 Things Writers Should Start [...]
[...] how Chuck Wendig wrote about 25 things writers should stop doing? Well, here are 25 things writers should start doing. Also by Chuck [...]
Brilliant. I need someone to kick me up my butt when I should be coin it myself. I’d do so if it wasn’t so physically awkward and painful – or would I ? WRITE DAMN IT! Okay….Great post! You’re on thousands of them no doubt – but you’re on my blog roll now too
I liked this so much, I put a link to your list on my blog! Great advice.
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ 51.355381 12.412098 Stay tuned!TwitterFacebookLinkedInGefällt mir:LikeSei der Erste, dem dieser post gefällt. By dermannfuerdentext, on 23/01/2012 at 14:37, under [Der Mann für den Text]. Keine Kommentare Kommentiere oder hinterlasse ein Trackback: Trackback-URL. « Coworking: Die Alternative zum Home Office [...]
THANX!!!!!!
May I come over and kiss you for that?
Greetings from Berlin
Carola
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
[...] Mittagskaffee-Surfen auf Facebook ist mir folgendes Schmuckstück in die Finger gefallen: Eine Auflistung der Dinge, mit denen man aufhören sollte, wenn man Autor/in ist. Auf englisch zwar (ich habe gerade keine [...]
[...] Wendig provides advice regarding a writer finding his or her voice, identifies 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing, and 25 Things Writers Should Start [...]
Okay, I feel properly chastised. Talk about some tough love.
[...] a couple weeks ago - “30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself” — and then I saw a marvelous version of the same for writers over at terribleminds, by Chuck Wendig – and well, I KNEW I needed to totally steal the [...]
Summed me up perfectly. You’ve read my mind then gone and posted it!!!! Yikes!! Don’t know whether to love you or hate you. Seeing as you’re a fellow-writer, I’ll love you – and say, thank you!
Liz xxx
[...] A list of resolutions for writers — most of which I think are [...]
[...] As a writer, I need to take much of the advice on this list. Maybe you do as [...]
[...] from 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing Right Fucking Now (thanks to the supertalented Heather for the link) — I also loved 25 Things Writers Should [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
These two 25 things articles should be distributed at every bookstore nationwide as a pamphlet for writers to carry in their back pocket. It’s the Strunk & White of writer work ethic.
One of my readers sent me this link after I posted: The Price of Blogging.
http://2owlscalling.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/the-price-of-blogging/
I’m glad he did.
I needed to laugh out loud.
Thank you.
Absolutely the most inspiring thing I have read in a long time. I could almost hear Sam Kinnison delivering these words from the afterlife…
Great Stuff!
excellent post — now to implement (stop implementing?) all 25….
So… training the squirrels in the park to do my fiendish bidding is NOT on the list? Excellent. *tents fingers and looks schemey*
[...] 3. Terrible Minds: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now) Excerpt: You don’t get to be a proper storyteller by putting it so far down your list it’s nestled between “Complete the Iditarod (but with squirrels instead of dogs)” and “Two words: Merkin, Macrame.” You want to do this shit, it better be some Top Five Shiznit, son. You know you’re a writer because it’s not just what you do, but rather, it’s who you are. So why deprioritize that thing which forms part of your very identity? [...]
[...] 5, in Chuck Wendig’s brilliant “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing” is Stop Hurrying. “The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward [...]
[...] other times, curse words feel right. Take Chuck Wendig’s blog post, 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now.) Right away, you know exactly what kind of post you’re going to [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing: Terrible Minds [...]
Your steps about staying focused on your goals are very much to the point. I’m writing a novel currently, but I use up much creative energy to write articles for magazines or put together posts for my writing blog. I’ve started charting my word count each day and making a note of what I’m working on, how much I’ve written and where I write to help with this. Seeing it all on paper lets me realize in black and white where my writing focus is.
[...] interesting, entertaining and from what I can tell, largely accurate post on what writers need to stop doing pretty much immediately. (And it conveniently falls under the [...]
[...] Steve Vernon shared a post on Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds blog that I read. It’s titled, “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now.” [...]
[...] nails me where I write. The wonderful blog posting I listed attached to this blog, about 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing, talked about the problem of writing what you don’t need to be writing to avoid writing what [...]
[...] from 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now) [...]
Thanks,I have been using a s a catharsis and I know the story has to be written,just do not know if I really want it to be a memoir or a novel.
This is a awesome reference to come back to,albeit to motivate and reflect or kick me in the ass.
Chuck,
Most of these are good just skimming over them however, not that I am a professional writer, just a natural one, here are my constructive opinions of a few of your points. Not trying to deter people from writing or offend, these are my opinions and I welcome yours.
#24 You should never even suggest not dreaming, even in the context of another intended point. Dreaming is what creativity is derived from.
#9 Writing should come naturally to the brain you have. If you are worried about improving on or sharpening it then it likely doesn’t come naturally to you anyway.
#8 In the context of considering your audience and effectively painting the picture you want to paint in their mind, it is not the complexity of the terminology you use but the way the words are put together. Overly complicated words often deter a reader and are a sign of a writer who is trying to overcompensate for lack of natural writing ability.
#7 If it does not come easily then it is probably not a natural talent. The easier it comes the better it will be.
I love that you are honest enough to write down what the rest of us only think or mumble out loud in our offices when nobody is around. Thanks for being blunt….Right now, I am chasing the dream of getting my book completed, published, and marketed. It is a “how to” manual for aspiring writers, focusing on the internet and digital media. Can you check out my Kickstarter project and support it and share with your legions of fans? I’m down to the final three days and trying to prevent the ship from sinking… http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/denisegabbard/write-and-get-paid
Terrible. Only the title is good. The author has the vernacular of an 7 year old with a Napoleon complex. He goes on and on about how people shouldn’t criticize themselves but suggests reading the article as though you’re listening to him yelling at himself. First rule of self esteem dictates that there are no rules. There are no complex lists of what people should and should not do. If someone asks you to do something so that you’ll fit an image, it should go right through you because no hypnotism can withstand the assault of 100% pure self actualization. It’s really bad. Wasted my time reading the first part of it. Authors of these crap self help books are trying to re-enforce low self esteem because the target audience is people with low self esteem. It’s like a loan that incentivises the buyer doing poorly.
Gbam! Well said. Love it.
[...] 25 Things that Writers Should Stop Doing [...]
[...] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/ [...]
[...] the meantime, I’m going to re-read my latest inspirational find, a column entitled 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now). I love this guy.) Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]
[...] . so here’s two of them: the first a quit-pussy footing-around-and-get-after-it list called “Twenty-Five Things Writers Should Stop Doing…” specifically for us writers by novelist, screenwriter and self-proclaimed “Freelance [...]
Thank you so much.
Looking forward to your chat today at, The Writers Chatroom. I shall bring along my swear-muffs ’cause I’ve heard you tend to let one or two go… Occasionally.
@Zakgirl –
Thank you but, what is the writer’s chatroom?
– c.
My mistake. I misread the email I got sent. You are not actually there chatting (in case your confused) but you sure should be! It’s happening now and it’s all about your 25 things a writer shouldn’t do. At http://writerschatroom.com – you just hit enter and put in your name and your chatting. If you can’t make it now, just write Audrey and tell her Zak sent you. sorry
[...] 12. Terribleminds [...]
[...] 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing Right Now [...]
Great list; how I’ve been guilty of not doing so much of what’s on that list. But I’m changing, I think.
I stopped after 4. Too much fucking writing to do to read all this shit. Do you have it in audiobook format?
(The first 4 were great, if that’s any consolation.)
Love it! Well put.
[...] probably too long to fit, but this article about 25 things writers should stop doing (discovered through a link my friend Valerie posted on her Facebook page) should be framed and [...]
Thank You.
That is all.
Dude. Who ARE you? King of Awesomeland, that’s who. So glad I found this blog. Excellent list.
I am in….it…