Born To Create

Whatever you’re working on right now, you’re bound to get stuck at some point. When you stumble upon our old friend, lovingly called “writer’s block,” here are ten tips to keep the words flowing. On today’s episode, you’ll discover 10 ways—plus 2 bonus tips—for how you can overcome writer’s block. ***     Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders     LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders     Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders    

Most people listening to this podcast are located in the United States, so let me focus on that crowd for a second. Part of our culture here in the U.S. is what we call the “Protestant work ethic.” Even though not everyone is religious, or even Protestant, we still abide by this standard today. The Protestant work ethic basically says that we believe the way to a more fulfilled and God-honoring life is by working ourselves to death. On today’s episode, you’ll learn that, sometimes, you can be more productive when you take a break for a while. ***     Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with

I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. Here it is, the end of January, and we've had a solid month to get some meaningful work done toward our goals. How are things going for you? At this point, a lot of people give up on their goals and say, "Maybe next year." But I want you to know that it's never too late to make significant things happen in your writing, your life, and your business. How do you do that? By being intentional. Success doesn't just happen by accident. I'm excited to have a guest with us today who's going to help us do exactly that. His name is Joe Bukartek, and he is an Intentional Lifestyle Coach. Joe is a former undergraduate academic advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he supported thousands of students in achieving academic success. His first eight years post-undergrad, Joe worked in Corporate America in finance and contracts in the D.C. metro area. After Joe’s son was born, he redesigned his life to be intentionally more present with his family. Joe is also the host

Once you make the decision to start writing, and you do it on a regular basis (hopefully every day), over time you will build up quite a collection of half-baked ideas and unused pieces of material. It might be blog posts, book chapters, social media posts, podcast material, or in the case of myself, I’m sorry to admit, entire books you have written but never released for one reason or another. I call this my personal slush pile. The slush pile can be a great source of material when you’re looking for ideas or get a little short on time. On today’s episode, you’ll learn why you should never get rid of any of your ideas, projects, or content. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for cr

We've talked about it many times here on the podcast, but it always bears repeating: one of the most powerful skills you can learn is storytelling. We are wired as humans to tell, and to crave, powerful stories. My guest today is John Bucher. He is a mythologist, writer, and storyteller based out of Hollywood, California. John serves as the Creative Director for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and is also an author, podcaster, and speaker. He has worked with companies including HBO, DC Comics, The History Channel, A24 Films, The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation, and has also served as a consultant and writer for numerous film, television, and Virtual Reality projects. He is the author of seven books including his latest, The Storytelling Almanac. John shares his journey of making a career out of storytelling and many of the lessons he has learned along the way. You will also learn about the legacy of Joseph Campbell, modern myths in American culture, how to overcome fear as a writer, and much more! Check out

If you have ever watched behind-the-scenes documentaries for movies, you have probably heard directors talk about the impulse to keep tweaking a movie. Sometimes they will say, “The studio had to come and take the movie away from me.” What’s this all about? It’s pretty simple, really. When you’re working on a big creative project, whether it’s a book or a movie, you always see what needs to be fixed. There are endless improvements you can make. On today’s episode, you’ll learn why deadlines can actually free your creativity. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://Dail

A common problem we writers have is how to get started. We have a rough vision of what we want to create, but we’re afraid to take that first step. What if we go in the wrong direction? What if we discover we aren’t really talented? What if someone thinks it’s no good? What if this whole thing was a giant mistake? On today’s episode, Kent shares the best way to conquer a blank page. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders     LinkedIn: https://linkedin.c

If you get heavily involved in the writing community, you have to be careful. Why? Because there is a whole sub-industry devoted to writing tools that supposedly help you be more productive and creative. Are many of these helpful? Yes, of course. But it’s important to not get too obsessed with specific writing tools. The only measure you should use to determine whether a tool or app is good is whether it helps you get your writing done easier. On today’s episode, you’ll be encouraged that the writing tool you use doesn’t matter—what matters is if it helps YOU. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!    

One of the difficulties of creative work, which includes writing, is that we sometimes have vague ideas about our goals. We haven’t determined ahead of time what it means to win or lose. Therefore, no matter what we do, we never quite know if we have hit the mark. This is a surefire way to get discouraged and confused because we don’t have a clear idea of success. When you lay your head on the pillow at night, how do you know if that day was a success in terms of writing? How do you know whether to feel good or bad about your work that day? On today’s episode, Kent shares his advice for how you can always have a good writing day. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writi

A lot of you who are listening are working on books. I’d like to share a method I’ve been using to write my upcoming Daily Writer book, which will release this coming October. This process is very doable for anyone. I’ve been doing my Daily Writer podcast since November 2020, well over a year now. As you probably know since you listen to this show, I release a short episode each weekday. Here is what you may not know: each weekday episode is actually the first draft of a daily entry in my Daily Writer book. This will be a book of daily meditations for writers. Each quarter has a specific theme, and each month has a sub-theme within the quarter. But... it all starts with the daily podcast. On today’s episode, you’ll discover how you can use podcasting to create content for a book. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you

If you have followed my journey the last couple of years, you know that I have transitioned into being a full-time ghostwriter, while also leading our Daily Writer Community and helping writers with this podcast and other resources.   Today, I'm thrilled to feature a conversation with my friend and ghostwriting mentor Nick Pavlidis. Nick used to be an attorney, but a few years ago he began to build a ghostwriting business on the side. He eventually transitioned away from his law career, and now he does ghostwriting full-time, in addition to running Ghostwriter School.   Nick is the main reason I was able to learn about ghostwriting and transition away from my college job this past year. The interview you're going to hear is from a couple of years ago, when I was just getting started in this line of work, so keep that in mind. But I wanted to re-run it because this coming week, Nick is opening the doors again to Ghostwriter School. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about ghostwriting if you want to

If you’ve ever seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Dr. Strange or Avengers: Infinity War, you’re familiar with an object called the “time stone.” The time stone is one of six infinity stones that control various aspects of existence. Whoever possesses the time stone can see visions of the future as well as stop time, or even rewind it. It’s all fiction, of course . . . but what if you actually had a time stone? How would you use it? On today’s episode, you’ll be reminded that even though your writing can’t alter time, you can use your writing to change the world. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and

There are many ways to market yourself as an author, but, on today's episode, we will explore one of the most effective strategies—being a guest on other people's podcasts. My guest is Kim Stewart. She is a marketing strategist who helps Christian authors meet new readers and market their messages by guesting on podcasts. She’s also the host of the Book Marketing Mania podcast where she and her guests share what’s working to market books online. Her sweet spot is strategy, and working behind the scenes is her jam! Kim lives in Dallas with her husband, two young adult sons, and a very spoiled Lab named Loki. Kim gives us the low-down on podcast guesting and why it's important for authors. You'll also learn how to find relevant podcasts to pitch, how to build relationships with podcast hosts, what to say in your pitch, how to repurpose the episode once it's released, and much more. This is a strategy I have successfully used many times, and, of course, I have guests on this podcast every week. This is an episod

The most common complaint about writing is that it takes time. There is nothing that keeps people from writing more than the idea that they simply don’t have the time to write. That’s why so many writing resources—including this podcast—focus on helping people be more productive with their writing. On today’s episode, Kent encourages us to take some time to evaluate what is keeping us so busy that we neglect taking the time to write. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://instag

Have you ever tried taking a cold shower? Apparently, it’s all the rage these days. If you want to spend a couple of hours going down a rabbit hole, hop onto YouTube and watch a few videos where people experiment with taking cold showers and talking about the positive effects, such as helping them wake up fast or having more energy. I can tell you that it does work, even though I don’t take a cold shower very often. If you watch any of these videos or decide to experiment with it yourself, you will find that just jumping into the cold shower, and being all-in, is a lot more effective than gradually sticking one body part in the shower at a time. It’s better just to get the discomfort over with as soon as possible and get on with the cold shower so you can experience the benefits. On today’s episode, you’ll discover a simple trick, so you can get your writing done even when you don’t feel motivated. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow y

There are lots of enemies we have to battle as writers. One of the most ferocious ones is self-editing. Self-editing is the tendency to edit as you go, to clean up and try to perfect your writing while you’re creating it. The big problem with self-editing is that you’re trying to use your right and left brain at the same time. The right brain focuses on creative activities, and the left brain focuses on logic and reason. The reason you get stuck when trying to create a draft and edit it at the same time is because these two sides are constantly fighting with each other. On today’s episode, you’ll learn how to keep from self-sabotaging and use your creative and editing skills to your advantage. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow.

For most writers, writing feels like work because it requires a lot of brainpower. So why not use tools that help make the work easier? One of the most effective tools is music to help you focus. On today’s episode, Kent shares the three different music platforms he uses to help him focus, be more productive, and boost his creativity. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders     LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders     Twitter: https://twitter.c

We live in an age of urgency where everything must be done right now. But is that really true? Does everything in life have the urgency we ascribe to it? Mark Twain said, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” On today’s episode, you’ll be encouraged to prioritize so you can focus your attention on the things that matter. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders     LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kent-sanders     Twitter:

We’ve talked about the urgency of today many times before on this podcast. Why? Because it’s so easy to lose sight of the present moment when so many things beg for our time and attention. When you’re in the thick of life, when everyone and everything wants your attention, step back for a moment and remember one thing: you’ll only have this day once. On today’s episode, you’ll be reminded that today is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. *** Are you looking for a community of enthusiastic, generous writers to help you build better habits and grow your writing business? Check out our Daily Writer Community.      Check out our Daily Writing Prompts, which will help you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow. Writing prompts are a fantastic creative tool for creative writing, journaling, teaching, social media posts, podcasting, and more!     Connect with Kent:     https://DailyWriterLife.com     Facebook: https://facebook.com/kent.sanders     Instagram: https://inst

Have you ever thought about writing fiction? Furthermore, have you ever considered how writing a fiction series might be a great way to expand your story world and gives readers something special? My guest today is Mary A. Felkins. She is an inspirational romance author, blogger, and contributor to writer's blogs and inspirational publications. Her debut novel, Call to Love, is set in Hickory, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband. They have four young adult children. She is a member of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and My Book Therapy. Her purpose in writing is to reclaim God’s intention and motivation when he created the world—to enable readers to know his heart and experience his love. It's always fun to talk to fiction authors, and this conversation is no exception. Mary shares the benefits of a series, how to keep details straight between books, some challenges to writing a series, and much more. I first got to know Mary through our mutual friend Eric Elder, who has been a guest on