Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

My latest novel, PSI Kids: Willow, is on Amazon Kindle. If you've got a Kindle, you can borrow it for free. Go get it! If you're curious, here's a link to the latest R&R press release. It will open in a one page PDF. We're making a video promo for Robyn's latest book, Maya and the Crystal Skull, at the moment. We spent yesterday filming 13 year old actor Leila Clendon against a green screen and on top of a cliff near here. Great fun - though it was scorching hot near the beach! A writer friend recommended some wonderful free writing software to me. I'm hooked. It's called Celtx and you can use it to write pretty much anything - books, movies, graphic novels, even story boards. It really is free - and I get nothing for promoting it! Go here for that. Also, many of you are still asking for another tiny wee extension to the Easy Way to Write Digital Disposa l . Go here for a (final, final, final!) chance to get the writin...

In case you didn't know, my latest novel, PSI Kids: Willow, is now on Amazon Kindle. Go get it! Onward. I've almost made a decision. It feels right to me but I'm giving myself another couple of weeks before I totally commit... Deep breath... I'm starting a new website - actually more of an on-line magazine focused on art, wealth creation and achieving true happiness - all the things you'd expect from me. I'm sure I'll keep you posted on how it's progressing... Also, many of you are still asking for a tiny extension to the Easy Way to Write Digital Disposa l, for whatever reason. Okay, go here for a (final, final!) chance to get what you need. THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: How To Be Happy Rob Parnell Human consciousness is a wonderful thing. It enables us to feel we exist. According to the latest research, this ability is achieved by a constant stream of short circuits in our heads. All day long,...

People keep emailing me - begging me not to stop. It's awesome - and humbling. In truth, I get to today and the pull of writing an article is too strong to resist. I'd be lost without having to do it. Also, many of you have asked for a tiny extension to the December Digital Disposa l, for whatever reason. Okay, go here for a (final!) chance to get what you need. THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: The Search 2 Rob Parnell If you could have anything you wanted - what would that be? If the world conspired to grant all your wishes and desires, would that make you happy? Perhaps - for a week, or a month, but what then? If anything was possible, what would you WANT to spend your time doing? What would make you feel fulfilled? I like that word - it describes what it represents. Full filled. Filled to the max with - what? Satisfaction? Pride perhaps? Enriched to overflowing with a sense of purpose? Of course, all of us are going to be...

As if I'm not busy enough already, a local director has asked me to write the music for his latest production - and have it to him by the 11th of October. So on top of the two pitches for TV series we're producing, running Magellan Books and the EWTW and editing my latest novel during the day, I'm composing and recording music in the evenings... No Rest for the Wicked, as I once sang! BTW, as well as Lydie M Denier, I'm proud to announce another Hollywood star has chosen Magellan Books to launch her latest book to coincide with her new TV series in October. Cool, or what? More news on that soon - coming to an inbox near you! Anyway... I'm probably one of the last people in the world to read "What the BLEEP Do We Know?" By now most of the ideas in it are well publicized and known thanks to movies like The Secret and the media blitz that accompanied it a few years back. A lot of self help gurus are still peddling the Law of Attraction or their version of it ...

I've always been loath to tackle the subject of writer's block. A personal, largely superstitious thing - but still I get asked what writers should do about it - all the time! So here goes: 1. Crisis, What Crisis? First off, you need to deny that there is any such thing as writer's block. This debilitating condition can only hurt you when you give it the privilege of a concrete name. Take away its name and you begin to take away its power over you. Tell yourself, there is no such thing as writer's block. There is writing and not-writing. Only writers have a name for something they're NOT doing. Think about the absurdity of builder's block, or doctor's block, or pilot's block. Any kind of inability to write is similarly absurd. Writing is like breathing - something you learned to do a long time ago without thinking. Stop thinking about it - and just do it. 2. Stop! In the Name of Love. If you've run out of ideas or you're st...

Here's the thing: sometimes you have no idea how your writing will go when you start. Sometimes the thought of starting is so stressful, you'll do anything to avoid the work. But you have to get started. You need a time in your day when you always write. You need to train your brain into knowing what that time is. Then just turn up. And let the writing take care of itself. They say it takes about a month to change a habit. That's why rehab centers use a 28 day program. A month is roughly how long it takes for the body and mind to adjust to a new set of rules and circumstances. There's no real cure for an addiction. The best therapists know that replacing a bad habit with a new obsession is way more effective than simply denying an urge that will no doubt resurface. The reason why most drug addicts go back to taking drugs is that, even though they may have rid themselves physically once, their situations, their daily lives, their friends and influences conspire to get th...

I hope you're well and happy and writing! We're releasing two more ebooks on Magellan this week. The success of the first two books has been a welcome and gratifying surprise to myself and the authors. Both Billie Williams and Ian Randall have received high praise for their books - and now have royalties due to them as a result! Why not send in your own ebook for us to publish? ( See our FAQs ) I'm sure it'll be worth your while! THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: Writing at the Pit Face I often get emails about how to submit correctly to publishers and agents. The guidelines for most publishers and agents is easily attained, usually on their websites - or in offline Writer's Guides at your library. The most fundamental issue here is that you shouldn't even consider submitting a manuscript UNLESS you've read those guidelines. Never think that you can shirk this primary consideration! In general terms though, the majority of guidelines go like this: 1. Double spaced...

Writing is a long term vocation. You may have to keep reminding yourself of this. Especially when you want everything - money, writing projects, publishing success - to go faster. Do you ever feel like this? I do. I read a guy's blog this week where he talked about burn-out. He was so determined to get a novel finished he wrote 16 hours a day for about three weeks. He said that suddenly he couldn't make out the words on the screen. He was looking at a foreign language and he realized his brain had shut down. The experience frightened him so much that he stopped writing and suffered a long period - over six months - of angst over what had happened. For a long time he was too afraid to start writing again for fear that his mind would play this trick on him again. Luckily that's not happened to me yet. Sounds awful. The worst thing that happened one year was that I got one of those humps on my right wrist - apparently they're caused by hitting the keyboard too hard. It too...

Are you struggling to achieve your dreams? Does it seem as if your perfect life is elusive? Does you feel you're never going to get what you want? If so, it could be you're missing something important. Here are some tips on how to create your perfect life by adjusting your inner perspective. You're Never Too Busy to Relax When we're stressed and caught up in the complexities of living our daily lives, it can seem as though there's never enough time to do everything. We're always chasing our tails, beating ourselves up over jobs not completed or done badly or tasks - like writing - that get squeezed out of our schedules. If you're like this, you have to stop. Literally. You must find time - half an hour to an hour every day, to unwind and get some perspective. I call it 'strategizing time' or more simply, 'time to meditate'. Meditation is not about assuming a lotus position and contemplating the universe in your navel. No, it's about delib...

What happens when you can't think of anything to write? It's funny because I've noticed this is quite a common problem - for the newbie and the professional alike, but usually for different reasons. Often the newbie will be flushed with the conviction that she's a writer. She feels it, she knows it in her bones. And yet when it comes to sitting down in her writing space, she wonders what she should say - exactly what should she focus on? What should she communicate - or at least commit to paper? The professional writer too can get stuck. He may have exhausted his current topics of interest and want to start on something fresh. Like the newbie, the professional may ask himself, what can I say that is of interest to my editor, my publishers or my fans? Both the newbie and the professional may get stuck on what to write NEXT. Create You Own Emergency Deadlines and external pressure work for the professional. Often working writers have no choice but to slog along on their w...

Many writers tell me the scariest thing they have to do is submit their work to publishers, magazine editors and agents. This is understandable. You may have poured your heart and soul into a piece of writing. You may have spent a very long time working on it - so much so that it feels like a part of you is somehow exposed. You fear criticism at best, ridicule at worst. Placing your work in an envelope can bring on palpitations and an overwhelming sense of panic. Writers ask me if this ever goes away. The short answer is no. It doesn't matter how long you've been writing, or how many times you submit material or show your work to others, there's always a nagging trepidation associated with the experience. It's akin to first night nerves. Actors, not matter how accomplished, still feel it just before the curtain rises. Musicians and singers still feel it, just before the song begins. Even great speakers - gurus - feel it, as they walk out to face the ...

People are always asking me, "How do you manage to write so much?" It's funny to me because I never feel I have written enough! Each day I write a little more - an article, a chapter, a lesson or some fiction and each day I think, if only I'd had a few more hours I could have done 'this' or 'that'. There never seems to be enough time. We've just been asked by our movie producer to work on our Hollywood script - again - a new director wants some changes to it. For the next 4 to 6 weeks, we're intending to get stuck in to that script - and find time we didn't think we had. That's the writer's life. Just like everyone else, we have to find the time, whether we think it's there or not. People also ask me, "How do you write so fast?" Actually I don't think I do. I write slowly, considering every word and phrase as I go along. Just like the way I read. Okay, I get to write two to three thousand words a da...