Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

MY CURRENT AMAZON KINDLE BESTSELLERS: Click on any of the covers to find out more! Seven Strategies to Kick-Start Your Imagination New writers often ask me what they should write about. How do you get ideas? they ask. I know I want to write but I can't think of anything interesting enough to fire my imagination. To be honest, I think that coming up with ideas is a largely a learned skill that gets easier with practice. Writing regularly has a way of triggering the mind into coming up with ideas, almost as a byproduct of the writing process. But if you're stuck, how do you re-ignite your little gray cells? Here are seven strategies that may help you. 1. Read Outside Your Comfort Zone Don't read whole books, be a browser. Pick up books and magazines you would never normally touch and read things at random. Go to Amazon and download lots of free samples on science, anthropology, astronomy, history, eclectic stuff you wouldn't norma...

Dear Fellow Writer, KINDLE REVIEW CLUB A quick reminder that you can get my Kindle books free if you sign up to my Kindle Review Club. Go HERE for that. Keep Writing!   Rob@easywaytowrite.com THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: Five Facts Writers Don't Want to Hear   There's been quite a few articles appearing in the media recently - off line and on - about the plight of the publishing industry and the state of play for writers in particular. It's generally sobering news. Here's a round up of the thrust of what these news reports are saying - and I believe you should read them, even if you don't want to be reminded of the reality of writing books for a living! 1. Traditional Publishers Finally Reveal the Facts Just because you're signed to a traditional publisher, there's no guarantee whatsoever that you'll make enough money to live on. ...

Dear Fellow Writer,   Today sees the launch of my latest Amazon Kindle book! For just a few hours it will be 99 cents - less than one dollar . Go get it now! The Art of Story: Writing Fiction That Sells "Probably Rob Parnell's best book so far. Get the edge that gets you published."   Now - BEFORE you email me to say you don't have a Kindle: YOU DON'T NEED A KINDLE to download Kindle books. Amazon have a great little program that allows you to read Kindle books - many of which are free - on iPads, iPhones, PC computers, laptops and even MACs. Go here to get that for free: HERE   Speak soon, Keep Writing! Six Secrets to Successful Authorship It's one thing to be able to write - but it's quite another to gain the mindset of a professional author. Here are six tips that will make the difference between wishing for success and actually achieving your dreams - and being able to...

Dear Fellow Writer, FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD Today - and all this weekend - I'm giving away free copies of my latest Kindle book: "The Easy to Write an Autobiography That Sells." If you've ever thought about recording your life for posterity this book will help you. Plus, I'm told it's a great book about writing in its own right. Go HERE for that . It's FREE! BTW: the promotion starts on Friday - if it's not yet free in your part of the world, it will be soon! RECORDING THE PAST Just recently I've been collating all my old audio tapes from my music career and making them digital. It's a huge task - there's something like 500 tracks spread over fifteen years. Weird thing is that each song brings back a flood of memories. How and where it was recorded, what I was thinking at the time, who I was with. It's actually exhausting emotionally! But it's what made me think of t...

Dear Fellow Writer, Great to be talking to you again. Many of you will be pleased to know that these weekly newsletters will become the sole source of information from me from the beginning of next year. That is, apart from all the books on Amazon. There are currently 21 of our books on Kindle and we plan to put up another 20 or so before March 2014. When they're all online, including hard copies through CreateSpace, the only communications from me will be via this free newsletter. Have fun in the run up to Christmas. Speak soon, Keep Writing! Rob@easywaytowrite.com THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: Use Your Thinking Cap CAP is a useful acronym that describes how you should go about planning stories. Think about the shape of a baseball cap: it’s crescent shaped, has a strap at the back and a peak at the front. Got that?  And it goe...

Dear Fellow Writer, Thanks for being a valued subscriber to my weekly newsletter.   I hope things are going well for you and that your writing is bringing all the joy you desire. In today's article we look at finding the motivation to keep writing a long work. BTW: The Easy Way to Write a Novel is still at #1 in the Education section on Amazon Kindle. Go here for that.   THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: Write Here, Write Now Writing a long work is really about turning a whim into a compulsion. There’s no other way around it. You have to decide, early on, that you will   finish   your novel – at least the first draft – and you will keep going until it’s done. That’s the trick – the easy answer – DECIDE. Commitment follows a firm decision. Personally I give myself time limits – deadlines. Having an end-date seems to be the only way I can visualize completion. Sometimes I go past my deadlines – who doesn’t? - but at least I’m aware of that a...

Dear Fellow Writer, I read a fascinating report yesterday. Apparently one in ten self-published authors now make over $100,000 a year.  That's amazing enough - and something that would surely have been impossible even just ten years ago.  But there's more. The other 90% of writers make less than $500 a year.  Interestingly, the average daily word count of the 90% is less than 1000.  BUT, the average daily word count of the top ten percent (those earning $100K+) is over 2000 words a day! The inference is clear: write 2000 words a day and you're much more likely to move into the big league - and become a bestselling author! But how do you increase your daily word count? Funnily enough, that's the subject of this week's article. How to Write a Lot and Quickly   I’d like to introduce you to the concept of ‘Easy-Writing’ .  I can’t claim to have invented the technique, although my students and subscribe...