Watch my video below, or read the post, to get some advice on project management for writers.

Hello my lovely writers!

I want to talk today about project management for writers. When we start writing, we have this wonderful creative idea, we have characters and we think, ‘Oh, what if this happened?’ and ‘Wouldn’t it be great if that happened?’ and we start writing our stories. 

But when you think about it, writing a long form piece of fiction is a project. It’s not a small sewing project, for example, that you can complete in three hours on a Saturday afternoon. Writing a book is a big project that’s going to take you months or – for some people – years, particularly if it’s your first book. 

Project management for writers

I want to encourage you to start thinking about your novel as a project, a project that needs management and, like any other project, we need to set milestones for it. Project management might be something you do in your work life but you’ve never thought, ‘Oh, I need to apply these same project management skills to my creative life,’ but it’s incredibly helpful if you can. 

I always encourage writers to set a date by which they want to have their first draft written because, as newer writers, that in itself is a huge feat and a giant milestone. 

Set a date in the future when you think you’ll be able to write this book. This will vary depending on your lifestyle as, if you are someone who is retired, for example, you’ll have more time available to you, and perhaps able to write it quicker than someone working full-time who has only one or two days a week in which to write. If you’re working and you’ve got kids or other caring responsibilities, you might only have one afternoon a week to do it. 

Have a look at your own lifestyle and determine how often you can write and how much you can write in each writing session and work it out from there. What will be a realistic goal for you to achieve this first draft by? 

Remember, this isn’t a race, it’s a marathon and, the busier you are outside of writing, the longer that marathon is going to be. 

Give yourself deadlines

Give yourself those deadlines, give yourself something to aim for and, if you’re writing a first draft, aim to get that skeleton chapter one, chapter two, chapter three or chapter four, just so you get through to that first draft. 

The first draft doesn’t need to be perfect, you just need to get something down. You need to keep moving. You need to keep that momentum and, what that allows you to do is, as you finish each chapter, or that skeleton draft of each chapter, you can tick it off so you see the achievement you’re making. You see the progress you’re making and it feels like you’re getting somewhere and that you are actually getting towards that milestone of writing your first draft. 

Software gives you a visual reminder

If you have writing software available to you, that’s wonderful as well, as you see a visual reminder every time you open Scrivener, or Atticus, for example. Every time you open your writing program, you see a new chapter and every time you close the program, there’s a new chapter in there, which gives you that feel-good feeling, that burst of adrenaline, that happy hormone that is a serotonin release that makes you feel good and in turn will make you much more likely to come back to the page because you’ve got good memories about the last time you were there. 

See if you can do that because it will help you stay motivated and, as we know with anything that takes time to do, there’s ups and downs and we need to find ways to keep us motivated, keep us buoyant, keep us going and remain resilient throughout it all until we get to the end. 

An extra tip

Here’s an extra tip. Try and keep to a routine with that writing. If you know you can write three or four days a week, or three or four sessions a week, try and make them the same sessions nine out of ten weeks to get continuity going. If you know you only have one afternoon a week, then make sure it’s that same afternoon if you can so you have this feeling of continuity and momentum. The more routine something feels, the easier it is to do. When it’s something new, we feel it’s going to be an uphill battle, and then we are much less likely to do it but if we’re able to make writing a routine in our week, it’s going to feel less stressful, less difficult and we’re much more likely to turn up and do it. 

Set yourself a milestone. When are you going to finish this first draft by? If you use software, use that to see you’ve got these clear set milestones coming up and that you’ve written chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and so on so you can see it. If you can, try and establish that routine so it feels nice and easy. As easy as brushing your teeth, say. 

Does this resonate with you?

Do you see now why project management for writers is important? Let me know in the comments if this resonates with you and if you’ve found ways of making writing a regular part of your week. It’s so, so important to build that routine, that momentum and keep going until the end. 

I’d love to hear from you, so let me know below. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Writing rules are guidelines. We are artists and there is no absolute. 

Watch my video below, or read the post, to find out why writing rules are guidelines. 

Hello my lovely writers!

I was reminded recently of a workshop I attended with the lovely Tiffany Yates Martin from Fox Editorial. She hosted a really good workshop on deep third point of view and some participants got confused about the difference between a deep third point of view and first point of view, where the overlap is and how there are some similarities as well as some differences. 

Some participants wanted absolute hard and fast rules on how to know when something is deep third, how to use it and why you would use it instead of first.

It got to the point where Tiffany wasn’t able to give an absolute. 

Writing rules are guidelines

Tiffany reminded us that, in all the craft books we read, in all the guidelines we’re given and in all the rules we’re told about how you show don’t tell, always use active voice, etc., that these are simply guidelines. 

When we’re beginning our writing life and trying to understand how it all works, we can get caught up in the rules of writing. You’ll see this in some of the comments on social media – people picking up on very intricate things about what’s correct and what’s incorrect. A bit pedantically, I feel, sometimes. 

What I loved about Tiffany’s advice was that she reminded us these are guidelines and, once you know the guidelines, you can go ahead and break them but, ultimately, if it works, it works. 

In art there is no absolute

It reminded me that we are artists and in art there is no absolute. Throughout the history of painting, people are always trying to break those rules, push those boundaries and come up with something new. 

For us in our fiction, we can do something similar. Yes, we want to know we’ve got narrative drive and yes, we want to know something’s easy to read, particularly if we’re writing commercial genre fiction. 

But out there on the edges, you’ll see more experimental literary writers trying something new and different. Not necessarily easy to read but they’re pushing boundaries and they’re breaking the rules in a very deliberate way. They know there is trial and error in writing.

Don’t worry about the rules

That might not be the type of fiction you want to write but the emotions are the same. If you’re writing something and it flows and it works and it does what you need it to do, don’t worry about the rules. 

Keep the flow going, keep the story pushing forward, keep your momentum going as the creator, particularly in first drafting, but don’t get too hung up on the rules. 

The rules are there for you to have a baseline knowledge but, if you find in your creativity, in the art of writing your fiction, you need to switch things around and that it works best if you break a particular rule or guideline, go for it. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

When the thought of writing feels overwhelming, it’s because you need to develop a writing routine.

Watch my video below, or read the post, to find out why a writing routine is necessary.

When you think about writing your book, often you’ll be thinking about the finished product, which is your book on the book shelf or in the store. When you’re thinking about that level of project and the amount of work involved, it can feel overwhelming to the point of analysis paralysis. 

When the thought of writing feels overwhelming

It all feels too much. There’s too many things to take in and you don’t know where to start, let alone how to carry on to the finish line. 

That’s why it’s important to come back to your work regularly. You’ll hear people talk about writing with consistency, building a writing routine and having a writing habit. You might be rolling your eyes, thinking, I’ve heard this so many times, but you’re not doing it and that’s why the writing process can feel big, daunting and scary. 

It’s because you’re taking big chunks of time away from your work so, if you’re anything like I used to be, you forget what’s happening in your book. I would forget characters’ names and everything about the story. That meant, when I came to my desk or my notepad, I’d have to read back through so much to remind myself what was going on, by which time, I would have run out of the time I had allocated for my writing and had to go off and do something else.

I’d wasted valuable time that could have been spent writing new content and getting the story on the page. 

You need consistency, habit and routine

That is one of the reasons why consistency, habit and routine – while it doesn’t sound glamorous or like the romantic, artistic writing life we want and see in our imaginations – is the work of being a writer. That is what it takes to get the words down on the page, even when you don’t feel like it. You need to step up to the plate, to the page, even for just fifteen minutes and get some words down.

It’s by doing that consistently and regularly, that you get to the end of the draft. You then get to the end of the revision, the second revision, the third revision – however many revisions you need – until you do get to that glamorous, exciting part where you find the agent and the book gets published, or you publish the book, whatever your chosen path is. 

Then you can take a breath and bask in the glory of getting that work out into the public. Then you get to feel proud of the work you’ve put in because you know how hard you worked on that project. Then you can enjoy the glory that comes at the end, the bits you see on social media or on TV when writers come on and promote their books. 

Those writers are going through what you’re going through now, which is getting that routine going, being consistent with it and putting in the hard work of being a writer. Once you’ve done that, then you get the excitement of publication and then you get to lap up all the fun of the fair. 

A writing routine may not be sexy but it’s necessary. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

You may have a character who does bad things but do you know why that is? Give your villain a backstory and find out why they do what they do. 

Watch my video below, or read the post, to find out why your villain needs a backstory. 

Hello my lovely writers!

My family and I became obsessed with Traitors, the reality TV show. We watched the UK one, we then went on to watch the Australian one and we just finished watching the US one last night. So, yeah, you could say we’re a bit obsessed! 

Last night was the US final and Cirie, the winner, talked about what drives her. It really hit home how that show utterly exemplifies why baddies do the things they do. Not that Cirie is a baddie, but she’s a traitor in the show so she is deliberately deceiving, manipulating and throwing red herrings out there to do her best to make sure she’s at the final. She even made sure she was the final traitor so she didn’t have to share the winnings with the other traitor who made it through to the end. 

What’s the motivation?

When you listen to the reels behind the scenes when they’re doing the interviews, we see Cirie’s motivation and find out why she’s doing this. She’s working in healthcare and made it plain she’s not earning a lot of money. She rents at the moment but would like to buy a home. She has a lot of people depending on her as well as an elderly mother who she needs to look after. 

These are all really powerful motivators and drivers for her to do whatever it takes for her to get to the end of the show and win that $250,000. 

When you see poor Andie – one of the runners-up – she looks hurt, betrayed and heartbroken. She can’t believe Cirie has done this to her. But for Cirie, this had to have a good ending and she was absolutely motivated to win. She doesn’t see herself as a baddie, she sees herself as a hero, simply doing what she needed to do to make sure her family came out on top. This is what all of them were trying to do, even the faithfuls, who wanted to get to the finish line too. 

Give your villain a backstory

Traitors really exemplifies why not all baddies necessarily come from a bad place and that they’re not all psychopaths. When you’re writing about your villain or your antagonist, do you think about their motivation? Do you know why they are doing what they’re doing? 

It’s too easy to say all villains were born with a screw loose and it’s just in their nature, but very few people are born evil. Very few people are born with a screw loose in that way and it’s usually experiences, something that has happened, that has driven them to behave in the way they do. Remember that old phrase, ‘They’re a hero in their own story.’ 

Give some thought as to what your antagonist has been through and what has led them to make the decisions they make. What has led them to try and kill the person they’re trying to kill or do whatever it is they’re doing, because it’s not come out of nowhere. When you give thought to that and delve deeper into your villain’s backstory, it’s going to make for a much more layered, interesting and exciting story. 

So, get thinking and give your villain a backstory. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

How to find your writing process isn’t always easy when you’re at the beginning of your writing journey. 

Watch my video below, or read the post, to find out how to trust you already know what you need to know to start writing. 

Hello my lovely writers!

I had a super-duper question come into my inbox recently about how – if you’re at the beginning process of your writing – do you find your process, your method, your system, without getting overwhelmed with all of the information you’ve taken in? 

Most likely, you’ve done a lot of webinars, taken a lot of classes and read a lot of books. Perhaps, like many people, you’re addicted to writing courses. You’ve absorbed all this information and taken thousands of notes, so how do you make sense of it all when you’re at the beginning of your writing journey and trying to figure it all out? 

Unlock Your Creative Block

This is something I go into in a lot of detail in my course, Unlock Your Creative Block. This course is perfect for you if you’ve got mindset issues around writing and you’re feeling blocked. If you’ve been writing the same story for years and years and years and just not getting any further with it, there’s something else going on. Unlock Your Creative Block will help you delve into that and get to the bottom of it and find out what’s really stopping you from writing. 

How to find your writing process

Something to think about and get started with is, if you’ve been doing a lot of courses and webinars and have been reading books and taking all these notes, you’ve been taking it all in via osmosis. 

You come to a point where you’ve got to trust yourself. You’ve got to trust yourself that you’ve taken in enough information and you’ve done enough practice to get you to where you need to be right now. 

Does it mean you’re going to win a Pulitzer Prize? No. Does it mean you’re going to write a bestselling book? Probably not, let’s be honest. But does it mean you are where you need to be right now? Yes, it does. 

Everybody starts somewhere

Remember, everybody starts somewhere. I started somewhere. You’ve got to start somewhere. Hilary Mantel started somewhere. Stephen King started somewhere. Everybody starts somewhere and that’s where you are now. 

You just have to take what knowledge you have right now and go with it. Don’t overthink it. Don’t over complicate it. As humans, we have a tendency to do this. Just get writing the story. Don’t think you’ve got to plan everything out – you don’t. You’ve got an idea in your head, which you’ve been thinking about for a long, long time, or it’s a new idea and you’re very impassioned about it right now. 

It’s only by writing do you begin to reduce that overwhelm, begin to find out what your process is and begin to understand how you work individually as an author. You can read as many books as you want, but it’s not until you start doing the do of writing, do you figure out your own process, find out what you’re good at and where you need to improve. 

I hope that’s given you a starter but, if you’re starting out and feeling overwhelmed by everything, you’ve just got to get started. Acknowledge you’re feeling out of your depth, but how will you get any better if you don’t get out of your depth and start going?

So, get writing. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!