TakingDictation

The Reality of Writers Who Have Bills to Pay

This week, as a high punctuation on the trend of colleagues and loved ones losing jobs, I found out that my husband's company is going to lay him off. It's not because of any fault...

Why I Ditched My Social Media Scheduler (and How I Survive Without It)

For years now, I've used one social media scheduler or another, planning my posts in advance. I don't plan for any particular campaign strategy, but rather to gain flexibility in my schedule. But just this...
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6 Tips to Find Better Images for Your Writing Content

If you’re like me, then you’re doing a lot of content sharing on social platforms, as well as sites like Medium and LinkedIn. All of that writing needs great images to capture the reader’s attention...
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Why More Technology Doesn’t Always Help Writers

Name something that technology hasn’t touched. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Even fishbowls can have automatic, computer-based feeders and cleaning systems these days. Writers, too, are flooded with all kinds of technologies that are supposed to...
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What Henry Ford Knew About Writing Books

Henry Ford is one of the most well-known American innovators. He's the guy who brought mass production to the "horseless carriages"--that is, cars--we zoom around in today. So what does Ford have to do with...
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Why Every Serious Writer Should Hate (Most) AI Services

I saw another one today. An advertisement, geared toward writers, for AI-based content generation. There was a time when I hated these services just because they were so astoundingly bad. Flow and grammar were awful....
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Why Every Writer Needs to Draw Their Books

Generally speaking, writers aren’t known for being visual artists. Their whole deal is crafting something beautiful with words, not with color or line or visual perspective, so they often do not draw. But if you’re...
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How to Get Storytelling Right Every Time

As I peruse social media (which I do a lot for *cough* marketing *cries*), I see writer after writer step up and ask the same question: How do you do storytelling "right?" You might hear the...
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How to Balance Spontaneous Creativity and Planning as a Writer

Your brain is prone to find solutions when you let it wander and don’t think too hard. So you have to be ready to write anytime, anywhere. You can't force the story, article, or other...
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5 Powerhouse Writing Tools No Author Should Be Without

Writing is EXACTLY the same as any other profession in that a few great tools can make a world of difference in the results you get. I’m compiling a list of some of my favorite...