Why I Started Using Substack (and Still Share It with Caution)

Over the past few months, I’ve made the decision to start using Substack. There were two big reasons for this. First, as I’ve noted in previous posts, I’ve lost a lot of the algorithmic visibility I had on virtually all social media platforms, with impressions often not reaching double digits. I needed another way to…

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How to Make Your Writing Sound More Conversational

If writers want to do anything, it’s to connect with and intimately engage their readers. They want to give people the gifts of escapism, inspiration, or education and make them feel deep things. So, why do so many writers fail to achieve that goal? One word. Conversationality. What is conversationality? Conversationality means that whatever you’re…

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6 Reasons to Pants Your Book

In an earlier video, I noted the benefits of #outlining a book. But in full transparency, I’m prone to #pantsing, myself. And I want you to understand that even though outlining can be great, you’re not “wrong” if your way of writing is to wing it. So, to balance the earlier video, these are the…

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The Way We Teach Writing Is Bad

You probably remember it. Your English teacher carefully goes through how to write a formal essay, do an outline, and so on. You spend a ton of time on figuring out how to do citations. Aaaaand when you try to get into writing, you realize nobody enjoys that. (Like, nobody.) We do need to understand…

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Takingdictation.com Goes Biweekly

Dear readers, Those of you who follow my work know that I have maintained a weekly blog schedule for a long time. I have no shortage of ideas and advice I want to share, so coming up with content week after week is easy. What’s not so easy is maintaining a weekly schedule when I…

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6 Resources to Help Writers Earn Money and Survive

Last week, I connected with a colleague who, like me, works as an editor and writer. In our conversation, they explained how they were financially struggling, to the point where they were facing moving to a different location. My colleague’s story unfortunately is becoming commonplace for wordsmiths. Most of us are feeling pinched. We struggle…

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The Sky-High Value of Guest Blog Posts

As a writer, you probably assume a lot of responsibility for your own success. YOU publish articles or books, run your website, and send out your newsletter. All of those things count. But did you know that one of the best ways to expand your blog and writing opportunities (and help other experts!) is to…

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Want to Write in a Niche? Do This to Succeed

For years now, most of my income has been from business writing. That’s my niche, and it’s been good to me in terms of keeping a roof over my head. I’ve learned an incredible amount and think differently in positive ways because of it. I even started a podcast, Faithful on the Clock, that aims…

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Post a Lot of Content? It Might Not Matter

Practically forever, there have been writers who strongly advocate for posting something new online every day, whether the content is on social media, their author site, or a platform like Medium. You can find a ton of articles that detail the results writers got from trying to write as much as they can. These usually…

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