“A writer is someone to whom writing does not come easily”

That quote above comes from Thomas Mann and is one of the pieces of advice from Ryan Holiday in this post entitled So You Want to Write a Book.  In summary the post is about writing…

It’s not therapy. It’s not an “experience.” It’s hard fucking work. This article includes some helpful advice.

The helpful advice dispensed here can be applied to any kind of writing and there were a couple of points that resonated with me:

articulate the idea in one sentence, one paragraph and one page

this is a great tool I use with students.  I ask them to critically read journal articles or books and to condense them into a tweet.

Envision who you are writing this for. Like really picture them. Don’t go off in a cave and do this solely for yourself

This one is always true, regardless of what you’re writing and for whom

And my favourite

When you hit “writer’s block” start talking the ideas through to someone you trust. As Seth Godin observed, “no one ever gets talker’s block

As an extroverted thinker, this one generally helps me over the hurdle

Lots more sensible advice over at The Creativity Post (my new favourite website).