Grow Your Writing Life

Try these 10 strategies to help you

boost your creativity and productivity.
BY SAGE COHEN

Successful writers accomplish what they set out to do by living and writ-
ing in alignment with their aspirations. While no two writers are striving
for exactly the same results, we all have the opportunity to put solid
systems, strategies and attitudes in place to keep us moving toward what
we value most.
Following are the 10 best ways I’ve found to exponentially increase
the results of our writing lives. No matter your genre, level of experience
or time limitations, you can put these strategies into practice to start writ-
ing more and selling more right now, today.

Strategy #1
HAVE A STRATEGY.
As the authors of our writing lives, we get to decide what productiv-
ity means to us and how we intend to shape a practice that reflects our
goals. Ask yourself:
HOW DO I DEFINE “PRODUCTIVE WRITING LIFE”? This can be
different for everyone; you need to decide what a productive writing life
looks and feels like for you. What does it accomplish? What are its “office
hours”? What else, in addition to writing, happens in that life, and what is
the work/life balance?
HOW AM I PRODUCTIVE TODAY? Think about what you’re accom-
plishing that you value. What skills and strategies, technologies and
tools, attitudes and habits are making this possible?
HOW DO I INTEND TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE MOVING FOR-
WARD? Identify, specifically, what you want to achieve in your writing
life—both tomorrow and over the long term. What skills, tools, attitudes
and habits could make this possible?
Write down your answers and refer to them often to keep your eyes
on the prize, and your words moving across the page to take you there.

Strategy #2
LIVE, BREATHE AND WRITE YOUR PLATFORM.
Platform is the turf you claim as your area of expertise in your writing
life—and it’s everything you do to make that expertise visible. Think of
your platform as your portfolio of accomplishments (publications, leader-
ship roles, Web presence, classes) that demonstrate your authority on a
given topic.
A platform can give you:
FOCUS. When you’re clear about your niche or area of expertise, you
can make better decisions about how your time is spent: You know which
opportunities fit with your identity and your goals, and which do not.
EFFICIENCY. The more you write about your specialty, the more ex-
pert and proficient you become.
OPPORTUNITY. Once your dedication to your platform has earned
you a reputable name, you’ll have more power behind your pitches to
publication outlets.
MOMENTUM. Success tends to build on itself: Requests for inter-
views, articles, speaking engagements and more are likely to start rolling
in.

Strategy #3
MAKE THE MOST OF THE TIME YOU HAVE.
Time is a writer’s most precious natural resource, and chances are you
could be using yours even more effectively. Here are a few ideas for
squeezing every drop of value from every minute you can spare for your
writing:
DEFINE YOUR PRIME TIME. Does your energy surge with that first
coffee on the drive to work, or are you tapping the revelation vein at 2
a.m.? Determine your best hours, and see if you can find a way to dedi-
cate at least some of that time to your writing. What else could you try to
make your days as hospitable to your writing life as possible?
PROCRASTINATE PRODUCTIVELY. Sometimes we sit down to write
at our scheduled time, and it’s just not happening. You can waste time
effectively by filing, logging business expenses, updating a to-do list,
adding contact information to your database or taking care of any other
administrative tasks that serve your writing life.
CONTAIN SOCIAL MEDIA. Social media can be powerful when we
use it in service to our goals, rather than letting it derail us with distrac-
tion. Decide up front how much time per day you will devote to your
online activity—including Facebook, Twitter, your blog and e-mail—and
keep that time focused on working toward your community-building or
promotional goals.
REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE ALL DAY. An interviewer once asked
fiction writer Grace Paley, “You are a mother, a teacher, a writer and an
activist. How do you find the time to do it all?” To which she replied,
“Well, I have all day.”

Strategy #4
CULTIVATE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS.
The way we relate to our peers, guides, business partners and readers
can make a big difference in how we write and publish. So how can you
make the most of the relationships in your writing life?
DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU’RE GOING TO DO. A writer’s word is her
reputation. Follow through on promises you make, or renegotiate re-
sponsibly—with clients, editors, students, colleagues and yourself.
USE ENVY AS A COMPASS. Sooner or later, a writer you know is go-
ing to accomplish something that will pluck one of your “No fair, that was
meant for me!” heartstrings. We may not even know we want something
until that chord plays through us. In this way, envy is a useful indicator of
desire. Use it to point you toward your own goals. Then get back
to work.
LET SUCCESS BE CONTAGIOUS. If you stay attuned to the good
news of your writing community, chances are you’re going to get charged
with excitement and start creating some of your own—and vice versa. So
spread the word about what you’ve accomplished.

Strategy #5
ACTIVELY SEEK INSPIRATION.
Just as you’re not likely to wake up one morning and run a marathon
without training for it, you can’t expect that light bulb to come on over
your head the moment you sit down to write if you don’t have a practice
of tuning in to what gets your hand moving.
If you’re used to waiting for inspiration to strike rather than going out
and finding it, start simple:
READ. Take in a mix of books, magazines and online content that
feeds your imagination in different ways. Read writing that’s a lot like
what you want to write. Read writing that’s nothing like what you want
to write. Read writing that can teach you something about a new topic.
Read writing about writing itself. You get the idea.
LISTEN. Go to events or get online and listen to people you admire
read from their work or talk about what they do. Let other writers fuel
your sense of possibility.
CREATE COMMUNITY. When you have people to learn with and
from, people who are intimately engaged with the unique opportunities
and challenges of the writing life, everything you’re striving for will feel
more possible. Both online communities and live connections can be
invaluable.
LEARN. Classes, workshops and conferences are great ways to ac-
quire new skills and to learn from people whose writing and expertise
you respect.

Strategy #6
CREATE EFFICIENT SYSTEMS.
You can expedite success by having solid systems at your fingertips for
managing time, information, goals and your own performance. Here are
some good habits to develop:
MONITOR YOUR TIME. Know how much time various writing projects
take you, so you can make sure the return on your hourly investment is
worth it.
SET SCHEDULES. Think of these as maps of what is possible. Block
off the hours you intend to spend each day on each task, so you can see
how your deadlines will be met over time.
TRACK SUBMISSIONS. Know where you’ve sent work, where you
intend to send work, who you’ve heard back from, and who you need to
follow up with.
SAVE IDEAS. Have a simple system for capturing and storing ideas
when they appear.
PRESERVE YOUR DARLINGS. Don’t throw away those scraps from
the cutting-room floor. Save what didn’t work in a “darlings” file; it might
come in handy for a future piece of writing.
CREATE FILE-NAMING CONVENTIONS. Be consistent with how you
label your documents (both paper and electronic) so that you can easily
find what you’re seeking, when you need it.

Strategy #7
ALIGN YOUR WORK WITH THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES.
The better you understand your market and your value, the more suc-
cessful you’ll be.
BUILD A CASE FOR YOUR FUTURE. Make a habit of filing examples of
everything that might inform your career trajectory—conferences and
workshops, potential markets for your work, etc. Then, when it comes
time to find a home for your writing or teaching, you’ll have a good idea
of where to start and what might be possible.
DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. When it’s time to submit, pitch or query,
always follow the submission guidelines of your target market. Other-
wise, you’re not just wasting the editor’s time—you’re wasting your own.
KNOW WHAT YOUR TIME IS WORTH. When considering whether
an opportunity is a fit for you, it helps to understand what your time is
worth. Begin by researching market rates in your field. Learn what other
teachers are charging for classes of a similar duration, or what other
freelance writers are billing. If you are seeking publication in a magazine,
compare pay rates for publications of a similar scope or size. Then, once
you know the playing field, assess where you are in the ballpark. Are you
a beginner or an expert in your field or on your topic? Consider also the
nonmonetary value of every opportunity. If you could gain a valuable clip
or portfolio piece that would bolster your expertise, it may be time well
spent even without a sizable paycheck.

Strategy #8
PRACTICE, DON’T PERFECT.
Every time you sit down to write—no matter what you’re writing, how
accomplished you believe yourself to be or how high the stakes—think
of what you’re doing as “practice.” Why? Because it takes the pressure
off and keeps the humility front and center. Who needs the performance
anxiety of striving for (the impossibility of) perfection? I sure don’t, and
you don’t, either. Practice is a gentle way to hold ourselves accountable
to high expectations with a loose and friendly grip on the reins.

Strategy #9
REPEAT & REFINE WHAT WORKS.
When you do something that works in your writing life, do it again. Make
a point of seeking out opportunities to repeat and leverage success.
Whether it’s a promotional strategy or a revision technique, if it worked,
add it to your arsenal and use it often.
CREATE TEMPLATES WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Templates are a great
way to easily copy, paste and modify something that served you well
once. Use them to quickly create invoices, queries, bios, teaching tools—
you name it.
 BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO OLD WRITING. As you develop your
platform, over time one piece of writing can become a foothold for the
next—until you approach vistas you never before imagined possible.
Instead of starting from scratch each time you pitch an article, workshop
or book concept, build on the wealth of information you’ve already
researched and written, while finding a new dimension to explore, a new
audience to educate or a new way to share what you know.

Strategy #10
HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.
The only person who has enough information to appreciate how hard
you’re working is you. That’s why one of the most important jobs you
have as a writer is to celebrate your successes, your failures, your willing-
ness to take risks, your ability to follow through on your commitments,
your capacity to work through fear when it comes up—the whole she-
bang. When you really start to authentically feel accountable to yourself
(and grateful for your own efforts and accomplishments), anything is
possible.

Sage Cohen (sagesaidso.com) is the author of Writing the Life Poetic, the
poetry collection Like the Heart, the World and The Productive Writer: Tips
& Tools to Help You Write More, Stress Less and Create Success.