Does perfectionism keep you from finishing what you start? Many writers struggle with the need to get every sentence just right. Discover how letting go of perfectionism, embracing imperfect first drafts, and focusing on one sentence at a time can help you write with greater confidence and creativity. Here is a link to the blog post from your Skool 'Build Your Author Career' Community Host @Lana McAra : https://www.skool.com/in-the-writers-studio/write-the-next-sentence-not-the-perfect-sentence?p=59759cdb Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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In the latest episode of "In the Writer's Chair," host @Lana McAra welcomes author and criminal behavior expert Merle Davenport! With a background in studying criminal thinking and 25 years of experience teaching inside prisons, Merle shares his unparalleled insights into the minds of real-world criminals and how writers can use these psychological profiles to create complex, believable antagonists. We also get a sneak peek into his unexpected new historical romance, Lady Jane, co-authored with his wife! If you want to take your mystery or thriller writing to the next level, you won't want to miss this conversation! Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZuI2Tt8nTw Be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment!

“Writing permits me to be more than I am. Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.” — Alice Weber Isn't that one of the most wonderful things about being a writer? Through our words, we can travel to places we've never visited, live lives we've never imagined, and see the world through someone else's eyes. We can become adventurers, historians, dreamers, teachers, or storytellers. We can explore the past, imagine the future, and give voice to people and possibilities that exist only in our imaginations. And even when we're writing nonfiction, something remarkable happens. We discover new perspectives, challenge our own thinking, and sometimes learn as much about ourselves as we hope to teach our readers. Writing doesn't simply allow us to tell stories. It allows us to experience life beyond the boundaries of our own. NOW I'M CURIOUS... 💬 Has writing ever allowed you to become someone else, experience something you never imagined, or discover a part of yourself you didn't know existed? I'd love to hear how writing has expanded your world! 💜

There is a moment many writers know well. You write a sentence. Read it again. Change a word. Read it again. Delete half of it. Put some of it back. Twenty minutes later, you are still working on the same paragraph. It can feel like you are being careful with your writing. But sometimes, perfectionism is quietly keeping you from writing at all. During a recent In The Writers Chair Podcast, novelist and longtime journalist John Winn Miller shared a simple approach to first drafts: instead of worrying about writing the perfect sentence, he focuses on writing the next one. He knows he can come back and clean it up later. That small shift can change the way you approach an entire first draft. Your First Draft Has a Different Job Writing and revising ask different things of you. When you are drafting, you are discovering what happens next. You may be finding the character’s voice, following an unexpected idea, or realizing that the story needs to go somewhere you had not planned. When you stop after every sentence to perfect it, you repeatedly interrupt that process. The first draft does not need to prove that you can write beautifully. It needs to give you something to work with. Revision is where you can question the word choice, strengthen the dialogue, tighten the pacing, and turn an awkward sentence into a better one. But you cannot revise a sentence you never wrote. Give Yourself Permission to Keep Going Miller described himself as forgiving while he writes because he does not want to become discouraged. That may be one of the most useful habits a writer can develop. Being forgiving does not mean lowering your standards. It means recognizing that high standards do not have to be applied at every stage of the process. Sometimes what looks like a writing problem is actually a belief that says your work has to be good before you’re allowed to keep going. Those kinds of invisible cages can hold writers back far more than a lack of skill.