How To Be A Writer Who Writes

“You wanna write? Read this!” – Marc Weingarten (author of “The Gang That Wouldn’t Write Straight”)

“Utterly lucid and infinitely practical!” – Terri Jentz (author of “Strange Piece of Paradise”)

“Witty, wise and vital!” – Mel Shapiro (Distinguished professor, UCLA (emeritus) and author of “An Actor Performs” and “The Director’s Companion”)

“The sage advice of LA’s most coveted coach is finally available for celebrity screenwriters and starving students alike!” – Jillian Lauren (author of NY Times best-selling memoir “Some Girls: My Life in a Harem”)

See more reviews on Amazon.

Get it on Kindle from Amazon. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the free program here.

Most writing how-to books focus on the external form (novel, screenplay, etc.). This book focuses on the internal creative process that’s essential to every writing project. It offers hundreds of practical, road-tested techniques to use if you get stuck anywhere along the way.

“How To Be A Writer Who Writes” bursts with specific practical advice including…

PHASE 1: GATHERING

• 7 Guidelines for Exploratory Writing
• 11 Things That Can Increase Your Productivity
• 7 Ways to Generate Material Without Having to Stare at a Blank Page/Screen
• 6 Reasons You Haven’t Finished More Projects
• 5 or 6 Ways to Quiet the Negative Voices in Your Head
• 2 Good Reasons to Procrastinate
• 11 Ways of Writing Without Writing

PHASE 2: PLANNING

• 6 Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Project
• 8 Ways to Grow Your Project
• 7 Ways to Use Visual Elements in Your Project
• 6 Reasons to Pitch Your Project Before You Write a Rough Draft
• 5 Ways to Work on Character
• 11 Stories That Almost Always Work
• 5½ Ways to Outline a Writing Project

PHASE 3: ROUGH DRAFTS

• 6 Ways to Make a Deadline Meaningful
• 7 Steps To An Effective Writer’s Diet
• 4 Ways to Prevent/Limit/Offset/Heal the Physical Pain of Writing
• 8 Decisions You DON’T Have to Make in a Rough Draft
• 12 Things To Do If You Stall in the Middle of a Rough Draft
• 19 Ways to Increase Your Drafting Productivity
• 5 Tactics to Use When You Absolutely Have To Finish Your Draft

PHASE 4: REVISING

• 9 Rules for Getting Feedback
• 4 Different Kinds of Rewrites
• 4 Counter-Intuitive Ways to Stimulate to Creativity
• 13 Things to Cut
• 3 Essential Building Blocks for Any Scene

PHASE 5: RELEASING

• 4 Reasons Not to Beat Yourself Up If You Aren’t Releasing Your Project Into the World
• 8 Things You Probably Need To Interest An Agent, Publisher, Manager and/or Producer In Your Project
• 10 Things You Can Do To Sell Your Own Project

…And much more!

Get it on Kindle from Amazon, If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the free program here (for use on any computer).

“A book that was very helpful and empowering to me was Greg Miller’s “How to Be a Writer Who Writes: Strategies and Tactics to Start and Finish Your Book or Script.” That book provides a lot of useful guidance on preparation, outlining and structure.” – Michael Carley