The Renegade Writer Blog

I was taking a look at a book called The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back by James Waldroop and Timothy Butler, and one of the habits stood out to me: “Never feeling good enough.”
This is what holds students in my e-course back from reaching for their dream magazines (until I make them, [...]

Check out this post by Erik Sherman on avoiding writer scams — and what to say when someone asks you to do “sample work.” (Hint: It includes the f-word.) [lf]

I’m a co-founder of the Way North Writers group in Concord, NH. (If you’re in the area and would like to join, please e-mail me at lindaformichelli@gmail.com.) At our monthly meeting last week, life coach Star Dargin gave a great talk about goal setting. As we discussed the topic, one member brought up a productivity [...]

Want to break into magazine writing or get a new start in your freelancing career? Spring is the perfect time for a fresh start. We have several new Renegade Writer e-courses starting soon:
• Alison Stein Wellner’s Travel Writing Workshop starts on April 13. One of her recent students said:

“The six weeks just flew by. I [...]

I got this message from HCI with a call for contributors:
With Spring just around the corner, I wanted to update you on books in our Ultimate series.
Our retailers have specifically asked us for two titles this fall; one that’s been on the list, The Ultimate Runner, and one newly added, The Ultimate Bird Lover. To [...]

Monica Bhide, who teaches our Intro to Food Writing e-course, has a beautiful essay in the Christian Science Monitor about following her dreams to become a food writer. Great job, Monica! [lf]

In a guest post on the Zen Habits blog, Albert from UrbanMonk.net describes the 5% trick:
My favorite tool at this stage is the 5% statement, created by Nathaniel Branden, who is widely considered to be the father of the self-esteem movement. It works by allowing you to take steps in small increments. Trying to change [...]

I just heard from Marina Krakovsky, one of my travel writing workshop alumna, on the success she had in placing an essay she worked on during the course. I love getting news like that! And working with Marina, who is such an accomplished writer, was a total joy.
Marina’s goal, when she signed up for the [...]

I’m reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. According to the copy on the jacket flap, “There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if [...]

For a couple of days at the beginning of last week, I felt completely unmotivated: more blob than human. One part of me wanted to market, work on my assignments, and generally be active and productive. But another, stronger, part of me wanted to lie on the couch and surf the Internet all week.
Then I [...]