Author MJ Pullen, the Distracted Writer

Posts Categorized: The Distracted Writer

Follow M.J. Pullen’s blog posts about writing and publishing. Geared toward beginning writers, pre-published authors. seasoned veterans, and authors attempting to navigate platform development on social media.

Relevant to self-publishing, traditional publishing, indie authors and hybrid authors.

If you follow my blogs and social media, you already know the last year and a half has been pretty challenging. I’ve been struggling with chronic pain, work limitations, and some other run-of-the-mill crap. I’ve been busy and tired. But as I was talking with one of my author coaching clients the other day, I  […]

There are just a few hours until the start of NaNoWriMo at midnight tonight. I hope you’ve enjoyed the countdown of preparations so far. If you’re just joining us, don’t sweat it. These checkpoints are just a general guide to things you may want to consider before NaNoWriMo kicks off, and you can modify them  […]

Managing Your Time If you read yesterday’s post, hopefully you already have your Word Count Goals established for each day of November, and you’ve decided the best way to keep up with your progress. Today’s checkpoint is all about setting aside the time to get in all this extra writing. Note: I’m approaching this topic  […]

Yesterday, you got my insightful analysis of a few writing platform options for composing during NaNoWriMo. Hopefully you’ve found a writing system that works for you. With just three days to go, you might be starting to think about how you’ll track your progress and manage your time. Let’s Talk Goals: Word Count 50,000 words  […]

Alright NaNoWriMers… If you’ve been following my little countdown, you’ve already got your story idea ready, braced your family/friends for impact, and made some notes about your characters and possibly your plot. Of course, all the content-related stuff will continue to evolve and change as you go along. So now it’s time to turn our  […]

Okay, if you’re signed up to do NaNoWriMo this year, we’re rounding out your final weekend of freedom before the serious writing gets going on Friday. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Done something fun? Spent time with your family? Great. Because November 1st, you’re turning into a WRITING MACHINE. It would not be amiss for  […]

Welcome to the week-long Distracted Writer #NaNoWriMo Preparation Countdown! If you’re new to the blog or NaNoWriMo, start with the first post. NaNoWriMo starts on Friday, and I’m busy (a) finishing up edits on another book so I can be free to start drafting, and (b) preparing my story so when November 1st hits, I  […]

If you’re thinking of participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), you’re not alone. NaNoWriMo is a great way to get started on a book for the first time, the tenth time or even hundredth time. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and to do it knowing thousands of  […]

Have you heard of “the evil sentence”? Have you ever caught yourself using it in your writing?? A friend of mine shared this thread on A Reader of Fictions with me a few years ago, and the evil sentence–in which a character releases a breath he/she did not realize they’d been holding–has been stuck with  […]