Reading time: 33 seconds If you want to compete in the Olympics, you can't just show up to the Games. It's much more difficult, as you can imagine (if you haven't seen the movie Miracle (today's recommendation), about the 1980 Men's Hockey Team, it's great and provides some insight). But here's a quick preview: They have to train for years. Then, they have to qualify (hey, Olympic Trials!). They prove themselves and earn their spot through years of showing up, doing the work, and building...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Connect with Marika here: https://www.profittruths.com/ Reading time: 32 seconds Have you been watching the Winter Olympics this week? I loooooove the Olympics, and have since I was a kid. The first Olympics I remember watching were the 1976 Games. Seeing Nadia Comǎneci score the first ever perfect 10 made me want to be not only an Olympian, but a gymnast to boot. Spoiler for me: I'm way too tall to be a gymnast. Whomp whomp. Quick side note: I'm going to recommend an Olympic movie I love...
2 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 32 seconds If you’re a writer who hasn’t cracked your code, you’re not alone. It’s true for most writers. You need to identify your own unique combination of conditions, rituals, and triggers that opens the writing faucet and lets the words flow. Mine? Obvi, it starts with coffee, tea, and water at my desk... Two Pomodoros (25 min each, based on The Pomodoro Technique) Music playing (always) Read first, write second 4:30-8:00 AM (before the world wakes up) When I honor my code?...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 26 seconds Writing is solo sport, kinda like marathon running. You sit. You type. You stare at the screen. Alone. I think that's one reason we feel like we're "blocked," the isolation doesn't lend itself to circulation (especially not of words). When I first started writing, I did not fancy myself a writer and didn't know there were other writes--just like me--trying to figure it all out. Man, was I excited to find them! (You know who you are!) I had a picture of what real...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 26 seconds Want to know a secret? When I sit down to write, I'm not always "Honorée, tired human, multiple business owner, and dog servant, who didn't sleep great and has 47 things on her to-do list." Sometimes, I'm H-Money—my fierce, focused, word-slinging alter ego who doesn't have time for excuses. I know, it sounds ridiculous. But it works, and here's why: When you create an alter ego, you're essentially becoming your future self in that moment. You don't have to wait until...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 26 seconds To the question, "Honorée, I'd love to write a book, but between my full-time job, kids, and everything else ... where would I find the time?" My response is: "Do you have 15 minutes?" If the answer is, "Yes," then you have time to write a book. It'll take the better part of a year, but you can do it! Here's the math: 15 minutes a day x 5 days/week x 48 weeks in a year = 250 words (totally doable!) = 1,250 words per week = 60,000 words in a year That's a (very long)...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 35 secondsAction time: 7 seconds I’ve been working on something quietly for a while, refining it until I knew it would be undeniably useful to you. Today, I’m finally ready to share it with you, Reader. It’s called the Nonfiction Author’s Empire Roadmap, and I’m so excited about what it can make possible. As an aside, this is the roadmap I wish I’d had when I first started thinking about how a book could support my business. (Which, of course, I had no idea how to do when I...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 35 seconds The year I lost Mr. Pickles, my beloved cat of twelve years, was one of the hardest of my life. We were giving him fluids daily at the end to provide quality of life, and watching him just get older, knowing his kidneys were failing, was rough. There were other complicating factors in my life, making it one of the toughest of my life. The grief sat heavy on my chest. Some mornings, just opening my laptop felt impossible. I had a battle within myself--can I? Should I?...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 25 seconds Can you imagine being on a plane, buckled into seat 14B, ready for takeoff, when the captain's voice crackles over the intercom: "Hey y'all, I'd really love to fly this plane today, but... I just can't even. Pilot's block, you know?" Would you calmly say, "No worries, Captain! Take a nap. We'll wait!"? HECK TO THE NO. Yet some kind of way, it has been accepted that "writer's block" is a real thing and a legitimate excuse to not write. But we'd never accept pilot's...
9 days ago • 1 min read