motivation

How My 15 Minutes Of Fame Didn’t Help My Writing (And Lessons Learned From ‘Being Famous’)

/ Stuart Danker / 99 Comments

Man in leather jacket and beard raising his hands

I remember back in 2019 when I was drafting my debut novel Tinhead City, KL, and I had this brief thought of how cool it would be to be featured on my local radio station (Business FM).

I knew that the radio station had a ton of shows on literature and the local arts scene, and it was a passing fancy to one day be interviewed for my book.

Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. I hadn’t even passed the 20,000-word mark yet.

But you know what? That dream would come true in 2021, and what it’d teach me isn’t the fact that interviews are so much worse when you’re on the receiving end of it (I used to be the one doing the interviewing), but that nobody really cares that you made the news.

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10 Blogging Mistakes You Need To Avoid Doing On WordPress

/ Stuart Danker / 161 Comments

A woman showing her palm at a man's face at a beach

Okay let’s take the mickey out of serious writing and explore some things I’ve personally declared as ‘blogging mistakes you need to avoid’, thanks to the 18 or so months I’ve spent on the WordPress Reader.

Read enough blog posts and you start to see a pattern. Sometimes said patterns are pleasant, like the blogger who asks thoughtful questions at the end of their posts.

Other times, I find myself wondering if I’m turning into a WordPress geezer, yelling at people to get off my (digital) lawn.

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How To Grow And Maintain Your Site With These 9 Blogging Tasks

/ Stuart Danker / 173 Comments

A group of people doing gardening outside flowers

Maintaining a blog means different things to different people, and ever since I started taking things seriously (circa May 2020), I’ve realised that there are a certain number of blogging tasks required to put forth a respectable front.

Sure, when I launched the site in 2014, all I ever wanted was to share my inane ramblings. Sometimes I posted once a week, sometimes once a month. I was as casual as casual got.

But like any beginning blogger, I also wanted a readership. However, it would take another six years before I actually put any effort into this blogging thing.

And while I’m nowhere near my aspirations of being the next Mark Manson, I’ve still managed to grow my engagement from something cosy to the all-time high I have today thanks to your support.

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8 Non-Writing Skills You Shouldn’t Forget As A Writer

/ Stuart Danker / 92 Comments

Post It note that says 'Don't Forget', on a desk with mouse and keyboard

Finally, a post about writing that doesn’t involve actual writing. It’s a relief, isn’t it?

I mean, you can’t blame me for touting writing so often. It’s a given if you’re ever going to succeed as a writer.

But the dangers of taking ‘just write’ too seriously could be getting literary tunnel vision, and tunnels of any kind can be detrimental to our craft.

So what should you be doing other than putting words on paper then? Let’s start with the most important one.

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7 Writing Challenges You Shouldn’t Waste Time Thinking About

/ Stuart Danker / 103 Comments

Writing challenges - Woman in black jacket in front of brick wall with a book covering her face

Writing is a tough enough gig without you muddling it with your doubts and worries. But that doesn’t stop the occasional writing challenges from presenting themselves.

Some of these challenges could pose very real problems for your writing journey, but some others are harmful only if you spend too much time worrying about them.

Today, we explore the peskier side of things in hopes of dispelling any worries you may have for these unimportant problems. Ready? Let’s go!

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