I’m taking a few weeks off from blogging, so regular posts will resume mid-August. In the meantime, here are seven of my favourite posts from the past seven months for you to enjoy:

How to Be a Writer: Ten Important Steps to Becoming a Writer (and Living Your Dreams) 

What exactly does it mean to be a writer? And how do you go about becoming one? That’s what I set out to answer in this post, offering ten simple but important steps you can take if you want to be a writer. 

How to Come Up With Lots of Great Ideas for Your Writing [With Examples] 

Do you ever feel stuck for ideas? If you’re struggling to come up with an idea for your latest blog post or short story, this piece should help. I offer some different techniques to try (and take a look at what not to do). 

How to Write Faster: Twelve Tips to Get More Words Down

Whatever type of writing you do, the faster you can do it, the better — so long as you still enjoy it, of course. Through many years of writing freelance articles and fiction, I’ve learnt a lot about how to get words down fast. I share my best tips in this post.

Get Re-Excited About Your Writing Project: Seven Ways to Stay Motivated to Write

Have you stalled part-way through a project? A lot of writers find that they feel inspired and motivated when starting something new … only to end up losing momentum part-way in. This post goes through some ways to keep up your motivation for the long haul.

 What Bad Writing Looks Like … and How to Fix It [With Detailed Examples] 

No one wants to write a bad piece — but what exactly does “bad” look like? In this post, I look in detail at a draft piece of fiction, showing where the writing is sub-par … and demonstrating how to go about fixing it.

The Three Stages of Editing (and Nine Handy Do-it-Yourself Tips)

It’s easy to think of “editing” as simply meaning fixing typos and mistakes … but there’s a lot more to editing than that. Ideally, you want to approach editing in three distinct stages. I run through them in this post, and offer some tips for self-editing your work.

Seven Habits of Serious Writers to Help You Go Further

It can take time (and a whole lot of effort) to see success as a writer. These seven habits are great ones to cultivate: they’ll all help you go further with your writing, whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or fiction writer.

Don’t forget the Aliventures summer sale: it’s still on until the end of Thursday 22nd July. You can get everything in the Aliventures shop half-price:

• Get Writing (a guided introduction to four areas of writing – freelancing, blogging, short stories, and novels – plus tips for going further with each) – $20 $10
• Supercharge Your Writing (four guides to help you make the most of your writing time, however limited it is) – $8 $4 each or $20 $10 for all four
• The Self-Study Seminar Packs (pre-recorded seminars on various aspects of writing) – $20 $10 each or $50 $25 for all six packs

Want a writing boost this summer?

Everything I sell is half-price until the end of Thursday 22nd July only.

That’s:

• Get Writing (a guided introduction to four areas of writing – freelancing, blogging, short stories, and novels – plus tips for going further with each) – $20 $10
• Supercharge Your Writing (four guides to help you make the most of your writing time, however limited it is) – $8 $4 each or $20 $10 for all four
• The Self-Study Seminar Packs (pre-recorded seminars on various aspects of writing) – $20 $10 each or $50 $25 for all six packs

So which should you go for?

Well, you can get the whole lot for just $45 😉 … but if you just want one or two options, here’s what I recommend:

If you’re not sure what to write or want to try out a new area of writing, begin with Get Writing. It has beginner-friendly tips on freelancing, blogging, short stories, and novel writing, along with four week plans to get you started. If you’re already experienced with one of those areas of writing, just head straight to the advance tips in that section.

If you know what you want to write but you can’t seem to find time or make progress, go for the Supercharge Your Writing guides. They’re designed to work together, so I recommend getting the whole set while it’s half price. If you just want one pack, though, Supercharge Your Writing Session will help you get writing straight away.

If you want to dig deep into a particular aspect of writing, check out the Self-Study Seminar Packs. Novelists are particularly well covered here (with packs 2, 5, and 6) but there are also packs on time management, freelancing, and self-publishing. These are also a great option if you like to listen rather than read … though all the seminars also have a full transcript, to cater for everyone.

BONUS: Free Access to the Aliventures Club

Whenever you buy anything from me (even if it’s only $4), you also get full access to The Aliventures Club on Facebook.

This is a private members-only group where you can talk about writing, share your successes, ask questions, and get support.

We have a lovely bunch of friendly writers, at all different stages, so do come and join us. 🙂

The half-price Summer Sale only lasts until the end of Thurday 22nd July, so make sure you grab anything you want before then. Here are the links again:

• Get Writing
• Supercharge Your Writing
• Self-Study Packs