Dauntless Writing Podcast

Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 22:Gamifying Productivity - HabitRPG
Today I'll be talking a bit about HabitRPG and how awesome it is at making me a more productive writer. HabitRPG is a habit tracker app which treats your goals like a Role Playing Game. Level up as you succeed, lose HP as you fail, earn money to buy weapons and armor.

In this Podcast:

How HabitRPG can help you be a more productive writer, and person;
Why Gamifying productivity pushes you psychologically;
How I use HabitRPG to be more productive
A chance for partying up with me throughin game!

Links:
HabitRPG Home (Onwards to Productivity!)

The Dauntless HabitRPG'rs Group ID: 2ffa028b-02c0-4229-bc0b-766ea426c287 (I think we're the only ones in there at the moment)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 22:Gamifying Productivity – HabitRPG Today I’ll be talking a bit about HabitRPG and how awesome it is at making me a more productive writer. HabitRPG is a habit tracker app which treats your goals like a... (READ MORE)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 21: Writing Voice – Self-Editing for Fiction Writers How to obtain a voice as an author. We all hear that “you need to find your voice”, that “this author has a fresh voice”, but how do... (READ MORE)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 21: Writing Voice - Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

How to obtain a voice as an author. We all hear that "you need to find your voice", that "this author has a fresh voice", but how do you get such a voice? Can you cultivate it or is it one of those talent issues that you'll never have? Luckily, voice can be brought forth.
In this podcast:

The reality of the writer's voice;
What can be done to practice your writer's voice;
Character and writer's voice;
Revising for voice;
Internal monologues and the intrusive voice;

Links
Self-editing for Fiction Writers

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 20: Why Amazon is Dominating forIndies

There are more places out there to stick your indie published book on. But I advise sticking to Amazon when you're just starting out. Why? I'm not being sponsored by Amazon, and I don't agree with everything they're doing. But if you don't have a massive fanbase, I advise sticking to KDP.If you're wondering why most indies sell most of their books through Amazon, then this Podcast episode will tell you. This is why Amazon is dominating for indies.

In this Podcast:

It's all aboutdiscoverabilityfor a starting authors;
Platforms are search engines;
The difference between platforms, such asiTunes, Nook and Kobo,and why they suck;
Why Amazon rocks for Indies;
How Amazon's uncaring attitude is working in your favor;
Tips to getting discovered on Amazon, that does not work on the other platforms;
Amazon needs competition for the good of us all, but the other platforms are unwilling to step up to the plate;
Why the iBook store is useless;

Links

Great interview of Nick Stephenson on marketing on different platforms on The Creative Penn
Nick's site that helps you get your first 10 000 readers

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 20: Why Amazon is Dominating forIndies There are more places out there to stick your indie published book on. But I advise sticking to Amazon when you’re just starting out. Why? I’m not being sponsored by... (READ MORE)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 19: Statistically Significant Samples What is a statistically significant sample for deciding whether something works? When do I drop what I’ve been doing and how do I decide to do next? Below, I give a ten... (READ MORE)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 19: Statistically Significant Samples
What is a statistically significant sample for deciding whether something works? When do I drop what I've been doing and how do I decide to do next? Below, I give a ten step example of how I go about the idea vetting process in order to try and simplify my decision-making process.
In this podcast:
Some things you have to do as a fiction authorpreneur;
How to decide to approach these things;
Sound Principles for next level organization;
Finding what works for you;
MVP's - Minimum Viable Product at the Minimum Viable Price for the maximal result;
On giving a plan a fair run before canning it;
Applying the 80/20 rule;
The 10 step vetting process:
1) Get an idea, ex nihilo or from something I've encountered;

2) read up on the idea, has other people done it? How hard is it to implement? What successes and/or failures have they had? What pitfalls have they mentioned? Are people recommending it? If not, maybe shelve the idea until later.

Rate each of the factors involved on a five point scale.

The factors are:

Time (how much time out of my day it will take 1 is none at all, 5 is a lot);
Money (Will it cost money? If so, how much?);
Effort (is there a lot to learn before hand? how much info is available to ease learning?);
Skills transfer (can I use some of these skills that I learn somewhere else? I'm more inclined to learn things that are); and
Fun factor (Does it actually sound like something I can do for the fun of it?).

I give each of these factors a % weight (like the fun factor is more important to me than the time factor at this stage, but the Money factor is usually a decider)

3) Come up with a strategy of how I would implement the new idea into my current schedule. If not enough time, maybe shelve it for later, or find another activity that is not panning out and replace it with this new one;

4) Research and write a policy and procedure for the activity, include a cost-benefit analysis taking into consideration my resources, such as time and money. Then measure it against other shelved projects. Maybe you had a gem lying on the future plans list that is better than this one.

5) Set roles and goals for the activity (Look for synergy and others to help, and quantify the cost of their help). The goals are what I'll use to measure whether the activity is good or not;

6) If the activity is similar to another activity that I'm currently running, such as maybe taking on Linkedin when I already use Facebook, set it up as a split test to that activity.

7) Implement the strategy. Go for it as if it's the only thing you're doing. Try your damnedest to get it to work.

8) Monitor your actual resources spent and results obtained against your projected goals and readjust your expectations and the factors that you mentioned in step number 2. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

9) After a period of time (set out in step 3 and 4 above), see which of the activities are producing the goods, and double down on those (this is your new control to measure future things against), and cut the ones that don't. The ones that don't can go back onto the future list, because things can change and you've got some data on how it worked for you in the past with ratings.

10) Start planning a new split test with the next most likely thing that may replace the thing that you're doing.

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 18: Write First, Edit Later When someone is wearing two hats at the same time, you can guarantee that the results will be sub optimal and open for mockery. So why try to do that as... (READ MORE)

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Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 18: Write First, Edit Later
When someone is wearing two hats at the same time, you can guarantee that the results will be sub optimal and open for mockery. So why try to do that as a writer? Have you ever thought, while creating your first draft, that "this isn't very good"? What happened to your productivity? What happened to your writing in that exact moment. Like the sod wearing two hats, you felt unbalanced, ungainly, and unproductive. Stop wearing two hats. Write first, and edit later.
In this podcast:
When writing

You have a main job, and it's not editing;
Turn off all the things!;
Saying: "I'm creating right now";
On giving yourself permission to write, and only to write;
Saying: "I'll fix this later"; and
On what to do then "Is this any good?" pops up in your mind.

When editing

The Elements of Style by E. B. White and William Strunk, Jr.;
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne, Dave King;
Stephen King's suggestions On Writing (and editing);
Roles and Goals for each scene; and
Apps for when spell-checker is woefully inadequate.

Links
Hemmingway app
Grammarly
Stephen King on Writing
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
Elements of StyleE. B. White and William Strunk, Jr.

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