Recently, several people have congratulated me on my “natural” writing. I thank them and try not to giggle. Why? Because I am not a “natural” writer. I have written and published enough that I found my writer's voice.

Instead of talent, I have persistence. I use that persistence in small, timeboxed chunks. That's part of the growth mindset.

Why? Because I don’t need a ton of time. I can take one thing, explore it, and see how far I can go in just 15 minutes. No writer's block, because it's just 15 minutes.

(Side note: I need a 14-minute block for fiction. I’m not sure where to go once I hit 14 minutes, so I need a break. How funny is that??)

Why 15 minutes? Several reasons:

• Because I can almost always find 15 minutes to write something. (If I can't, I use 10 minutes. Sometimes, I use 5 minutes.)
• That short time allows me to make progress on whatever writing project I have.
• The pressure is off. I made a little progress and I know I can write more later.
• With enough 15-minute chunks, I can finish something almost every week.

Like this secret?  Want to use your growth mindset to improve your writing? Please join me in the Q3 2021 Writing Workshop.