Blog Posts - Moxie Books

How Talking To Your Clients Helps You Beat The Blank Page

Ever had insomnia? Not just a little trouble sleeping, but the twitchy, panicky, staring into the void teetering-on-the-edge of madness insomnia?

Every now and then, it feels like you’re poised on the knife-edge of sleep—so you grab at it, wildly, desperately, only to feel sleep slip away, leaving you grinding your teeth.

To me, that’s what the Blank Page Of Doom feels like sometimes. When I have the seed of an idea I can’t quite hold onto—or too many ideas, boiling across my brain too swift to catch.

How To Beat “Writer’s Block”: 3 Fun Exercises To Get You Writing

Think of your introduction as a sales letter for the rest of your book. Your reader is thinking, subconsciously, “What’s in it for me? Why should I give up my valuable time to read this book?” You need to convey that in your introduction. Here’s how…

Illustration of Steven Pressfield by Rob Middleton at EveryoneLovesCartoons.com

Resistance Is Futile, Or, The War Of Art

One of the best books I’ve read on how to beat resistance and procrastination is The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield. Here’s my review…

Write Your Book’s Introduction In 3 Simple Steps

Asking The Right Questions

Knowing what questions to ask when you start to write your book is the hardest part… We spend so much time looking for answers, we rarely stop to think if we’re asking the right questions. And sometimes we don’t know which questions to ask at all…

Criticism Hurts: How To Take The Sting Off

Some people will love your book. Some will hate it. So what? Once your book’s out there, what people think of it — and you — is beyond your control…

Proud of Yourself? The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing a Book

If we’re not telling the truth, there’s no point in writing… don’t let pride get in the way of your truth.

Lusty Books: The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing a Book

Michael Stipe was right, eh?

Oof. What a few days, eh?

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Growing Like a Rotting Badger

If we’re not drinking the Koolaid, if we’re not hustling 24/7 and obsessing over growth, we’re somehow less than those other entrepreneurs and business owners we see crushing it every day. I call bullshit. Not all growth is healthy.

You are not a sofa

Stop. Breathe. Listen.

Then pick a thing and do it.

Why aren’t you achieving your goals?

Let me ask you again: why aren’t you achieving your goals? Do you know what’s missing? Which tiny beetle steps you need to take?

4 Simple Steps To Help You Write The Blurb On The Back Of Your Book

The blurb on the back is the third most important part of the cover after the front cover design and the title. I would have loved a step-by-step instruction manual for writing my back blurbs, but there wasn’t one. So I made my own guide. Here it is.

Same-Same But Different

What would you do with your business and your products and services if there were no rules? If nobody was watching? If you could guarantee nobody would laugh?

Why your projects are always late…

Whether your project is a giant railway infrastructure, a cottage renovation, or writing your book, it will inevitably take way too long and cost much more than you budget. It’s because you suffer from the planning fallacy — with a healthy dose of optimism bias and overconfidence thrown in.

On Finding Mudita

Of all the negative emotions, after shame, I think envy takes the biscuit: it seeps into everything we look at and it keeps us stuck.

🐞 we need tiny beetle steps not giant leaps

The thing about tiny beetle steps is, eventually they add up to great big leaps.

We get hung up on the great big leaps. We strive for massive improvements, to become an overnight success, and wish for miracles to happen fast.

Will Writing A Business Book Make You Rich?

Occasionally, business owners tell me they’re secretly dreaming of rolling around naked in piles of cash like Scrooge McDuck. Perhaps you think a book could make you filthy rich…

Having a religious experience

You can create a sacred space even in a shared office, a busy home, or a public café; it just takes a little ingenuity and a certain amount of hard-headed resolve.

Don’t drink and prime

Don’t just read; do.

Of course, some books make it easier to do that than others… Like my new book How The Hell Do You Write A Book. It not only makes it super simple for you to take action on what you’re learning, it also helps you write a book of your own that people will read and use and get value from.

Roast potatoes for brains

Post-festive-sludging and I feel like my head is stuffed with roast potatoes.

I am struggling to form a coherent thought, let alone write about one.

This is extraordinarily vexing to someone who writes for a living.

That escalated fast…

Well, that escalated fast.

Honestly, I’ve been thinking and mulling over and wondering what to write (and resisting the urge to make terrible jokes because too soon?).

So today I’m going to share what I’m doing while the world goes into lockdown.

You are not your business

You are not your business. You are not your art.

Take the criticism. Allow the reaction. Then examine it carefully.

Is there a lesson you can learn and use to improve? Take it.

Michael Stipe was right

Michael Stipe was right, eh?

Oof. What a few days, eh?

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

How To Think Up Your Big Book Idea

The flash of inspiration you’re waiting for? It ain’t gonna happen. It is a myth; a myth that has stopped good writers from writing since humans first scratched their shopping list on the cave wall…

What you’re feeling is normal

I wanted to share a few things that might help you navigate what you’re feeling right now, including some of the ways I’m feeling

🚆 long train journeys are the best

The thing about tiny beetle steps is, eventually they add up to great big leaps.

We get hung up on the great big leaps. We strive for massive improvements, to become an overnight success, and wish for miracles to happen fast.

Back in the 80s Without the Shoulder Pads

If you make a mistake, people will forgive you, especially if you put it right. If you make a mistake and then disappear, you’ll be considered a douchecanoe.

Don’t write like you speak!

In today’s video, I ramble on about why writing like you speak is dumb and leads to badly written books.

How I stopped drinking alcohol

Since Christmas 2018, I’ve probably had fewer than 20 alcoholic drinking occasions – and when I have had a drink, it’s generally been one small one.

And it hasn’t been a struggle.

Commit no nuisance

Our whole society is geared to keeping us quiet, keeping us in line, and not making a fuss.

The morning monster cure

If you want to write your book, you need to build a good writing habit or you’ll never manage it.

What are you struggling with? What feels horrible?

What if, instead of saying you’ll write 500 words a morning, all you have to do is make a cup of tea, open your document, and scribble down what you’re going to do next?

Make it easy and make it attractive.

This is your brain 🧠 on knowledge

Are we asking the right questions?

I don’t always ask good questions. I ask obvious ones.

Like, “Why do I always procrastinate?”

15 Reasons to Write a Book

Ever thought about writing a book but never quite got started? You’re not alone.
Here are 15 reasons why I think you should write a book in 2020…

The Two Voices in Your Head

Want to know why we say things to ourselves we’d never say to others – and how we can be a little kinder to ourselves?

Sloth: Every Day Is Like Sunday

Michael Stipe was right, eh?

Oof. What a few days, eh?

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

This blew my tiny mind

Have you ever read something that, when you think about it later, is obvious – but at the time, it blows your mind?

A Nice Cup of Tea

What do you want your new world to be like?

Your life? Your business? Your relationships?

Derek the donkey thinks learning BJJ is hard

The Splendour Of Hard Things

We think that unless we can make giant leaps forward and see enormous and sudden improvements in what we’re doing, we’re not doing anything.

It’s hard to keep going when keeping going is hard (and boring).

“I’m the kind of person who…”

The reason we fail to make the changes we want and achieve the results we desire isn’t willpower or laziness or lack of ability; it’s because what we’re trying to do is at odds with who we believe we really are.

Your Pencils Could Always Be Sharper

Perfectionism keeps us all stuck, and it may well drive us into an early grave.

4 Lurking Horrors That’ll Kill Your Book

Beware the spooks, ghouls, and monsters lurking in the shadows, waiting to destroy your book…

Lessons From My Book Launch

If anyone ever tells you launching a book (or any product, for that matter) is easy, smile sweetly and back away. They’re either lying, or utterly clueless.

Strippers shafted by sharecropping

Use all the tools at your disposal: build a rabid Instagram following, especially if your business is visual like aerial arts, painting, cartooning, and exotic dancing – but please don’t make it the only thing you do.

5 good minutes is enough ⏲️

I don’t know about you, but my days are incredibly full.

Don’t rely on your friends

It’s up to us to persuade the right people that our books are worth investing in.

Nobody else is going to do it for us – and that’s a really cool position to be in because it means we’re in charge of our own destiny. We get to make our own successes (and failures) without relying on (or blaming) others.

🦠 The lowdown on lockdown 🗝️

6 top tips for working from home.

The future is a myth

If we’re not telling the truth, there’s no point in writing… don’t let pride get in the way of your truth.

Getting mad at your future self

We’re basically a bundle of habits, good and bad.

Which means every single action we take is a vote for the person we want to be.

What do you want to do?

Don’t let anyone shame you into ridiculous productivity.

Don’t be pushed into doing more than you want to.

It’s okay not to be okay.

Are We Sleepwalking Through Life?

Just because I got elbowed in the face once in Primark doesn’t mean everyone who shops in Primark is an arse. Just because I got elbowed in the face once in Primark doesn’t mean everyone who shops in Primark is an arse. Repeat until I believe it.
Do you know how I rationalised that ugly little belief? By telling myself I don’t shop in Primark because it’s unethical and because I want my clothes to last for more than two washes. (Both those things are also true, it’s just not the true reason I don’t like Primark.)

New year new…?

Within the haze of end-of-year parties and admist the overindulgence of the festive feasting period glows an ember.

The glimmer of an idea.

The hope that perhaps this year will be different.

Maybe this will be the year we’ll write our books or run that marathon or start that business or go after that big contract.

You have an egg hanging out your bum

Most of us are starters, not finishers. We’re entrepreneurs, so we’re easily excited and enthused by new ideas and big plans and the next shiny thing — but when it comes to finishing what we started…? Writing that book? Launching that course?

10 Ways To Choose Your Book Title

Your title is one of the most critical parts of your book. If you write a crap title, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of your book is, most people won’t read it…

How To Write In Pictures

Flamingo your writing by making me feel, see, smell, taste, and touch…Silence.Sudden silence.The kind of velvet silence that soaks up every whisper.The only sound in your head is the bass-beat of your panicked heart… and all eyes are on you.What’s the worst thing that can happen during your competition pole dance performance? Wardrobe malfunction? Nope.

Beaker is in da houzzzzzzzzzz

Don’t let anyone shame you into ridiculous productivity.

Don’t be pushed into doing more than you want to.

It’s okay not to be okay.

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