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The Blank Screen: Productivity for Creative Writers
BBC journalist and Doctor Who radio writer William Gallagher shows how to make the very most from your limited time and fill that Blank Screen with your writing. Find out when you work best – and when you really don’t – plus how to remove most distractions and minimise all of them. Learn how to get started when it’s the last thing you want to do. Turn email back into a useful tool, make phone calls a little easier and a lot more useful. Make your To Do list something you enjoy instead of always avoid. See how to stay creative yet become the writer everyone turns to because you always deliver and you never forget anything. Includes how to get more out of your computer and your kettle.
284 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 16, 2013
Most writing books deal with the mechanics of writing itself; the why rather than the how. And most books regarding productivity are general, tailored to the widest possible audience rather than the specifics of a profession. This is a book which fills that book nicely; it's about the practical detail of writing and creating time to write which is where many writers fall down.
And it's terrific. Gallagher is thoroughly engaging, companionable rather than didactic. He makes clear that the psychology and methods he outlines may not work, but that either he's found them useful or that others have recommended them. As such this isn't prescriptive, but instead it's more like a helpful chat full of useful suggestions which you're free to use or ignore as you wish. Much if this is practical stuff though and consists of small changes rather than big drastic ones, so it's all at least worth considering at length. There are also chapters recommending the most useful hardware and software out there, something which may eventually end up dating the book but is a boon as it stands.
And does it work? Definitely. I took a few weeks to go through the book, not for length or style, but for experimenting with the advice it gives. And my writing output has shot upwards, consistent on a daily basis instead of in bursts shoehorned into the few hours not taken up with family time. Some advice has also proven practical in other jobs too. It's changed long engrained bad habits that I didn't know I had or needed correcting - even were Gallagher not so engaging! it'd be worth it for that alone, but combined with the author's natural charm it's an essential purchase for writers of all levels of experience.
And it's terrific. Gallagher is thoroughly engaging, companionable rather than didactic. He makes clear that the psychology and methods he outlines may not work, but that either he's found them useful or that others have recommended them. As such this isn't prescriptive, but instead it's more like a helpful chat full of useful suggestions which you're free to use or ignore as you wish. Much if this is practical stuff though and consists of small changes rather than big drastic ones, so it's all at least worth considering at length. There are also chapters recommending the most useful hardware and software out there, something which may eventually end up dating the book but is a boon as it stands.
And does it work? Definitely. I took a few weeks to go through the book, not for length or style, but for experimenting with the advice it gives. And my writing output has shot upwards, consistent on a daily basis instead of in bursts shoehorned into the few hours not taken up with family time. Some advice has also proven practical in other jobs too. It's changed long engrained bad habits that I didn't know I had or needed correcting - even were Gallagher not so engaging! it'd be worth it for that alone, but combined with the author's natural charm it's an essential purchase for writers of all levels of experience.
June 4, 2014
This is a book that anyone who’s serious about writing should read.
If you want to be a writer, you need to write - that’s been said many times. The thing that stops most people doing that is finding the time. This book WILL help you carve that time out of your schedule.
There’s plenty of practical advice about fitting in all of the peripheral activities that a writer will find they need to do once they start to become productive, which is a bonus.
I thought I was pretty productive already, and smugly ticked off a couple of things that I currently do. There’s so much else in here that I want to try, I’ve added a load of things to my to-do list. (The first thing on there is to re-jig my to-do list as I realise that I’ve been using it all wrong!)
If you want to be a writer, you need to write - that’s been said many times. The thing that stops most people doing that is finding the time. This book WILL help you carve that time out of your schedule.
There’s plenty of practical advice about fitting in all of the peripheral activities that a writer will find they need to do once they start to become productive, which is a bonus.
I thought I was pretty productive already, and smugly ticked off a couple of things that I currently do. There’s so much else in here that I want to try, I’ve added a load of things to my to-do list. (The first thing on there is to re-jig my to-do list as I realise that I’ve been using it all wrong!)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews