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47 Mind Hacks for Writers: Master the Writing Habit in 10 Minutes Or Less and End Writer’s Block and Procrastination for Good

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Has writer's block or procrastination stopped you writing?

Is your inner critic sabotaging your success and making you think your writing is dreadful and no one would ever read it?

Imagine, no more procrastinating. No more interruptions. No more feeling you're not good enough to be the writer you long to be. No more conflicts with family. No more writer's block.

Awareness + Solution = Mind Hack

Rather than "feel good inspiration", 47 Mind Hacks for Writers takes you through the simple steps you need to shift your mindset so you can write on your terms.

We asked over 100 writers what their biggest obstacles were around writing. This book gives you a mind hack for each one.

DISCOVER 47 Mind Hacks that Will Make You a More Productive Writer

The book will help you:

Put an end to writer's block… forever
Uncover the real reason you're procrastinating and start writing today Discover a fun way to get your family to help you reach your writing goals Stop feeling like you're not good enough Shut down the overly-critical self-talk that holds you back

Karen & Steve Dimmick have been using belief change techniques, coaching and Neuro-Linguistics since 2004, and have been helping authors since 2007.

You know what life hacking is, now it's time to hack your mind, get out of your own way and be the writer you know you can be.

DOWNLOAD 47 Mind Hacks for Writers, today, and get back in control of your writing life!

188 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2016

203 people are currently reading
180 people want to read

About the author

Karen Dimmick

2 books3 followers

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5 stars
61 (48%)
4 stars
31 (24%)
3 stars
18 (14%)
2 stars
13 (10%)
1 star
4 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣.
2,527 reviews19.2k followers
July 3, 2022
Writing tiara! Q:
If you write from home and have kids or family around, you need to find a way to stop them from disturbing you. If you have a door, you can simply close it and hang a 'writing' sign on it. However, if you don't, then one of the ways I've been told that works is to have a 'writing' hat. For instance, a baseball cap or even a tiara. (c)
Q:
There are three causes for procrastination:
You're trying to avoid something.
You're trying to do something that, deep down, you don't want to do.
You're lacking a strong enough 'why' for what you're doing. (c)

Apart from the 'tiara', being the purple cow, a time lord and the 5-6-7 Why-er seem useful. The rest I'm not too sure about. Overall, a lot of mind hacks and not enough of 'just write it, damn it'. Though maybe that was precisely the point, I wouldn't know.
Profile Image for Jenny Baker.
1,492 reviews239 followers
December 26, 2016
Required reading for writers

I think this is a must-read for writers. It's thoughtful, well-researched, and well organized. Many of the hacks are inspiring, in fact, at one point I wanted to barge into my home office and declutter my writing area. I can already see these hacks changing my habits and mindset for the better. I'm so excited about these ideas that I can't wait to get started!
3 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2017
Amazing, Original and Deeply Insightful!

I must admit, I had this book for about 5 weeks before I got around to reading it. Boy was that a mistake. I now feel like I wasted 5 weeks bashing my head against the wall with my latest novel when I could have actually been writing.

For me, I tend to get stuck in my head, and often that completely derails me. I try to work out every single nuance for my characters and get it perfect as I am writing - which is practically impossible to do.

There were quite a number of hacks in this book that have made a dramatic difference for me as a seasoned novelist. (I write under a pen name and let's just say that most months I am earning well over 5 figures from my royalties).

I started with Mind Hack #17 Butting Out Limiting Beliefs. (you can really start anywhere with this book which is another reason I like it so much). What I realized when I read this hack was that I do this all the time - in my own self talk that is in my head. I don't want to ruin this for anyone who hasn't read it yet. This has been a monumental shift in my productivity as a writer.

I now have a new self-awareness of what's going on in my head. I used to struggle to get a novel completely finished. I often got stuck at the end - right where it should be the easiest. Not anymore!

There are many Hacks in this book that I felt were written specifically for me - ones like: #30 - Focus, Focus, Focus, #3 - Travel with a Map, #22 - Your Book Is Not for Everyone and others.

I used to think that by time I had written 15+ novels I would be really proficient at writing. Nope. It almost feels like I have been living with a writing disability that has now been lifted.

I have read some of the other reviews on here and I must say I am really surprised. So, against the advice of Hack # 43 - Don't Feed the Trolls, since it's not my book and I going to mention this:

Hack #23 - Be the Purple Cow. I have no idea what Emma Sea was thinking / taking or was on. But since she didn't finish reading the book I am happy to set the record straight.

This is one of the most refreshing books I have read in a very long time. It is original, insightful and is a book I will continually go back to throughout the rest of my writing career.

"Be the Purple Cow" is a book/philosophy from Seth Godin - an awesome man if you get the chance to meet him. However, nowhere in his book/writings does Seth apply his concepts to writers in this level of detail.

The authors of this book take the concept of being the purple cow and expertly apply it to being a writer. Most writers don't research what they need to stand out from. This Hack left me asking (what I feel are) some extremely important questions: how are my plot, story and characters going to stand out from the many other books in my genre? What perspective am I going to approach my work from? How can I adjust my niche to standout even more? Its not just my writing though, my book titles - my cover designs - I realized all of these are opportunities for me to stand out and be my own "purple cow".

So, like I said, I have no idea why someone wouldn't get some really useful Hacks to improve their writing form this book. Unless of course, they never finished reading it...

It was a bestseller when I bought it 5 weeks ago and it is still a bestseller today. I give it a glowing 5 stars - absolutely loved it.
Profile Image for Anne Rainbow.
Author 8 books12 followers
February 1, 2017
As per my review on Amazon: Doesn't matter how many books you've written / published, there are always moments of self doubt. This book covers them all - the internal pressures and the external ones - and provides inspirational ideas as to how to get back on track. I particularly liked the 5-6-7-Why ...
Profile Image for Emma Sea.
2,214 reviews1,228 followers
dnf
February 17, 2017
Not actually a book of "mind hacks," rather general productivity and self-development advice

Don't be a perfectionist
Set and achieve goals
Think big

Many of these points come (with credit) straight from other productivity writers e.g.

"Mind hack #23: Be the purple cow"

Neither engaging nor original
Profile Image for Maria McMahon.
Author 12 books41 followers
December 4, 2016
Solid Gold Advice For Authors

As a newly minted author myself, I wish this book had been out before I started writing! It’s jam-packed with brilliant advice for both the novice and the established author. I knew a few of the things the authors cover, but I learned a LOT more and I will be dipping into this to refresh my mind as I work on publishing my next book. The authors really know about the psychology of writing and getting your mindset WRITE/right! I particularly liked the references to how your subconscious mind works as this is an area of high interest for me, and their observations are spot on. They cover 47 categories and you are sure to find most, if not all of them, resonate and make very good sense. A must-read for authors everywhere.

Maria McMahon
Author, Law of Attraction Shortcut Secrets.
Profile Image for Kimberly Gordon.
Author 38 books26 followers
December 7, 2016
Escape From What Holds You Back

This is a wonderful guide to escaping from our own self-created prisons of doubt, fear, and all the other "noise", both internal and external, that holds us back from realizing our dreams. Our thoughts can be our most powerful allies and also our worst enemies at times. Steve and Karen Dimmick navigate the reader expertly through the labyrinth of the mind, with insight and exercises to help you reconnect with your passion, set goals, eliminate distractions and forge ahead. A wonderful and helpful book with many supporting materials and resources to help writers and aspiring authors. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Else Byskov.
Author 38 books12 followers
December 31, 2016
This is a very useful book for all those would-be writers who don´t know how to tackle the challenge of writing a book. ´The 47 Mind Hacks´ is full of useful information, great tricks and sound advice. It underlines the importance of having the right mind set, networking, asking for help and taking you writing seriously. It also has great advice about how to beat procrastination and deal with criticism. It has a lot to say about book promotion, which is the weak point for most authors. I recommend this book warmly.
Profile Image for Michelle Cornish.
Author 44 books105 followers
February 1, 2017
This is a really helpful book, not only for writers but for anyone that has trouble not letting their mindset affect their productivity. Each chapter can be read on its own and you can jump around which allows you to focus on the area of mindset you are struggling with the most. I will be referring to this book again and again!!
2 reviews
February 27, 2017
I found this book one day when I was browsing on how to be a better writer.

This book was something I happened upon. Imagine my suspicions when it was claiming how to be better at writing with 47 mind hacks! It seemed too good to be true. Well, for the price the book was going for, I thought: "What do I have to lose?" Nothing. In fact, I had everything to gain. I am glad I purchased this book. I've been writing nonstop , thanks to the tips presented! If you want to improve your writings, I can't recommend this book enough! You won't regret it.
Profile Image for Susan Elliott.
Author 49 books
December 22, 2016
Wow! This book did not disappoint!!!

I stumbled upon this book, and I am glad I did. I am an author who faces the inner beast of self doubt. I love that I have learned it is possible to slay my dragons!
6 reviews
March 1, 2017
Loved this book. Despite what one of the reviews said, there's a lot of original stuff in the book. My favorite was #59 - a true mind hack, that takes you through changing how you feel extremely fast. Could feel the difference in a couple of minutes and it got me out of my slump and back to writing. I loved #58 that surprised me with some language twists I've not seen anywhere else - I'm going to be looking at people's emails and texts a lot closer now to see what they really mean! All told I recommend this book to anyone who's stuck with their writing.
Profile Image for Roseanney Liu.
41 reviews1 follower
February 27, 2017
Great, easy read that gives a how-to for writers starting out on their first book. Some tips were new and refreshing to me and both Karen and Steve are a wealth of information on author marketing and writing.
Profile Image for Marian Heddesheimer.
1 review
February 1, 2017
This book contains a lot of useful tips for aspiring writers. I found important aspects of writing covered here like dealing with criticism and handling the business side of being an author. I found a lot of additional bonuses in the book, like a facebook page that offers great insights and discussions.
Profile Image for Angela Bracken.
4 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2017
Helpful

I enjoyed reading this. I have been in a depressed slump that has been blocking both my writing and art. This book though, has given me a few ways to try and brake through both. I found it easy to read, and hard to put down.
Profile Image for Sharilee Swaity.
Author 5 books10 followers
January 31, 2017
I really loved this book! It gave me a lot of encouragement to keep going in my writing. I loved how it was laid out -- each chapter was very focused and short. Karen has a very sympathetic tone to her writing that makes you feel like she cares.
Profile Image for Dionne.
Author 3 books12 followers
January 5, 2017
Great!

Very useful book. I have learned a lot on reading this book and I feel highly motivated to continue writing my own.
1 review
February 2, 2017
This is an excellent book for authors. All Karen's exercises for helping to get writing are wonderful and would work equally well in other areas of life. Great in depth knowledge of the subject.
Profile Image for J. Dorner.
Author 6 books1,145 followers
June 5, 2017
There were parts of this book that interested me as a writer. It would certainly be more relevant for non-fiction than fiction, but it's still useful either way. The book had some insights and knowledge that I had not encountered before. I enjoyed doing the suggested exercises to the best of my ability (see next section about downloads). The book has helped me set some new goals, and for that, I'm grateful.

To create my "pick up plan" I was supposed to download a template. To download a template, I had to go to the site (again) and enter my name and email (again) and wait for yet another email that never comes (and yeah, I've checked spam).
When an author has templates that go with the book and I have "sign up for" or jump through a hoop to get them, I feel annoyed and exploited.
When that template doesn't come, I feel cheated and betrayed, and my opinion of the author's authority drops considerably. I question if the author does not believe in the work, and thus created a way to trick readers onto a mailing list.
I wonder what my purchase meant to the author. I wonder if I'm just a number to grow an email list.
I would prefer if I could go to a web page and download the templates which accompany the book, and then be given an option to sign up for a mailing list and such. If a book is genuinely good, then I'd sign up. But I feel that being required to sign up for an email list (especially to get what I'd consider "the other 25% of the book I paid for) is a weak and shady business practice.
As a result of several templates that never came and being required to sign up for an email list to attempt to get them (rather than signing up because of a genuine interest), I'm knocking off two stars. I'm genuinely more displeased at having to sign up for a list than I am that the emails didn't come. Forcing me to sign up to get the rest of what I paid for is a choice the author made. Only one download (the 8-page workbook) out of all of them coming is probably some computer glitch, and that's something which annoys me but that I could forgive.

The sections about Trolls were well-written, humorous, and insightful. (However, it doesn't address how to deal with doxing. Perhaps because no one actually knows how to deal with it yet.) But I liked that section enough to give back one star.

That's a total of 4 out of 5 stars for this book.
So long as you're prepared to click on SIXTEEN links to 47MindHacks.com (backslash whatever template or directory), and enter your name and email address each time, you'll enjoy this book.

I do believe that plenty of people read, and that self-publishing is a viable option, and most of the rest from the workbook. (The only email download from the sign-up list to come.)
Profile Image for Molebatsi.
229 reviews4 followers
March 26, 2025
Straight and to the point ideas for winning the mental game of being a writer.
Profile Image for Rob Alex.
Author 91 books11 followers
March 6, 2017
There are many great ways to focus on your writing in this book. They range from the normal to the silly methods. I love rewarding your family with ice cream when you hit your daily writing goals. Any writer struggling with staying focused should check out this book to get some tips.

Peace and Love,
Rob @ http://authorstalkaboutit.com
Profile Image for Kay.
347 reviews65 followers
December 29, 2017
One of the best explanations of self-limiting beliefs for authors

The quotes are great and the layout of the book makes it easy to pick and choose what help you need at any point in time.

This book will be a permanent part of my writing library.
Profile Image for Marcus.
Author 21 books62 followers
February 2, 2018

I have no idea where I picked up this book. From the title, to the cover design, to the subject matter, this totally feels like a crappy lead-magnet. You know, "Sign up for my mailing list and get this amazing eBook with 63 Tips and Tricks on How to Lose Weight, Find Love, and Raise Your SEO Ranking (A $99 value) for FREE!"

I was surprised, no, I was legit SHOCKED that this wasn't a 13-page PDF with a bunch of useless crap culled from blogs. This was a real book with real, actual content. I read a lot about writing craft, and 47 Mind Hacks had many concepts and theories I'd never heard before.

My favorite new piece of information was about how the brain can't process negatives. That is, if I say, "Think about bananas," you think about bananas, but if I say "DON'T think about elephants," you still think about elephants. Knowing this, you can intentionally set your goals with an emphasis on what you want to ACHIEVE rather than what you want to AVOID, thus keeping your thoughts focused on the positive and moving forward instead of unintentionally thinking about the negative.

This isn't a book about writing craft. It won't teach you how to sit down and write a great novel or nonfiction proposal. It's more of a pep talk and a collection of ways to fine-tune your thoughts to work more efficiently with you instead of against you. As far as writing books go, it's kind of fluffy, but it's interesting fluff.
Profile Image for Catherine.
37 reviews9 followers
December 13, 2016
The title suggests this book is for writers. Upon reading this though, I can say it finds applications in more than writing. It more or less teaches you how to change your mentality towards anything you engage yourself in, so that you can keep going whenever you get stuck. Practical, at times almost philosophical, but first and foremost effective.

The author is very attentive as well. I noticed this book through Instagram, after a like on one of my pictures, I download the free preview and within a day I believe, I had received an email asking for my opinion and asking what challenges I faced writing. I wanted to humour the "automated email" and replied, only to be surprised a few hours later by a screen-long email by Karen Dimmick addressing the issues I raised in my reply. The exchange continued further. It was a pleasant surprise and honestly the reason I'm reviewing. Kudos to you, Karen Dimmick.
3 reviews
March 7, 2017
The book is great. I liked the actionable steps throughout.
Its a book that can be referred to again and again, when you are stuck with your writing or need that
extra guidance or confidence with your writing.
The book covers all areas of concern, such as success mindset, dealing with inner critic, standing out, Authorpreneur mind, standing out and finding your uniqueness, writing blocks and concerns, dealing with criticism, and The Business of being an Author.
Each section has mind hacks and exercises to help you execute them which I found super useful.
Recommend it for all writers of any level, beginners to people who have written books but feel they struggled and want to know how to conquer their fears and battles in writing.
Profile Image for Julie Jordan Scott.
181 reviews79 followers
June 19, 2021
Helpful ideas in bite-sized chunks: some familiar/some new

What was best for me were the exercises - I wish there were more included. Many of the strategies are familiar. As usual
even the familiar need to be used.

Certain areas were weak: like the misuse of the word “troll” (I actually looked up the word: trolls are random, not based on one’s specific content. People who critique your exact content are critics, not trolls).

I saw reviews that had problems with the Purple Cow section, saying it was listed from Seth Godin. Seth Godin probably got it from a poem I learned as a child that starts with “I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one.” Etc etc etc.

I bought the kindle version and plan to return to the exercises as needed. Helpful book overall.
Profile Image for LKM.
380 reviews33 followers
July 10, 2023
No hacks to be found here, just general productivity stuff already said a thousand times in other, better books. I would have given it 2 stars, but the book offers "11 freebies" and keeps pointing you constantly to their website, which seems they couldn't bother to maintain (or fix the links in the book, apparently), so now none of those links work. Including the one that is supposed to handily take you to review them. Bad, bad, bad.
Profile Image for Marcia Kelley.
58 reviews2 followers
June 19, 2017
Great book

This book looks at how a writer thinks and what to do if the writer is having a hard time with writer's block, motivation, criticism and doubt. The authors also provide exercises, a Facebook group, and coaching.
Profile Image for Ann.
Author 32 books164 followers
February 2, 2017
This wasn't the book I was expecting it to be. I was really hoping to get some more help on focusing while writing/not being distracted, but didn't get much from the book that way. Many other readers may find this helpful, and there were several habits in here I was already practicing prior to reading the book. Don't let my review stop you from checking it out.
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