15-Minute Writer Manifesto

I did this for my other blog, Grist for the Muse, so it makes perfect sense to do the same with 15MW. I have struggled keeping a blog on this topic. 

This was supposed to be inspiration and support for what was going to become my next book: The 15-Minute Writer: How to Live Your Creative Writing Dreams in Just 15 Minutes a Day. The proposal got fried on a flash drive that I didn’t back up. I have most of it in hard copy, but the topic really didn’t fire me up. I just didn’t connect with it. It felt like I had declared it to be my next book project simply because it was a cool premise with a cool elevator pitch that a couple of agents thought would be engaging. That was back in 2007. I do still like the concept though. The 15-Minute Writer will be a book someday, maybe even a series of books, but not for a while. 

Writers finding time to write is a universal problem that few people address on an ongoing basis. I hope the 15-Minute Writer will fill this void with good advice, cool products, and excellent resources.

The 15-Minute Writer covers tips, tools and topics for your writing time-management needs to help you live your creative writing dream in Just 15-Minutes a Day. I will do this by adhering to the following guidelines:

1. Not to rely so much on my experiences and knowledge for the blog. You can get that anywhere on the web. I’ll still put together original articles and content, just not rely on it as much as a basis for the blog.
2. Focus on content that either helps you write faster, or saves you time and money which frees up some time for writing.
3. Post cool things of interest about writing, time management and organization that I stumble across on other blogs and web-pages.
4. Inject my “humble” opinions on these items of interest, when applicable.
5. Not be so afraid to inject my “humble” opinions on those items of interest, the writing life, or life in general.
6. Post more often. At least once a week, although I’d prefer to make a habit of posting 2 or 3 times a week, to keep you coming back to see what’s going on.
7. Answer and thank those who take the time to leave comments on my posts.
8. Share my journey – Because I struggle with these issues just like you do. I have a day job, 4 kids, a menagerie of pets, a house and a yard and all of the responsibilities that come along with them. So it is hard for me to juggle all of these flaming chainsaws and still get the writing done.
9. Stop being such a technical idiot. Learn to format these entries so they can be easily read. Maybe how to put a nifty picture or two in ‘em from time-to-time. I’d like to overhaul the design of this while I’m at it… but not right away.
10. Stop being such a perfectionist. Perfectionism wastes time.
11. Be entertaining. There are so many interesting and engaging writers out there. I want to be like them. And help you get writing done.
12. Continue the Shameless Self Promotion. A guy’s gotta eat, right?
13. Be available to answer your questions.
14. That these guidelines of this manifesto are fluid and subject to change as determined by my mood, audience response, and interests change.