7 Author-Tested Tips to Supercharge Your Writing in 2025

🎙️ Recent episode: Inspiration and advice from The Bleeders podcast guests

Jan 14, 2025

Hi Bleeders!

We’re now two weeks into 2025, and hopefully, your writing resolutions are still going strong. Today, I’m bringing you some encouragement and motivation to keep you pumped up as the days go on.

I’ve curated seven standout tips from authors who’ve shared their wisdom on The Bleeders podcast. These invaluable insights have stood the test of time, sticking with me long after the initial interviews. I’m confident they’ll inspire you, too, as we endeavor to make this our best writing year yet.

1. Embrace the shitty first draft

Halley Sutton

reminds us: First drafts are bad. They’re always going to be bad, and that’s okay—you just have to get through it. Writing is rewriting; it’s all about enduring the messy first draft to reach the magic of revision. Remember, you can fix anything except a blank page. So, get those awkward initial words down and keep going!

2. Write your book an essay at a time

When faced with the daunting task of writing a book,

Hannah Howard

told herself: I just have to write 75 1,000-word essays. This perspective shift took a massive, overwhelming task and broke it down into manageable chunks that made book writing feel more achievable. Bird by bird, essay by essay, 1,000 words at a time—ultimately, that’s the secret to finishing a big project.

3. Forget everybody else

Bridgette Bianca’s recommendation is short, sweet, and liberating: Forget everybody else. That’s the PG version anyway. 😉 Instead of getting caught up in what other people are thinking, saying, or doing, stay focused on your work and don’t let external opinions derail you. Keep your eyes on your own paper and get obsessed with what you’re creating—nothing else matters when it comes to your own writing career.

4. Write consistently and keep it fun

Shelby Hinte’s advice is twofold: maintain a consistent writing practice and stay connected to the joy of writing.

“I'm a person who has to do it most days a week. If I get too far away from it, it ends up feeling really scary to me. But if I can do even just 30 minutes a day, but ideally an hour a day, five or six days a week, then it doesn't become something bigger than it is.”

Hinte makes a conscious effort to keep other people’s voices out of her head and not worry about the next steps in publishing, avoiding anything that might corrupt her creative process. Focusing on the fun of writing and our love of the craft during drafting is a North Star we could all benefit from adopting more often.

5. Avoid extremes in publishing

Chelsea Martin suggests finding a balance between rushing to publish and waiting for the stars to align.

“I think there’s two kinds of people: people who are really in a hurry to publish and people who want everything to be perfect and have their perfect publisher and their perfect huge advance and just wait forever for that.”

Instead, she tries to do the best she can in a reasonable amount of time, and then moves on to her next project—and with her life. This “progress over perfection” mindset explains how she’s become so enviably prolific.

6. Say yes to unexpected opportunities

Emmy Olea’s memoir and book proposal journey highlights the value of staying open to unexpected opportunities. She shared advice from one of her mentors: When the universe presents you with opportunities, always say yes. This mindset can lead to incredible creative and professional breakthroughs. In her case, it led to Crumbs, an audio memoir and one of the best podcasts I’ve ever heard, based on some of the stories from her manuscript.

7. Above all, persevere

elle nash

’s tip is simple yet profound:

“I would say don't spray and pray when it comes to doing queries. But also the number one predictor of success in publication is perseverance, it's not talent.”

Keep going, Bleeders. Stay consistent, stay determined, and trust the process. Achieving your wildest writing dreams is possible as long as you don’t give up.

That’s it for our New Year’s writing roundup! Let these tips guide you as you tackle your creative goals in 2025. Remember, the most important thing is to keep writing and keep prioritizing your craft. You’ve got this!

Happy bleeding,
Courtney

P.S. Check out this episode of The Bleeders podcast to double-down on the inspiration.

I’m teaching some upcoming workshops you might be interested in:

So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️

Let me know which tip resonates with you the most, and feel free to share your writing goals for the year in the comments below.

The Bleeders