by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Last fall, I was interviewed by my friend Tom Morkes, the CEO of Insurgent Publishing and the brains behind TomMorkes.com, where he writes about getting the most out of your creativity and building success through discipline and focused hard work.
In the interview we talk about the journey to becoming a published author, how I got pointed in that direction and why, and the benefits of writing and creativity.
Our discussion just went live, and you can listen to it here. It’s episode #54 of Tom’s In The Trenches podcast, which is a forum that allows Tom to “sit down and have authentic conversations with game-changers, status-quo challengers, and creative insurgents; individuals who write, draw, produce, publish, create, break, build, invent and lead.” (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
I’m very excited to report that my second book is now published!
Meat Sandwiches: What REAL Men Eat is Book Two in the How to Steer Your Kid series, and it went live on Amazon yesterday. I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I have to say that seeing two books on my Amazon author page is pretty cool!
Writing books has always been a dream and a goal of mine – but until recently I had simply assumed it was one of those goals that was unattainable – other people wrote books, not me – more qualified, better educated, luckier people than me. I had a long list of such reasons why I couldn’t accomplish the goal myself.
But now, (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
My first book, Jet Screamer: The Pout Before the Storm, is available for sale on Amazon. From now until Saturday, November 8th, it’s on sale for just $0.99!
On Sunday, November 9th, the price will go up to $1.99, and then on December 1st it will go back to its normal price of $2.99. Get a copy while it’s cheap!
In other news, I just wrote a guest post for my friend and fellow author Ernie Dempsey. In it I talk about changing your priorities in order to change your attitude, productivity and happiness. You can check out my post here. Ernie writes cool thrillers and science fiction as well as non-fiction personal development and self-help books. He’s one of the most selfless and thoughtful people I’ve met in a long time – he’s been a huge help to me in getting my writing off the ground, so if you’re looking for a good read, check out Ernie’s work!
Lastly, I’ve started work on the sequel to Jet Screamer!
Volume Two in the How To Steer Your Kid series, Meat Sandwiches, will be released February 28, 2015. Volume Three, How To Steer Your Kid, is set to be released on June 30, 2015. Keep an eye out here for updates!
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
Sometimes it’s difficult to see our lives objectively.
We’re so close, so caught up in the living of our daily grind that we can’t always see what got us here; what we missed by taking this path, or what we gained by not taking another.
Things may look better or worse to us in our present situation, simply because of our perspective.
For example:
Twenty-two years ago, (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Today, I got published.
No, not six-figure book deal, private jet, book tour published.
Not self-published on this site either, where I control the editorial staff with an iron fist.
But published – somewhere else.
Somewhere that someone else controls – which requires knowing somebody on the inside. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
My parents grew up during the Great Depression.
That experience taught them the importance of not wasting anything – and they passed that on to me.
At meals, they impressed upon me the fact that somewhere in the world, starving kids would be happy to have leftover boiled potatoes (again?!?), so I’d better eat mine.
I took that lesson to heart, and now I have an innate aversion to throwing food away.
I hate wasting food, so I always clean my plate.
The problem is that I used to load my plate with more food than I really needed, which sadly caused my waistband to expand at an alarming rate, and led to an urgent need to change my behavior. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
In the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way But Loose, Cholla, the leader of a gang of outlaw bikers called The Black Widows, always barks the same order when his men make their entrance to a scene and dismount from their hogs:
“SPREAD OUT!!”
This is pretty good tactical advice, if you’re expecting a fight and you don’t want to get bottled up in a corner. It allows you to cover the exits, prevents opponents from easily flanking you, and establishes control over a wider area.
The only problem with the tactic was that Cholla’s men were idiots. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Completely drained.
That’s how I felt about writing today.
As I opened my laptop this evening to write something – anything – I realized that my heart just wasn’t in it.
I’m still struggling with yesterday’s news, and the struggle has seriously impaired my enthusiasm for writing.
Tragedy has a way of stealing the joy from every area of your daily life, to the point that you don’t want to do much of anything for a while.
It tends to lock you in place, and threatens to hold you there.
You lose focus, and begin to dwell on the loss, the sadness, the pointlessness of it all.
I did a bit of that today, and in the midst of my funk, I couldn’t find a good reason to write.
Then I thought about what helped me through yesterday.
Writing. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity
Yesterday, an old friend lost his life.
And though I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in more than 17 years, the news today still hit me like a kick in the gut.
We weren’t close friends.
But we were brothers in arms – stationed together in the military, we shared a common experience and a lot of good times. We shared good friends, people who knew each of us better than we knew each other, and that seemingly thin bond made us a permanent part of each other’s life story.
We shared beers, barbecue and very similar work experiences – and when it came time for me to leave the Air Force for civilian life, we went our separate ways. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity
I mentioned in an earlier post how writing every day for this site had unexpected side benefits.
I had been using Klok to track my time working on editing projects, and found it to be very helpful. After I started the writing challenge, it occurred to me that tracking my time on other projects just made sense – so I started tracking them with Klok, too.
That was February 22nd.
Before then, I had absolutely no idea how much time I was spending on (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
How do you know when a habit becomes an addiction?
It’s when the cessation of that habit causes discomfort, pain or irritation – real or otherwise.
For example, I am hopelessly addicted to coffee – which I lovingly refer to as the elixir of life. If I attempt to abandon coffee for even a short period of time, say two hours after I wake up in the morning – I‘ll suffer crushing headaches and a general feeling of anxiety. Give me my coffee, though, and my head stops hurting, the clouds part, and the world looks like a much better place.
I know I’m addicted to the stuff, and I know addiction is generally a bad state of being, but quitting coffee (at least right now) is pretty low on my list of self-improvement needs.
I have thought about it, though. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
Thirty days.
Thirty days of writing and posting something daily.
Thirty days – without a break – of forcing myself to do what I love.
It seems silly that I would have to force myself to write, when writing is what I’d like to do for a career, but it’s true.
Writing requires effort, and effort requires discipline. Thirty days ago, I was a little lean on the discipline, and as a result I wasn’t making much effort.
Then I started the Write Every Day challenge, and I learned some pretty cool concepts along the way.
I learned that when you practice something long enough, it becomes a habit – it gets ingrained into your daily routine to the point that if you stop doing it, something feels wrong. (more…)
