As a child, when I was at my grandparents' house, I was always intrigued by the mysterious portrait above the sofa. I tried to capture her gaze but to no avail. Who was she? All I was told was that she was my great-great-grandmother Betsy of Italian descent and that the world-famous Piet Mondrian painted her…

Dan Brown’s thrillers are controversial, addictive, sell millions of copies, are turned into blockbuster films starring Tom Hanks, and are loved by many. He is one of the world’s most successful thriller writers.

I’ve never written a thriller before, but I have followed Brown’s Masterclass years ago (which I highly recommend). I found that the lessons for thriller writing are universal and can be applied to any type of writing…

A short guide to writing your proposal

If you are writing a non-fiction book, you must write a book proposal to pitch to agents and publishers. You don’t need a complete manuscript as long as you’re able to intrigue your reader and sell your story.

Below you’ll find all the requirements for a solid book proposal. Using examples from my last book proposal, I will explain the steps that eventually resulted in a publishing deal.

These are my suggestions, which have worked for me…

Every aspiring author’s dream is to get a publishing deal and share their story with the world. If it were easy, everyone would do it. It’s the struggle that’s part of the payoff when you finally pull it off.

There is no one-stop way to get a publishing deal. At least not if you want to go with traditional publishing. If you self-publish, the Amazon Kindle store is probably the best way to go.

For the book I’m working on, that was not the road I wanted to take. I wanted a real publisher with an editor and everything. Someone who guides me and my story, so it becomes better. A publisher who helps me to promote the book in the right way when the time comes. I want my book to be in bookstores.

Here’s the unusual way I managed to get it…

How to create a daily writing rhythm and use exercise to boost your creativity.

Haruki Murakami’s routine is one to envy, but it requires discipline. He wakes up before 5 a.m. and writes first thing. In the morning, his focus is at its peak, a moment when he can work on the most essential work of the day, which is usually writing a novel.

Then he works out. His discipline is reflected in his running routine. He aims to run every day or at least six days a week. That is a commitment. When he gets back home, he focuses on work that’s doesn’t require much concentration. He concludes the day by relaxing, reading and listening to music. Then he goes to bed early.

Does this routine make him one of the most prolific writers in the world?

Submitting your short story to publications is still the best way to (start) building your writing career. There are hundreds of journals in the US alone.

Authors like Bukowski and Stephen King started their careers getting their short stories published in magazines like Esquire or Playboy. Their work was noticed and they got the traction they needed to land publishing deals for their future work.

The question is: what is the best way to submit your short story to journals? Finding the right journal for your work is time-consuming, especially if you have no clue about the publication landscape…

There are countless ways to approach short story writing. The challenge is mainly to finish one that’s engaging, authentically you, well-structured, and inhabited by great characters.

The following ten steps will help you tackle these challenges and publish a well-written gem of a story…

Coming up with story ideas is a process that has always fascinated me. I love that feeling when an idea suddenly rushes over you unexpectedly. That jolt of energy that makes you want to create.

Magical moments like these happen serendipitously, which is the beauty of it. That doesn’t mean that you can’t help the universe of ideas a bit to find you.

Towards the end of 2019, an idea for a book found me that has been right under my nose ever since I stepped into my grandparents’ home. Unfortunately, it took me 30 years to grab hold of it.

My gran used to own a portrait painted by the famous Dutch painter Mondrian before he became famous for his abstract work with the squares in white and primary colors. It was our family secret. Until she sold it about two years ago and the Dutch artworld marveled at the new addition in the works of Mondrian…

“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” - Neil Gaiman

What do you experience when you create? I get transported to new worlds and imaginary places. It soothes me when I write. Never before have I found something that makes it so easy for me to get in a flow state. What does creating do for you?

Creating something that didn’t exist before is like magic. It truly makes life interesting. What would we do without art, exhibitions, books, movies, TV-shows, or inventions? It helps us through the good and the bad times. It teaches something about ourselves and our place in the world. This is, however, the consumer part of it. You want to be a creator and keep creating. How can you best approach this mindset and lifestyle?

The technical parts of writing short stories, developing a solid routine and publishing your work.

“A short story is a different thing altogether — a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.” — Stephen King

The Unexpected Way I Found My Agent.

For years I dreamed about getting a publishing deal and now I’m as close as I can possibly be.

Some agents scour the internet and approach writers who speak to them. Since that hasn’t happened to me yet, I found creative ways to turn the tables and increase the chance of landing an agent myself.

The first method was a bullseye shot, let’s dive in.

A comprehensive and complete guide to creating your first online course.

Do you want to create an extra source of income? A passive source? Do you have extra time available to create something that requires quite some effort now but will continue to pay you for months or years on end if you do it right?

So, how can you turn your knowledge into a valuable course that sells? This post contains simple steps to develop your course from start to finish. I based this article on my own experience, but also of that of my friend who made over 6 figures from one 4-hour course.

How to Adopt the Mindset of a Writer.

“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place — that’s what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one. The often surprising result of that hunt — that’s what I call Big Magic.” — Elizabeth Gilbert

How to turn the first draft into a polished gem.

Discover the 3 round self-editing process to solve inconsistencies, humanize your characters, and polish your work.

Here’s a fun exercise. Someone recently asked me: ‘what do you see when you’re writing fiction?’ I was startled by the question. It felt like a very intimate question. What you ‘see’ as a writer when you write, feels personal to me. It’s a process that shines a light into the corners of your soul. It’s like asking how imagination works.

I replied that I had no clue where to begin to explain that. ‘Well, you’re a writer, aren’t you?’ she asked. An inconvenient truth at that moment. The ultimate dare for a writer…

Use proper structure, sensible tropes, and explore potential consequences.

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction - its essence - has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” – Isaac Asimov

2020 has already started. New opportunities arise. It’s a time for reflection, goal setting, and action.

Do you (finally) want to write your book this year?

Perhaps you dreamed of it for years, but you have no idea where to start. The task seems daunting at first. An entire book? That takes ages. On the contrary, if you break it up in small parts, you can write that first draft in less than a year.

An average novel is about 80,000 words. Potentially, if you’re able to cram out 1,000 words per day, you can write it in 80 days. Or, with 500, 160 days. That’s less than six months!

8 Steps that help you control your story and please your readers.

Hugh Howey: “To become a better writer, it helps to understand how the delivery of words affects a reader’s mood and their retention of information. The most important tool in this regard is pacing.”

Short story writing prompts based on self-examination.

As Maya Angelou famously said: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Sometimes we just need a little nudge in order to be able to bring those untold stories to the surface.

Challenge yourself and push yourself to become a better writer.

I never write about Medium. There are better authors on the platform to help you navigate your Medium journey with better insights and experiences.

It’s safe to say that writing on Medium challenged me to become a better writer