The Tool-Kit: Process, Planning, and How to Get Out of the Doldrums
The Typepad Shutdown 30th Sept 2025. If in exploring the Itch you meet a link which leads to Typepad’s ‘closed’ sign, there are three things that will help:
Don’t despair. Many of those posts do actually exist on Substack, it’s just that we haven’t managed to update that link yet.
Use the ‘search’ facility - which you can see at the top of every page of the Itch - to check if the topic you’re looking for has a Substack version. Many of them do.
If you’re feeling kind, before you leave the original page, leave a comment saying which link is Typepaddy, and we’ll do something about it as soon as we can.
‘EVERYTHING ABOUT MY WRITING IS AWFUL AND NO, I AM NOT O.K.’ : self-care for when the going gets really tough.
WHAT DO I MEAN BY ‘YOGA FOR WRITERS? And no, it’s not about putting your writerly ankle behind your readerly ear.
Itchy Bitesized 13: ARTIST'S DATES DON'T HAVE TO BE ABOUT ART
IS YOUR PROCESS EXPERIENCE-LED OR STORY-QUESTION LED? : And what does that mean for how to develop it?
WHY YOU DON’T HAVE TO RELY ON INSPIRATION : And how to cold-bloodedly make stories happen by working.
LEANING INTO THE NOT-KNOWING : How to find and work with the inarticulate, the doubtful and the a-rational space of writing (£)
FREE-WRITING: An Itch of Writing Guide : What it is, why it works, how to do it, and all the ways you can use it to develop your writing self and your work in progress (£)
Itchy Bitesized 1: THREE THINGS ABOUT FIRST DRAFTS
WHEN IT’S TOO EARLY TO START THE FIRST DRAFT : what can you do to help develop your brilliant new idea?
WHAT IS A ZERO DRAFT : and why do so many writers write them?
Itchy Bitesized 27: THREE THINGS ABOUT YOUR WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
LINES, DOTS BLANK OR GRID? Which type of notebook page is most conducive to your creative thinking?
‘RE-IMAGINING IS PARTLY A PROCESS OF FORGETTING’: Why factual accuracy in fiction is not enough, and may even be a bad thing. The post otherwise known as Yours to Remember, and Mine to Forget.
‘BE BRUTAL TO YOUR PROSE; BE KIND TO YOUR IDEAS’ : on the gentilesse of the Sword of Truth
THE POWER OF THE APPOINTMENT TO WRITE : Why it can unstick you, inspire you, and refind why you started writing
PROCRASTINATING AGAIN? AND AGAIN? AND AGAIN? : My most recent discoveries, and links to all the earlier posts on the different reasons that you might be procrastinating.
THE MUST-WRITE DEMON AND THE ANTI-WRITING DEMON: All about two creatures who bedevil (well, they are demons) most of us at some point, and some of as more-or-less permanently.
TWELVE IDEAS TO HELP WITH WRITER'S BLOCK : "Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean you won't get it" This post does what it says on the tin.
THE THIRTY-THOUSAND DOLDRUMS : somewhere between 20k and 40k, and decided that the whole thing's a disaster? You are not alone.
Itchy Bitesized 19: HOW NOT TO COMMIT WRITERLY ADULTERY
THE INNER CRITIC'S DRESSING-UP BOX : all the different ways the anti-writing demon tries to get you to stop writing.
WHAT YOUR INNER CRITIC DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW : why the louder those inner voices get, the more it's a sign that this project is worth going on with.
TRACK CHANGES : how using the Track Changes facility in your word processor can really help
SCRIVENER SOFTWARE : why I'm a complete convert to the only writing software real writers use, whether they're pantsers, planners, or imaginers-on-paper.
