In this episode I ve invited digital marketing pioneer Ann Handley to chat with me about her writing process. She s a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, brilliant keynote speaker, the world s first Chief Content Officer, and a prolific digital content creator. Ann Handley appeared on the written interview series last year and stopped by again to share her methods of madness with us. You can also see Ann live at Authority Rainmaker, a carefully designed live educational experience that presents a complete and effective online marketing strategy to help you immediately accelerate your business. Ms. Handley will be speaking about creating content that makes a difference for your business objectives by showing you how to create content that is empathetic, useful, and inspired. In addition to Ann, you ll have the opportunity to see Dan Pink, Sally Hogshead, punk legend Henry Rollins, and many other incredible speakers live. Get all the details at rainmaker.fm/event, and we look forward to seeing you in Denver, Colorado May 13th, 2015. In this 28-minute file Ann Handley and I discuss: Everybody Writes: An ‘Elements of Style’ for the Digital Age The Art of Productive Procrastination Why Your Writer’s Block May Be a Research Problem How Hard Deadlines Help Writers Ship Why You Have to Find a Way to Shape Your Ideas for Sharing The Secret to What Makes a Good Writer Great Why Your Audience Is Key to Effective Writing Proof that Paper Books are Pure Writer Porn The Value of Patience Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes Everybody Writes by Ann Handley Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business Ann Handley on Entrepreneur.com Trello E.B. White Seth Godin on The Writer Files AnnHandley.com Authority Intensive, May 13-15 in Denver, Colorado Ann Handley on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By   Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The Transcript How Bestselling Author Ann Handley Writes Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com. Kelton Reid: These are the Writer Files, a tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of working writers, from online content creators to fictionists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and beyond. I’m your host, Kelton Reid: writer, podcaster, and mediaphile. Each week, we’ll find out how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid writer’s block. In this episode, I’ve invited digital marketing pioneer Ann Handley to chat with me about her writing process. She’s a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, a brilliant keynote speaker, the world’s first chief content officer, and a prolific digital content creator. Ann Handley appeared on the written interview series last year and stopped by again to share her methods of madness with us, including her art of productive procrastination, why your writer s block may be a research problem, how hard deadlines help writers to ship, and the secret to what makes a good writer truly great. Let’s get into the file of Ann Handley. Welcome, Ann. Ann Handley: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here with you today. Kelton Reid: Who are you, and what is your area of expertise as a writer? Ann Handley: I am Ann Handley. I am the world’s first Chief Content Officer as far as I know, and no one’s challenged me on that yet. I am the author of the bestselling book Everybody Writes, the co-author of Content Rules, which is also one of the bestselling books on content marketing, and the chief content off