The Writers' HQ Guide to Productivity
The free course for people who want to stop fucking about and start writing.
We've all been there. You want to write but time and space and life and urgh!
The Writers’ HQ Guide to Productivity will get your butt in a chair and the words onto a page.
Listen. We’ve all been lied to. Productivity isn’t what you think it is. It’s not about working harder or longer. It’s about joy and freedom and allowing for your own priorities.
Learn how to get shit done and keep getting shit done and feel great about it.
We’re gonna help you do a whole load of word-based miracles. Fuck yeah!
This is real writing support for real people with all their real and messy lives
The Sacred Writers' HQ Promise
We won’t ask if you’ve tried writing a list.
Fall in love with your writing.
Get your story written.
Grow a meaningful, joyful and sustainable creative writing practice.
(Also drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of biscuits).
What you'll learn
How to carve time, prioritise your work, and evolve a deep creative practice
Strategies for getting the most out of every writing session
To love your writing practice and keep on going
Who you are
You have stories in your head and you want to get your butt in a chair and get them onto paper, but life gets in the way. Kids, work, executive dysfunction, the state of the world, important doomscrolling – all these things conspire against you, but you know there’s a better way and you are ready to stop fucking about and start writing.
The Writers' HQ Guide to Productivity
A goddamn motherfracking awesome five days of joyful word-based butt-kicking to break you out of your writerly malaise and get the stories flying out of your fingers, like Spiderman but with stories not webs and also not always a man <marketing jazz hands>
- Find time to write when you don't even have time to pee between kids and work and life and argh
- Accept that you are a writer even if you don't feel like you're a writer (even though you probably have a butt-tonne of story ideas and notebooks on the go and maybe even some finished stories in the bank)
- Stop being so fed up with your own dicking about and get on with writing
What's included
- Five text-base course units
- Easy to follow exercises
- Support forums and access to the best writing community this side of the internet
- Love and validation and more writing-based pep than you can shake a stick at
- Snacks*
*bring your own snacks
Sneakypeaky
LESSON 1: What even is productivity?
It's time to dismantle everything you think you know about getting stuff done and reconstruct it in a new and exciting way to get you doing things you didn’t realise you could do and be HAPPY about it. Say waaaat?!
LESSON 2: Carving out time
Why not simply get up at 5am to write? Why not simply fuck off! Use our strategies to prioritise realistic and sustainable writing times and have an immediate, positive impact on your writing.
LESSON 3: Finding joy
Use our strategies to discover what you really love writing about and see how showing up to your WIP gets more straightforward every day.
LESSON 4: Habit forming
Put a series of systems in place so that when you want to write your muscle memory for sitting down and writing is so strong you can just do it with minimal fuckery.
LESSON 5: Troubleshooting
Getting stuff done isn't always straightforward and what works today might not work tomorrow. Use our handy troubleshooting checklist to keep yourself on track.
The Writers' HQ Support Forums
Exclusive access to the WHQ forums get support and advice from your peers and Team WHQ. Including guidance on how to give and receive creative feedback.
Ready to stop fucking about and start writing?
Meet your instructor
Sarah Lewis
Sarah has spent the last 15 years supporting writers to get the stories out of their heads and into the world in a way that is joyful, sustainable and meaningful. She does not think you need to write every day to have a solid writing practice.
Nice things people said
WHQ is quite simply writer heaven. An inexhaustible source of knowledge, good advice and stimulation, this community is the perfect place to share passions and feed off of the positive energy of a truly wonderful bunch of human writerbeings.
Terry H
I really loved this course and it’s made me get off my arse and write something, whilst of course sitting on my arse with a cup of tea writing.
Sally
Thank you for the most inspiring, expansive and forgiving incentive to write that I’ve seen in a long time!
Regina
This course got me writing again after a break of nearly 20 years. Writers’ HQ is amazing! A motivating, practical, friendly course with exercises to do and a nice positive forum to discuss how it’s all going.
Catherine L
Ready? It's time to stop fucking about and start writing
Drink tea, eat biscuits, write stories, be happy
- Instant access to the Guide to Productivity
- The butt-kick you need to get writing
- Easy to use strategy and tools
- A huge, supportive community of new writer friends
Farquar
How much time will I have to do the course?
An entire lifetime! Although we recommend you blat through it in a week or two for maximum impact. Once you’ve signed up to the Writers’ HQ Guide To Productivity, you’ll have lifetime access to the course and select parts of the forum.
Can you really learn creative writing?
Yes, much like you can learn to paint or play music or learn any other art or craft. But this course isn’t about learning creative writing per se. This is about learning to sit your butt down and do the writing in the first place. We can hone your craft later.
Will I get a publishing deal?
Not as part of this course, and not through Writers’ HQ.
Be very wary of anyone who promises you publishing riches beyond your wildest dreams.
Will you read my fiction?
Alas! We love your stories but Team WHQ is a very smol team made of very smol people so we cannot personally read your stories. However! The forums are full of writers and readers sharing work and feedback and support, so that’s your go to place.
I don’t like swearing or jokes forged in the depths of the Internet
Awesome! You do you. We’ll do us. We’re probably not for you and we wish you the very best with your writerly endeavours.
I’m a little bit (maybe a lottle bit) scared. Help?!
Writing can be scary. Fulfilling your dreams can be scary. Prioritising yourself can be scary. You know what else is scary? Living in the shadow of what you could have done. Buckle up, writer. We’ve got your back. We’ll do this together.