“Writing is a lonely occupation at best. Of course there are stimulating and even happy associations with friends and colleagues, but during the actual work of creation the writer cuts himself off from all others and confronts his subject alone. He moves into a realm where he has never been before — perhaps where no […]
Reading Others While You’re Writing Yours
/ 2021-08-13“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King A friend recently said she cannot read someone else’s book when she is writing. Jokingly, I asked her if she could walk and chew gum at the same time. . . two […]
Discounting the Word NO
/ 2021-08-07What really matters is what you do with what you have. ~ H. G. Wells As a writer, you will hear the word no. Or at least some of its cousins, like, “not interested,” “cannot use this at this time,” or “this is not for us.” That’s expected. Here is where writers have a crossroad decision to […]
We Are All Busy
/ 2021-08-07Why is it we worry about whether we think other people think we are busy? If someone asks what we’ve been doing, we have to make sure it sounds terribly busy. Too-much-to-do-in-a-day-type busy. We feel we have to sound like we’ve been too busy to write, or that we’ve been hard at it, just not […]
Who’s On Your Team?
/ 2021-06-26While researching for an article, I came across a quote from Proverbs 31:15: “She gives portions to her servant girls.” The context was a wise woman looking after her household and business. Two questions came to mind. Who’s on my writing team? How are they rewarded? As I considered the answers, I knew it […]
Do You See Obstacle or Opportunity?
/ 2021-05-21This is a dilemma I’ve fought my entire life. I mean, consciously…seriously grappled with. In my earlier years, I decided nothing would get the best of me. I gave everything my all, and if I did not ace whatever it was, then I hadn’t tried hard enough. I saw life as nothing but challenge and […]
Synchronicity
/ 2021-05-10All writers have experienced synchronicity—two or more people coming up with the same idea at the same time. If you write long enough, synchronicity will happen to you, too. Historically, many inventions and theories have surfaced simultaneously, often from people on opposite sides of the globe. For example, two scientists came up with the theory […]
Scheduling Habits
/ 2021-04-23I just read a piece by Seth Godin (love him!), in which he talks about choosing what we do in our day-to-day existence. I preach something quite similar; just ask the people I teach at conferences. (Conferences…remember them?) We are somehow hardwired to plan our days. The only days we don’t is when we take […]
Notebooks of Your Talent
/ 2021-04-09I love notebooks. I keep three ongoing at all times. When I started out, I used one. It served me well then, and at the end of the year that notebook went into my income tax records. Then I evolved. Today I keep one for my business side of writing which incorporates ideas, phone calls, […]
How Do You Do It?
/ 2021-03-20In the writing world, writers hang on understanding how another writer found success. They want to know the secret, the magic, or the inherent talent required to duplicate that success. We want to know the right path out of the woods. No two writers find success the same. That is the wonder and the bane […]
Slow Down and Let It Rise to the Top
/ 2021-03-12If you keep a blender going, the ingredients swirl and combine until you have a product that looks little like its original parts. But if you shut off that blender, and you let the pitcher sit there for a few hours, something will usually settle to the bottom . . . or float to the […]
Finding Your Writing Pleasure
/ 2021-02-12But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white—then melts forever. –Robert Burns (1759–96) Mankind is forever in search of pleasure, and writers are forever seeking some sort of sweet spot of success that works forever. I know, that […]