The traditional writing life: you write a novel, submit it to an agent, it gets sold to a good publishing house and they do a lot of work to market you. Ads in print publications, a book tour, readings and signings galore. If you are a literary type, you might take a job teaching writing […]
My apologies to those of you currently buried under snow, or digging out from your latest blizzard, but here in Portland, we've had one of the warmest winters on record. The rhodies, daffodils and crocus have been blooming for a couple weeks now and the temps are regularly reaching 60 degrees. We've even had us […]
Last night I painted. A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about not making having time to paint. And finally, last night, I got to it. This morning, I realized one of the reasons, besides the pure fun of it, that painting is so good for me. It is because I am approaching it […]
Yesterday, I wrote about watching the Winter Olympics and how Bode Miller winning gold inspired thoughts about stepping up to the plate. Today the subject is story. My daughter and I were watching the men's ski cross races on Sunday night. This is a relatively new sport, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I […]
Stop the presses for this news flash. I've been watching TV. Specifically, the Olympics. I often write about what a time waster watching TV is and I truly don't watch much of it myself, except, for reasons inexplicable to me, American Idol. But one thing I love is the Olympics, specifically, the winter Olympics. So […]
I'm struggling. I'm having a hard time writing my next novel. There, I've admitted it. I, the one who constantly harangues you to write every day, to keep the momentum going by checking into your project on a daily basis, I, that very same person, am having a hell of a time working on my […]
I'm reading a book that I'm going to review here as part of a blog tour for the author. The book is called Second Sight, by Judith Orloff, and it is a memoir/self-help book. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, because the review isn't slated until March 1st. I'll be writing much more […]
Since I seem to have been writing a lot lately about fear, and how to keep it at bay while you write, I thought it might be time for a little practical exercise. This is one I present in my Writing Abundance workshop. I did it for the first time years ago and have found […]
How do you stay true to the pure heart of what you are writing? The other day, in my Burning Questions post, I invited people to leave their burning questions.* Yesterday's post came from one question. Today I'm going to answer another one, this one from Patty, who has a thoughtful blog you should check […]
Consider two writers: Writer A, is unbelievably talented. She writes prose so gorgeous and true and deeply felt it makes your hear break. Not only that, she has that ineffable trait called a voice. You'd recognize her writing anywhere and drop everything to read it. In short, Writer A has talent. Scads of it. But […]
