Over the last few months, I've been thinking a lot about what Geneen Roth calls The Voice. No, this is not voice in the way we usually talk about it in literature, as in that special, sometimes elusive thing we writers are all seeking. It is the critical, harping, nagging, unpleasant voice that tells us […]
…but today's topic is faith. Call it belief if that sounds less religious or woo-woo to you. Or call it certainty. What I'm talking about here is the quality not of hope (as in, "I hope I get an agent") but of utter, bedrock, complete and total belief, (as in, "I know I'm getting an […]
Because I'm in the midst of the busiest time of my life, ever, I've actually been setting the alarm and dragging myself out of bed at 6 AM in order to make sure everything gets done. I work at home and can set my own schedule, so most days I allow myself to sleep until […]
The title of this post is the title of one of my favorite Eagles songs and also my new motto in life. The easier I take it, the more I get done. I have no idea why this is so. But I see clearly that the days I pour an extra half cup of coffee […]
So I survived the wedding festivities. And they were amazing and fabulous and wonderful. And mostly what I've been doing the last four days has been wedding-related. Thursday and Friday were all about set-up. Saturday and Sunday were all about the actual celebration. The wedding was at 5 PM, under a blazing hot sun (thank […]
Do you ever get certain phrases ringing in your head? My latest is, "bringing full attention to bear." As in full attention to my creative work, though it could be applied to just about anything. It was brought on by reading an article written by Christine Kane, in which she talked about how important it […]
We worry far too much about what others think. Have you ever had this experience: you have decided to commit yourself to a creative project, say a novel. And then you have to tell people about it. You worry about this. Because, what if they think its dumb that you want to do this? What […]
A friend writes from flood-weary Nashville that she is sometimes writing only one word a day as clean up progresses. Imperfect action. I set writing one paragraph a day on the next novel as my goal. Imperfect action. You sit down to work on your memoir and the words tumble out onto the page in […]
Do you obsess? I obsess. What do I obsess about? Well, let me list the topics: weight loss body image, earning money, my novel, getting an agent, relationships, working harder, working less, focus, the price of tea in China…you get the drift. Pretty much everything. When I obsess, my mind runs away from me. That […]
When writing, it is important to have a place to go. For instance, Ernest Hemingway always ended a writing session in the middle of a sentence, thus insuring that he had a place to go when he started the next day. I've relearned this lesson over and over again in my own work. If I […]
