Writing, like so many creative endeavors, is a strange gig. We writers do everything we can to avoid working on our projects, but then when we finally get to it, we don’t want to stop. While in many arenas, obsession is not considered a good thing, we creatives tend to cultivate it. I’ve recently written […]
I know. This is like, the ten thousandth blog post you’ve read on Nanowrimo. I wrote one myself (well, okay, it was sort of about the election, too), and there’s another good one here. But, here’s the deal. As the headline promised, I’ve been reminded of some helpful core truths about the writing practice […]
You’ve revved up your brain, planted your butt in the chair, and now you’re ready to write. I sometimes envision this moment as that of a piano player: you place your fingers on the keys, expecting great music to pour forth….and nothing happens. You freeze. You don’t know what to write. Or the words won’t […]
(For the best part of this whole post, scroll to the end for the video. Seriously.) When last heard from on Sunday, I was extolling the virtues of meditation and other such mental activities. Which might lead one to believe that one can sit in one’s chair and let one’s mind do all the work. […]
Every morning on my calendar I note how many words I’ve written (my main fiction writing time is early in the morning). My goal is 1500-2000 words a day, which is a nice pace for me. If I’m on, I can hit 2K easily, but on off days, 500 words is a stretch. Counting words […]
So there you are. You've cleared your schedule and made time to write. The kids are farmed out, the dog is asleep, your partner is happily watching something stupid on TV. You open a file, place your hands on your keyboard, and ….. nothing happens. You don't know what to write. And when you don't […]
My outdoor writing space It is hot here in Portland, mid to upper 90s all last week and more of the same this week, with temps predicted to reach into the 100s by the weekend. We usually get some hot hot weather during the summer, but this is very early for a heat wave and […]
The task of a novelist is to tell a story so riveting that it will hold a reader’s attention for hundreds of pages. To do this, the author must first know the story intimately herself—which is the reason we write rough drafts (also known as “discovery drafts” or, my favorite, from the beloved Anne Lamott, […]
