You know the old question, how do you eat an elephant? And the answer is, one bite at a time. Well, this post is sort of like that. Because we're going to talk, you and I, about how you write, which is somewhat like how you eat an elephant: you write one chunk at a […]
Does this ever happen to you? Suddenly and wonderfully, for no known reason, you feel a flash of happiness, or a rush of sudden joy. Ah, glory. You stop to revel in it. And then… Up pops that voice. The one that whispers: Yes, but… Yes, but, remember? I can't be happy! Why? I can't […]
Seems like every other person I meet these days is doing a cleanse. I get it. Stuff gets stuck in your digestive passages and other organs and affects you in negative ways. You don't have as much pep, or as they used to call it, get up and go. You feel a bit blah and […]
One of my favorite current spiritual messages is: you are enough. Or, to put it more personally, I am enough. I've written about this before (actually twice, here and here,) but it is important enough (there's that word again) to write about it again. Because, as a writer, it is hard not to constantly question […]
I volunteer with an organization called Step It Up, which connects high school students with experts in their chosen careers, and offers advice and support around jobs. Over the last couple of months, I've done a couple of writing workshops for them, with a co-leader who is a teacher. The last two days we've been […]
Convincing a group of at-risk teens that writing is not only a useful activity, but a fun one, could be a bit of a challenge, wouldn't you say? And that was my charge at a workshop I co-lead on Monday for an organization I volunteer for, Step It Up. The nonprofit hosts a Career Club […]
When it comes to fiction writing, lately I've been struggling. First I was totally committed to writing one novel. Oh, but no. Then I decided that I absolutely, positively was in love with a different idea. Until I desperately needed to work on yet a third idea, the best one yet! This has been my […]
I'm playing around with a new character, whose life is defined by the books she reads. And this has made me ponder how intertwined my life is with the books I read. I refer to characters from books I've read in my brain all the time, sometimes learning from their actions, or using what they […]
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 […]
When something isn't working, there's a reason. I know. Duh. But how many times have you sat at your computer, beating your head against your desk, trying to make something work that isn't working? Trying to force a character to do something she doesn't want to do, or writing a scene in a location that […]
