Tweet I’ve spent enough time studying the grooves of my ceiling to know that every creative person, writers included, needs to take risks and risk the repercussions afterwards. Just like you may have a flood of ideas and are eager to set each one free, you may spend nights like me staring at the ceiling bemoaning over your impulsivity for not being more discriminating. That comes with the territory. In the five years that I’ve spent freelancing, I’ve banged my head over my keyboard (figuratively) enough times to put Don Music to shame. (If you need a refresher, he’s the…
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Tweet I have a lot of writer friends who started out all gung ho and then let their mojo slide when the going got tough. My ego would like to say it’s the way we weed out the true writers from the pack. But I know the truth. The truth is that writing is scary. We all have moments where we doubt whether we’re really that good or even good enough. And this could change moment to moment, day to day. Sometimes I think I wrote the best piece ever at night, only to wake up the next morning and…
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Tweet If you’re writing every day, there will come a time when you sit at your computer and nothing comes. Zilch. Zero. And it sucks. It sucks because you still have to get whatever it is done. You can’t use writer’s block as an excuse anymore than you could blame your dog for eating your homework. So what do you do? These things have been helping me recently: 1. Shutting down. Not emotionally, but electronically. I choose one day a week when I turn off my computer, ignore my cell phone, and refuse to even read a book or a…
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Tweet Fellow writer Daylin Van Zandt sent me a message over Facebook today that inspired me. He decided to quit his full-time job to fulfill a dream. I’m so excited for him! One of his dreams is to start a community magazine. While he has the networks and the know-how to get started, he wanted some tips, advice, suggestions on what steps to take to get cracking on this latest endeavor. I asked Daylin if I could post his question on my blog in the hopes that you generous and wise readers could help out. His message is below. Please leave a…
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Tweet The Pain in My Neck I went to the chiropractor for the first time in a decade today. I’ve been having a literal pain in my neck and shoulders and wanted to find the culprit. Although the results were inconclusive, the chiropractor did tell me something intriguing. He said my posture was messed up. Okay he didn’t say that exactly, but he did tell me that I was tensing one of my shoulders and hunching my back. I realized that just as we hold onto bad ideas, dysfunctional relationships and negative thoughts, we also unconsciously hold onto our bodies…
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Tweet Do you write because it’s your secret platform for venting and free expression? Do you write because it’s the one thing you’re good at? Do you write because you can’t imagine not writing? Or is it simply your career? Your main source of income. Your livelihood. The reason why I ask is that remembering why we write is important. When we’re in the trenches, when writing feels like walking in slowly sinking sand, it’s easy to want to give up. But the one rescue line, the key to pulling us out of desperation and dismay is to remember why…
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Tweet One of my favorite blogs Young House Love wrote an honest and helpful post on Dealing With Criticism the other day. While I’m one of their long time loyal fans, I found this last one so inspiring simply because of how applicable their post was to not just blogging, or even writing, but life itself. How often do you crumble to the ground when you receive negative feedback? Being a writer takes guts. It takes courage to write your thoughts on paper and then an extraordinary amount of resilience to brace yourself when the crap comes. Because it will.…
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Tweet I’m venturing into an unfamiliar territory. Fiction. Ack! Talk about anxiety. Fellow fiction writers I welcome your input on this one. Anyway, I let my husband read passages from it every once in awhile. And while I wait, I try to appear calm, but I’m really scrutinizing every eye movement, every shift in his position. What I got from him this time scared the bejeezus out of me. “It’s good. But I’m worried about one thing.” “What?” I asked. At this point, my mind went to horrible, bad plot, unbelievable characters, amateur storytelling. What he said was, “I’m worried…
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Tweet When I first started my career as a full-time freelance writer, I didn’t know what I was doing. I made a ton of mistakes. I still do. But in looking back, I realized I neglected one thing. Myself. I’ve been reading Julia Cameron’s classic book The Artist’s Way. It’s taught me how the decisions we make about who we bring into our lives can have a powerful impact on our creative as well as personal life. She says: “Whether they appear as your overbearing mothers, your manic boss, your needy friend, or your stubborn spouse, the crazymakers in your…
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Tweet This post came at a perfect time! After just spilling my guts about how I sometimes fake it as a writer, I received the post below from author and editor Sarah Nagel who I’ve been following on Twitter. It gives practical advice to overcome the self-doubt that writers and all creatives face. I’m so grateful to have her here. You’re going to gain a lot from this post. by: guest blogger The first time I saw my name in print, I was ridiculously excited. I yelped and called my sister over to the magazine rack to show her the…