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. If…
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When I was frantic last week, a few fiction writers graciously helped me out. And so did an article I picked up today. As I side note: Did you ever notice that answers come when you ask the right questions? The surprising source was one of my favorite home decor magazines, Coastal Living. In their November 2011 issue, Million Dollar Decorators star Kathryn Ireland answers a few decorator question. I skimmed through them until I stopped at this: If you can’t make it out, it says: What are your rules for hanging art so that it looks pleasing and not…
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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 that…
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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 life…
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I love hearing about the journey that prompted other writers to write. Some writers believe they were born with it-a passion for writing that began as soon as they learned how to write. For others, writing came later in life. Something spurred them to get words down on paper and their career took off from then. My guest blogger this week is author Jessica McCann. She’s another writer that I’ve admired from afar and it brings me great pleasure to share where her writing story began. It’s a good one! by: guest blogger One Saturday morning, not long ago, I…
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Hi guys! You may remember writer and editor Sarah Nagel who guest blogged for me last week. Well she’s recently published a book with Blue Mountain Arts called How to Be Happy No Matter What! and I’m happy to have been able to review her book. I’m also giving away a free copy of the book that I promise will help inspire you to keep writing. Just go here to find out the easy way you can enter.
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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 quiz…
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A lot of writers I’ve talked to and read about say that no matter how much they’ve written, published, or even obtained awards for, they still feel like a fake. And I’m one of them. I sometimes wonder what it would take for me to feel validated as in the words of one writer friend, “a real writer.” As if, there was such a thing. Although I enthusiastically try to point out all the reasons he is a writer: the fact that he actually writes (writing a novel, in fact) and has a tremendous passion for it, I can hardly do…
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Boggled by how to write a press release? When you’re first starting out, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the different types of writing out there. But once you learn how to write it, it’s just one more thing you can add to your portfolio. This time I’ve got help from a guest blogger to show you how to do just that. by: guest blogger Four Things to Remember When Writing Press Releases Not everything that a reporter writes is scooped by him or her. A lot of times, the news finds the reporter. Press releases are tools used…
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This post was inspired by two writers. If Cathy Miller’s post and Michelle Rafter’s post got married, then in my warped mind, they’d created this baby of a post. I don’t know if this is a Hawaii thing, but my friends and family loved the 12 Days of Christmas (the song, not just the real thing). So this is my ode to both the holidays and freelance writers. Here we go: On the first day of Christmas my clients gave to me a payment sent effortlessly On the second day of Christmas my clients gave to me two dollar a word…