Tweet Ever feel blogged out? Or that your world is filled with headlines and blog ideas? I sometimes get so zoomed into social media that when I zoom out to real life, my head spins. (Not the exorcist kind, the vertigo kind) So to take us all beyond this blog, I’m doing a short post to a few things outside the box: 1. Bit o’ holiday inspiration. You probably know that I write an online column for The Writer called, “Inspiration Zone.” Well this month I was fortunate enough to interview author and writing coach Rochelle Melander. She’s got great…
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Tweet Ever write with a surge of energy like a torrential downpour bringing sustenance to a dry desert? Tip tap tip tap. A never-ending stream of consciousness. It’s flow at its best. Have you ever experienced the opposite? You write so tentatively so self-consciously almost like a new nurse with a needle afraid of the potential pain you might cause. When it comes to writing how do you make the letter P stand for more productive work and less paralyzing ones? It all comes down to another P word – perception (not perfection folks!). I’ve found that in an effort…
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Tweet Sometimes when I’m creating, I feel a heaviness upon me. There’s a gorilla of a being sitting on my shoulders weighing me and my creativity down. Know him? He’s the guy that: says your writing isn’t good enough takes a kernel of negativity and rolls into a wave of self-defeating thoughts tells you you’ll never make it as a writer snickers when you finally get the courage to share your work whispers that you’re a fake and they’ll figure it out soon enough compares you excessively with other better writers Classy guy isn’t he? That kind of sinister attitude…
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Tweet It’s almost Halloween, but I’m not talking literal here. {Though I must admit the visual of a glow-in-the-dark pen, a notebook and a flashlight sound pretty cool to me.} What I’m talking about is what happens when you write with your mind half-conscious, semi-aware. Even as a full-time writer and someone who writes every day, I still catch myself doing it too. And it’s not a pretty picture. I think somewhere a long, long time ago, I got the impression that I wasn’t that creative. And more importantly, that I was a terrible, terrible writer. So instead of fessing…
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Tweet {photo} When you’re working with someone else, there will come a time when you’ll wonder why the heck you ever decided to work for yourself in the first place. I’ve heard it from fellow entrepreneurs who’s ego got beaten by constant criticisms and demands placed on them by unsatisfied customers. I’ve went through it myself. Time. And time again. The thing is… You can’t buy perfect. You can’t bottle it up and serve it on a fancy shiny silver platter. It just doesn’t exist. But sometimes you’re placed in a situation where a client believes that in exchange for…
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Tweet {photo by} You’ve worked really hard on writing that book, conceiving a new idea or blogging, but you still haven’t seen results with your efforts. Literary agent Kevin Small who I interviewed in part I of this post, sets us straight this time with the unintentional mistakes you could be making that’s sabotaging your career. 1. You’re undisciplined. Yikes. Has Mr. Small been reading my blogs? Yes, folks. He didn’t quite say that us writers are “lazy.” In fact, he said he wouldn’t use that word, but that we have a tendency to be “undisciplined.” I would like to…
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Tweet What’s so hard about putting words on paper? Well it’s a lot harder than you think when you bring psychology to the picture. Take your thoughts for example. All those doubts, criticisms, and insecurities from years long gone have piled up. And sometimes when you’re not careful, they’ll peek out at you, disguising themselves as your own thoughts. And the results? Well, it’s not a pretty picture. What Holds You Back from Your Writing flickr photo courtesy of: Lady/Bird In Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life, author Gregg Levoy says, “If we don’t confront them, if we don’t even…
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Tweet {photo credit} You’re new. And confused. The world is your oyster, but you don’t know where to start and which one’s a dud, and which one’s holding the pearl. Don’t worry. We’ve all been there. Even as experienced writers, we sometimes slip and fall into the cracks. The good news is that there are a few red flags you can take note of now to prevent the white flag of giving up down the line. Here are five: 1. The client who wants to be your best friend. I’m all about making friends and being friendly with new and…
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Tweet {photo credit} If you already know writing and getting published is tough, skip this post! As for me, I think I’ve only recently discovered the depth, cruel intensity and psychological battle that can only be described as real writing in the trenches of hard work. After more than a decade of writing (maybe even two), you would think I’d get this by now. But the realization only hit me after I started my own writer’s group. It’s been an experience that I wished I had done sooner. Although there are several reasons why I believe the members of my…
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Tweet {photo credit} Ever read someone else’s writing and cringe? Not because they did a hacked up job of writing and/or editing, but because they are SO good! They are so good that you are suddenly reduced to the insecurities of a teenager. And from out of nowhere you hear yourself saying (in a surprisingly high piercing nasally voice I might add), “Why oh why can’t I write like that?!” Been there done that my friend. I too, agonize over another writer’s perfect prose. The witty way they used that word or the colorful way they intertwined adjectives. I usually…