Tweet All the rejections from articles, essays, and poems lay in a heavy heap over my heart. They are evidence of one thing that I have to keep learning repeatedly. Success doesn’t come from replicating successful writers. This I have to tell myself after yet another agent/teacher recommends I read a bestselling book in hopes their innovative ideas, voice or style rubs off on me. This after my insecurity makes me succumb to Oprah’s often told lesson of trying to imitate Barbara Walters. But she learned, “I can be a better Oprah Winfrey than a pretend Barbara Walters.” But no matter how…
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Tweet Thank you Stephanie and Jan for reminding me about 2 things: 1) To keep up this blog! 2) To be more compassionate. Their comment comes on the heels of a short answer I compiled for O magazine. If you want to read my little published shpeal on compassion, it’s right here. But the main reason I’m writing this is that I think too many of us get comfy in our writing couches and stop taking chances. Maybe we had HUGE dreams about what it would mean to be a freelance writer and since we didn’t achieve them, we kind…
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Tweet Some authors claim certain writing instruments do it. Others insist on a severely quiet room. Then there are those that require the opposite. Equipment and environment, however, does not ensure writing success. Each writer has to find what works for them. Yet, aren’t we chomping at the bit to know what it is that works for J.K. Rowling, for example? Or what it took for Julia Cameron to consistently pump out book after book? That’s why we attend author’s talks and listen to webinars because we’re all desperate to discover the secret recipe to writing success. It’s what drew…
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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 {photo credit} This is it! It’s December 31st, 2010. We’re just hours away from the end of the new year. Before 2011, I wanted a chance to give you one more gift. And since it’s the last one, it has to be BIG. So here we go! TIP #8: Live BIG! I don’t know if you noticed, but I haven’t been writing here very often. I actually haven’t been writing anywhere. I stopped writing. Stashed away my laptop. And even put away my pen and notebook. Why? The Importance of Shutting Down I got sick. In Eastern medicine, the…
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Tweet Photo by striatic Have you ever had a bad haircut? I’m sure we’ve all had them. As for me, I’m like TLC’s Duggarts, I’m on my fifth and counting. The thing my husband always says after I get back from another disappointing hairdo is, “I don’t get it. You tell them exactly what you want and they never do it the way you want.” “Hmm,” I thought. There’s a bit of wisdom in there somewhere. The more I pondered, the more I saw that there was a similarity between bad haircuts and bad business.