Tweet Ever since I transitioned into a fiction writer, I’ve run into these insane walls. It’s the kind of blocks that make you doubt your abilities as a writer. You question whether this story’s dead-end is a sign it’s time to burn it. Maybe this story isn’t meant to be, you think to yourself. Maybe you don’t have the chops to be a fiction writer. It’s not like this didn’t happen when writing nonfiction. But I was able to research might way out of it. And I had an editor with a deadline, which are good incentives. But as I’ve…
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Tweet Most people are not fans of difficult emotions. So we evade it. We distract from it. We eat. We shop. We gossip. We watch mindless TV. All to escape feeling something that isn’t bad. It’s the things we do to try to avoid it that’s bad. But feeling it is just well uncomfortable. And yet, to sufficiently deal with anything hard like grief or disappointment, we need to actually feel it. Right now there’s a lot of pain in the world. But everywhere on social media and in life we hear the same things: Buck up. If it’s not…
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Tweet It happens to the best of us. Sometimes creative blocks last a few hours after a walk or shower. Sometimes they drag on for months, even years. It’s during these times that we’re likely to give up. That brilliant premise that got us to our feet every morning now seems like a distant dream or worse a terrible idea. Yet we hear of writers who became authors after years, a decade even, after slogging through a single manuscript. If we give up, the buck stops there. But what if there were ways can we reignite that flame of passion for…
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Tweet What do you do when fear and procrastination threaten to derail your writing? Writer and coach Cynthia Morris has been writing since 1994, coaching writers since 1999 and published several articles and two books: a historical novel called Chasing Sylvia Beach and Create Your Writer’s Life: A Guide to Writing with Joy and Ease. What has helped her persist is a unique combination of yoga and what she calls, “juju.” Read on to find out how they may be able to help you jump start your own writing: “I think both my writing practice and my yoga practice made me this…
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Tweet {Guest post by: Jessica Kristie} Each hand behind the pen is different in flow, technique, and ability. The spectrum covers a massive space and the outcome is always different. With all the many walls thrown up and doors slammed, still the greatest hurdle to overcome is often our own inability to continue. We ignore our unique voice and fall prey to the weight of the world’s negative intervention. I have been writing for well over twenty years and it has been only the last five to seven that I have been fully dedicated, and giving the attention my pen…
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Tweet Inspiration doesn’t have to come from tools per se. It can come from waterfalls and mountaintops and from trekking through the forest. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be pretty where you are. I once felt inspired in a bar with my husband watching football. If you’ve got inspiration covered and are enjoying the free flow of content coming through your fingers, feel free to share your techniques below. If you’re like me and you occasionally get stuck, you may need additional ideas to keep the ideas coming. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to delve…
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Tweet I only discovered it recently. But I’m more apt to write in a crazy fit of inspiration if I’m accompanied by lots of people talking in a crowded room, the smell of coffee wafting in around me and settling on my clothes, and in the rim of a nice, comfy, worn out cheeks indented chair. That and a working vintage typewriter. I scored one recently at a flea market. I got there late with only 20 minutes to spare and saw it sitting pretty amongst dusty vases, non-affordable credenzas and chotskies I would never buy. I’ve been secretly drooling…
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Tweet This may be a silly question, but I have to ask – what do you write with? Do you have a favorite tool to get your juices flowing? It could be a pen or pencil, but some prefer typewriter or computer. I’ll admit that I’ve had somewhat of a fetish of pens and vintage typewriters lately. Yet, everything goes from notes on notepaper to words on my computer. When it comes to shorter prose, like poetry or an essay, putting pen to thoughts is the only way inspiration flows. It was a golden pen etched with a floral design…