Archive | May, 2012

Eight Essentials Every Writer Must Master – Part 2


3. Revise and rewrite. As previously posted, Essential #2 is the willingness to write a shitty first draft. But just because you write a shitty first draft, doesn’t mean you should inflict it on anyone else. Acknowledging that all first drafts are shitty logically implies that every writer must revise and rewrite (except perhaps Isaac […]

1 Comment Continue Reading →

Eight Essentials Every Writer Must Master


1.  Show up! The other seven essentials will tell you what to do when you show up, but the most important step is to devote time to writing. Everything comes from simply showing up consistently. You must have the integrity to honor a clearly stated writing commitment. I’m NOT suggesting you have to write for […]

1 Comment Continue Reading →

7 Reasons to Join Me in a Loft Class This Summer


You can stop feeling regret about not getting around to writing and start feeling proud of the progress you make! The rest of your summer will be so much more enjoyable because you’re taking action. I’ll read and respond to ten pages of your writing when you enroll in any of my Loft Summer Classes: Writing […]

Leave a Comment Continue Reading →

No Will Power for Writing? No Problem!


“I need more discipline.” “When it comes to my writing, I just don’t have the will power I need.” When students in my Writing Habit and Around the Writer’s Block classes say something like this – and at least one or two always do – nearly every other student nods in agreement. “I’m not big […]

11 Comments Continue Reading →

Crossword Brain Game Clue #8


1 Across: wrecker or one who ruins You should now have all the clues you need to solve the Crossword Secret Phrase. Be sure to bring this Secret Phrase with you to the Around the Writer’s Block Book Launch part on August 4. Feel free to email me (Rosanne@RosanneBane.com) if you want to confirm your […]

1 Comment Continue Reading →

Sometimes Nothing is Really Something


When his wife asked him what he was doing in the garage all day, Ted, who is recently retired, told her he was doing nothing. “I thought you did that yesterday,” his wife protested. “I wasn’t done,” Ted replied. Everyone laughed at Ted’s story, but I thought, “What an intriguing idea – to do nothing […]

2 Comments Continue Reading →

Crossword Brain Game Clue #7


2 Down: eternal Summary of the clues you’ve received so far: The first word in the three-word phrase is 1 Across, the second word in the phrase is 2 Down and the third word is 3 Across just as it’s shown here. 1 Across includes 4 out the 5 vowels in English (a, e, i, […]

2 Comments Continue Reading →

Free Your Writing with Limits


In the previous post, Do You Know How to Walk Away from Writer’s Block?, I suggested you free yourself by surrendering expectations — now I’m going to propose that you can free yourself by imposing limits! Poets do it all the time. The sonnet, haiku, sestina, villanelle, quatrains, even the common limerick: poets impose plenty […]

5 Comments Continue Reading →

Do You Know How to Walk Away from Writer’s Block?


Stop trying so hard. The only thing that can create writer’s block faster than an expectation of being good is a demand to be good. Surrender your expectations of writing something good and just write. Quality vs. Quantity In Art & Fear, Ted Orland and David Bayles tell the story of a ceramics teacher who […]

1 Comment Continue Reading →

Crossword Brain Game Clue #6


3 Across: falsehoods Summary of the clues you’ve received so far: The first word in the three-word phrase is 1 Across, the second word in the phrase is 2 Down and the third word is 3 Across just as it’s shown here. 1 Across includes 4 out the 5 vowels in English (a, e, i, […]

Leave a Comment Continue Reading →