You know the feeling – the adrenaline rush of fear that makes your stomach queasy and your mouth dry; the frenzy of desperately searching through papers, files, folders, books, clutter; the insistence that “It has to be here, I can’t have lost it.” “It” is the draft that disappeared when your computer crashed, the mind […]
Bust Writer’s Block Wherever You Go
The demand that we be constantly busy producing something worthwhile can get us stuck in a linear style of thinking that is not conducive to creativity. In other words, all work and no play makes Jack a blocked writer. One of the solutions I recommend is Process, creative play for the sake of the play, […]
To Fight Resistance In-person or Online, That Is the New Question
You have a choice of taking Discover Your Way Around the Writer’s Block as an in-person class at the Loft starting October 30 or as an online class starting February 25. To take full advantage of having the AWB book available for the first time in either version, I’m revising the class materials and exercises […]
Winning the Writer’s Mental Game
World-class athletes agree that the mental game is key to winning. Overcoming writer’s block and other forms of writing resistance is key to winning the writer’s mental game. This blog, the Around the Writer’s Block book and AWB classes give you a significant edge in this part of the game. I’ve invested years teaching and […]
Break the Urgency-Induced Block
One of my mentors once told me “You can’t start doing what you don’t know how to do until you stop doing what you do know how to do.” I’ve stopped chasing what’s urgent (which I know how to do far too well) so that I can start learning how to identify what it truly […]
Is Your Writing the Victim of the Urgency Bully?
Does your writing have unexplained bumps and bruises? Does it frequently “lose” its lunch money and have to settle for the dregs of your time and attention? It is always shoved into last place in the queue? If you habitually bounce from one urgency to another, your writing will suffer. If you pay attention to […]
Emergency!
Just over a week ago, my mom had a stress test that indicated she might have a few minor blockages. She went in for an angiogram anticipating she might need an angioplasty or perhaps a stint. When I checked in that afternoon, my brother told me our mom needed bypass surgery for three significant blockages. […]