Susan Gaines Sevilla recently finished the first draft of her novel! After I woo-hooed and congratulated her in our coaching call, she said, “I guess I should read it with a highlighter in hand to mark where it needs work, but not stop to edit it in the moment.” “Certainly don’t edit in the moment,” … More Two Pre-Edit Steps to Prevent Writer’s Resistance
Some of my students and clients fret about investing time and energy in an idea that might not develop. They worry that it’ll take too long to finish a piece. They want to be efficient. Other students and clients resist making time for Process because they don’t want to waste time playing around. They want … More Creative Writer or Efficient Writer?
If you read the previous post and thought there isn’t enough productive work in Incubation to count as Product Time, you’re going to be flabbergasted by Hibernation. Circling Through You can move through the stages of the creative process many times in one project. The drafting or revising you do in Verification can cause you … More Are You Blocked or Hibernating?
Frustration is the hallmark of Incubation, the stage between active investigation/research (Saturation) and the aha moment/ flash of insight (Illumination). In the research stage, you had a pretty good idea what to do: go look for answers, look for related questions, look at what others have done. You knew whether you’re doing your research or … More How to Create While Doing Nothing or What to Do in Product Time When You’re Incubating
What’s the difference between writer’s block and Incubation or Hibernation? Incubation and Hibernation, the third and sixth stages in the creative process, can look and feel an awful lot like writer’s block. So how you do tell the difference? Take the quiz and find out. Identify which statements describe writer’s block, Incubation or Hibernation. You … More Writer’s Block Quiz
Sometimes my Higher Self (the part of me that yearns to write) calls to me through the words of pop songs. Today Sara Bareilles’s “Brave” is my writer’s anthem. If you use a particular song to inspire your writing, please share it! I think I’ll be using “Brave” as my writing ritual to launch Product … More Be a Brave Writer
The winner of the Worst Writing Resistance Ever contest and a free copy of Around the Writer’s Block is (drum roll) Curtis Freeman. Congratulations Curtis! An excerpt of Curtis’s entry: I would like to think I have had some pretty good ideas for a sci-fi story that takes place in the mountains. Characters, locations, plot, … More And The Winner Is…
In the previous New Book Update, I talked about how, when I’m writing nonfiction, I strive to get as much out of each stage in the creative process before moving on to the next stage. But when I’m writing fiction, I spiral through some or most of the stages, then drop back and spiral through … More New Book Update: Fiction Spirals
Stephen King declares in On Writing, “If you don’t want to work your ass off, you have no business trying to write well… (p. 144).” Most writers I know are willing to work hard, to show up, put in the effort and challenge themselves to make the writing the best it can be. For my … More If You Want Your Writing to Work, You Must Play
Bane of Your Resistance 