Forget about discipline and will power. What writers really need are habits. Here’s why. All the really cool writers have habits: Maya Angelou, E.B. White, Ernest Hemingway, Steven King, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, JK Rowling. (We can only guess what habits EL James employs… no wait, I’d rather not.) Habits get stronger every time … More Seven Reasons Writers Need Habits More Than Discipline
I’m honored and thrilled to deliver the keynote “Creativity and the 50 and Better Brain” at the Loft’s Creative Writing for Writers Aged 50 and Better conference on October 5. Is your 50 and better brain up to the creative challenge of writing? Absolutely! Your brain is changing, not deteriorating. Discover how to leverage the … More Free Writer’s Conference and Book!
Want inspiration and a role model for how to exhale the fear that keeps you from writing the way you want? Zia Terry, standing at the top of a ski jump wearing a helmet-cam, shows us how it’s done! Notice how Zia lets herself feel the fear. She asks questions that help her talk her … More Exhale Fear Like a Little Girl
The only physiological difference between fear and excitement is in the exhale. When you’re afraid, you take a sharp breath into the top part of your lungs and hold it. When you’re delighted or excited, you take a sharp breath into the top part of your lungs and then you let it out in an … More Remember the Exhale
Is there a difference between a creative flow state (while writing or engaged in any other creative activity) and being lost in a digital trance (which could include being absorbed by TV, emails, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, shopping, etc.)? Both getting lost in the creative flow and letting digital media hypnotize you are engrossing trance states. Both totally absorb … More Are You Lost in Creativity or Lost in Cyberspace?
Sometimes postponing is a form of resistance, but in this case, postponing is the first step in resolving resistance. I don’t want to, but I really need to move a few projects from my Current Projects list to my Someday list. So with regret, I’m postponing my new fiction project. I still play with the … More New Book Update: Why I Need to Postpone My Novel
Knowing what you’ll do when you start editing a manuscript reduces the resistance you might experience when you transition from drafting to editing. In our previous post, Mary Carroll Moore, author of Your Book Starts Here and a dozen other books, writing teacher, editor and book doctor (more about Mary), shared her insights in Steps … More A Step-by-Step Editing Plan to Prevent Resistance Part 2 Guest Post by Mary Carroll Moore
Of course resistance can arise at any stage, but many writers stall out in the transition from drafting to revising. Revising is so different from drafting, it’s not surprising if you find yourself postponing or looking for direction in unusual places, say your sock drawer or the back of your fridge. In this guest post … More A Step-by-Step Editing Plan Can Prevent Resistance Guest Post by Mary Carroll Moore
In the previous post, we identified the first of two essential pre-editing steps: read your draft and just love it. Jumping from loving your draft to critically analyzing it or starting to edit, reword, rework, cut, slash and burn would be a bit like ending a honeymoon with a stop at a divorce lawyer’s office. … More Pre-edit Step Two to Prevent Writer’s Resistance
Bane of Your Resistance 