Creativity coach, writing and creative process instructor, speaker, author of Around the Writer's Block: Using Brain Science to Write the Way You Want (Penguin/Tarcher 2012) and Dancing in the Dragon's Den (Red Wheel Weiser), Teaching Artist at the Loft Literary Center.
I saw my neighbor and fellow writer Beth in the park (at a safe distance). She told me her family was okay, her husband was working from home and she was maintaining her writing habits. I congratulated Beth and thought, “Well, there’s at least one writer who’s able to focus on writing.” Maybe the post … More Writing in the Time of Pandemic
As you develop a perspective like Thomas Edison’s that there is no failure, that you’re just discovering ways that don’t work on the way to finding what does work, you’ll probably feel relief. Thank God, I don’t have to worry about failing any more. You might try to talk yourself into false cheer. Alright! Good … More Writing Failure Lesson #2: Feel it Fully
Edison Refused to Fail – You Can Too Thomas Edison’s observation that he had not failed, he’d found 10,0000 ways that didn’t work (or 1,000 or 700 depending on the source) is remembered because it is unexpected. Edison’s lesson from failure was to refuse to see it. Most of us couldn’t endure finding even 100 … More Writing Failure Lesson #1: Don’t!
This is a repost from January 2018 and my top priority is still developing and publishing my Path series of science fiction novels (Essential Path and Freedom Path so far). So the very last thing I want to do is make that a New Year’s Resolution! Most New Year’s Resolutions fail in the first two … More Why Publishing My Novel Is Not a New Year’s Resolution
Okay “doomed” might be hyperbole, but ignoring historical tracking data impairs your ability to correct what’s not working and reinforce what does work for you as a writer. Tracking your Product Time not only keeps you on-track this week and this month, it gives you the long view you need to identify patterns and trends … More Writers Who Don’t Track History Are Doomed…
How much do facts matter in your writing genre? When I was very young, I decided I’d write fiction because surely fiction couldn’t need facts the way journalism and nonfiction do, so I could just make everything up. Then I realized that fiction needs facts to ground the reader in the imaginary world. But when … More Fact-Track Your Writing: Tricks of Tracking #4
The old saying “Ready, set, go!” won’t work for writers who want to track their way out of resistance and into satisfaction and success. Instead, you need to Set your intentions, Ready the resources and Go track yourself. Set Your Intentions! They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the road … More Track Your Way Out of Writer’s Block: Tricks of Tracking #3
The second trick of tracking for writing success is KISS: Keep It Simple and Seen. The system you use for tracking needs to be simple, quick, easy to use and readily accessible. It could be a chart with gold stars on your office wall, a legal pad on your desk, a Moleskine notebook in your … More Tricks of Tracking: KISS
How do you measure your writing progress: Word counts? Critical due dates? Action steps taken? I track Product Time, that is, the amount of time I spend doing anything necessary to move a writing project forward. Here’s why. While revising and reworking my novel, daily word counts of Chapter 61 shifted from 1675 to 1700 … More Tricks of Tracking: #1 Track the Right Stuff
Do you think writers must write every day? We don’t. Daily writing is a must for some writers; freedom to not write every day is a must for others. Do you think writers must read every day? Reading is essential for writers, but it is not a daily requirement. The same is true with daily … More The One Thing Writers Must Do Every Day — It’s Not What You Think
Bane of Your Resistance 