After you’ve identified possible projects (Route 1), prioritized those projects and selected a reasonable number of projects (Route 2), you’re ready to cruise down Route 3, where the “real writing” happens, right? If you saw the trick question there, good for you! First of all, Routes 1 and 2 are just as much “real writing” […]
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Writing Should Be Its Own Reward, Right? Wrong!
When we’re in the flow and the words flow effortlessly, writing is its own reward. We don’t need to reward ourselves then; in fact, giving a reward for something that is intrinsically rewarding can be counterproductive. But writing isn’t intrinsically rewarding all, or even most, of the time. The misbelief that it should be creates […]
Writing Your Best is Your Worst Idea
“The best is oftentimes the enemy of the good; and many a good book has remained unwritten… because there floated before the mind’s eye the ideal of a better or a best.” – R. C. Trench, 1861 In 1861, people had the luxury of contemplating ideas in elegant language like this. Today, we consume […]
What Rejection Really Means to Writers
How much pain will you endure to bring your writing into readers’ hands? Writers don’t have to suffer for our art, but we do have to endure rejection along the way. And rejection hurts. Literally. Neurological research demonstrates that social exclusion and physical pain trigger the same type of activity in the anterior cingulate and […]
Writers Should Maximize Their Potential, Right? Wrong!
What kind of writer are you: A tortoise — slow but steady? A hare — lazy but fast when you get around to it? Or a porcupine — excellent but unheard of? Porcupine was in the famous race between the Tortoise and the Hare, but no one ever hears about it. Porcupine knew he wasn’t […]
Waiting to Be Inspired to Write? You’ve Got It Backwards!
How would you feel if you were playing hide-and-seek and no one came to find you? What if it turned out you were “It” and everyone else was waiting for you to find them? Are you playing a backwards game of hide-and-seek with your writing? Are you hiding, waiting for inspiration to find you when […]
When Research Blocks Your Writing, Questions are the Answer
Writers who resist research often have only a vague idea of what they’re looking for, so they don’t know how to start, where to go, or when to stop. Overwhelmed by the idea of research or hoping to not have to bother with it, their writing grinds to a halt. Writers who get in stuck […]
Love it or Hate it, Research Can Block Your Writing
Writers who don’t like research often don’t know how to start. Writers who love research often don’t know when to stop. Paradoxically, the solution is the same for both types. Stuck in the Research Some writers say they get stuck in the research because they love it. Whether they know it or not, many writers […]
Kill the Darlings in Your Writing Practice
In my last post, I suggested that in addition to darlings that appear in our writing – sections we are inordinately proud of that simply don’t serve the whole of the piece – we have darlings in how we show up to write. Process darlings are the things you believe you must have, do or […]
Kill Your Darlings — But First You Have to Find the Little Buggers
Nearly every writer has darlings — both in what we write and how we write. “Kill your darlings” is great advice. The difficulty is figuring out what your darlings are. Traditionally, a darling is anything you’ve written that you are overly attached to and is not essential to the piece you’re writing. But knowing what […]
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Bane of Your Resistance 