Being creative is incomparably rewarding, so why do we all have so many ways to avoid it? My first answer to this question was my first book, Dancing in the Dragon’s Den (published back in 1999), where I explored the connections between creativity and the shadow, what Carl Jung defined as the repressed and denied … More Do You Dare Release Your Hidden Creativity?
As Lisa Cron, author of the fabulous writers’ guides Wired for Story and Story Genius, explains in her TEDx Talk, our brains evolved to attend to, engage in and learn from stories. The title of her first book is literal: we are wired for story. Your brain is a fabulous storyteller. You make up more … More Are You Lying about Your Writing? To Yourself?
I don’t mind my desk being messy, if it’s my mess. Drafts with notes, books I’m reading, student drafts, client folders or process toys (thumb piano, markers, coloring books, mini jigsaw puzzles) co-mingle on my work space just fine. I bristle a little when household accounting and bills end up here (even if I put … More Do You Have the Writing Space You Need?
NOTE: I apologize if the timing of this post dismayed or offended anyone — I scheduled it to post on September 29 before leaving town and internet connections behind. It was only co-incidence that it appeared the same day as the horrible train crash in Hoboken, NJ. Imagine you’re the engineer of a long train … More Don’t Let ‘Attention Residue’ Derail Your Writing
I hate it when anyone leaves something on my desk. In all honesty, my office is typically in a state of creative flux (aka messy). Some might question how I can even tell that someone has touched my desk. So it’s certainly not that I fixate on things being in a particular place. It’s pure … More Writer’s Block or Creatively Cramped? Give Yourself Space to Create!
Writer’s block as I define it – a persistent paralysis of wanting and needing to write but being unable to eke out the words – is rare. Blocked writers are dogged in their pursuit. They will endure hours of the mental agony of being unable to do what they most want to do, believing they … More Are You Too Smart for Writer’s Block?
The left hemisphere of the cortex, where your language centers reside, is a fabulous storyteller. You make up more stories than you know. Unfortunately, some of the stories you make up can get in the way of doing the writing you want to do. When the cortex doesn’t know why you did something – and … More Is Writer’s Block a Confabulation of Your Imagination?
I hate it when anyone leaves something on my desk. In all honesty, my office is typically in a state of creative flux (aka messy). Some might question how I can even tell that someone has touched my desk. So it’s certainly not that I fixate on things being in a particular place. It’s pure … More Position Yourself Beyond Writer’s Resistance
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?
When J. J. Austrian asked “What’s the difference between the Saboteur and legit self-criticism?” he correctly implied that we have to be able to review and critique our work with an objective eye. Good writing comes from rewriting. He also correctly implied that self-criticism can open the door to the destruction of the Saboteur. (Read … More Is Your Saboteur Blocking Your Revision?
Bane of Your Resistance 