Second-year medical school students are known to experience symptoms of many of the diseases they study, at least for the week they’re studying that particular ailment. It’s the placebo effect in reverse – focusing so much attention on symptoms causes med students to think they have them. “It’s not necessarily the reality that shapes us, … More Writer’s Block and Medical Student Syndrome
If you’re struggling to find a clever transition or the structure for your book, if you’d kill for a killer plot twist or the perfect word, you’re in luck! If you’re frustrated, stymied and stuck, congratulations! Frustration is a sign you are on the verge of a breakthrough. Frustration is not just an unpleasant side … More So You’re a Frustrated Writer… Are You Frustrated Enough?
I planned to write a different post and publish it yesterday; I hadn’t planned to get vertigo. So instead, here are my musings on balance and the lack thereof. Observation: It’s difficult in the extreme to write when the room keeps spinning and the monitor jerks from side to side. It’s difficult to even stay … More Best Laid Writing Plans…
Beware! Here Be Distractions! Distraction is one of the most common forms of writing resistance. Sometimes distractions force their way into our consciousness. But sometimes we actively go looking for something to distract us from writing. Opening email before I’ve put in my Product Time usually means I’m trying to distract myself. Looking at Facebook … More Too Distracted to Write?
There’s nothing funny about feeling blocked or recognizing that you’re spending more time resisting than writing. But the solution might be a laughing matter. Humor Increases Creativity Recent research shows that “mirthful laughter” triggers your brain to release gamma waves, which are the brain’s highest electrical frequency. Gamma waves are required to achieve an aha! … More Laugh Your Way through Writer’s Block
“Everything stinks until it’s done.” – Dr. Seuss You may have heard me say (or read my post) that to write well, you have to be willing to write badly. But do you know when to write badly? Writer’s Craptime Writing badly is what Anne Lamont calls the Sh*tty First Draft, Marla Beck calls the … More Writer’s Naptime or Craptime?
In Part 1 of this two-part guest post from Joel D Canfield, Joel highlighted the limitations of trying to write book-length prose SOLELY by the seat of your pants. In this post, he explains how he structures a story without losing the benefits of “pantsing.” Joel is the author of fourteen books and the Someday … More The Ultimate Tool for Getting Pantsers Through Their Resistance to Plotting: Guest Post by Joel D Canfield
Once again, author and author consultant Joel D Canfield made an intriguing comment, this time on the question of Who Gets More Creative Flow: Planners or Pantsers, so I invited him to expand his comment into this guest post. Joel is the author of fourteen books and the Someday Box blog for those who want to … More How My Writing Process Saved the Day, and How it Can Save Yours: Guest Post by Joel D Canfield
The last time we made lamb kabobs, I slow cooked what was left on the chops, then spent a half hour or so trimming the meat from all the fiddly little bones as a treat for the dogs. While my hands and my surface mind were occupied, my deeper mind was free to ponder a … More Are You an Over-Convenienced Writer?
“The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because s/he imagines it to be fast.” David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art and Fear A corollary to Bayles and Orland’s observation is that creativity is frustrating not because we fail, but because we think we should always succeed. Failures are not stop … More Writing Failure Lesson #4: Put It in Perspective
Bane of Your Resistance 