What’s your vision for your writing in 2015? Not a boring, corporate-like planning and strategy session—a real vision. Sure you need to ask those logical, linear, pragmatic questions that the left hemisphere knows are important. But you also need to invite the right hemisphere to play too, if you want a truly creative vision. Questions … More Beyond New Year’s Resolutions to New Year’s Vision
Question: What’s the difference between a New Year’s resolution and a broken promise? Answer: About three to six weeks. Research shows that 78% to 88% of New Year’s resolutions fail. Resolutions are destined to fail in part because they rely on will power, which cannot last. Applying will power is repeatedly making a decision to … More Resolved: No More Writing Resolutions!
If you’ve ever agonized over deleting a sentence, paragraph or whole chapter, but know it’s what you need to, there may be relief. Not always, not even often, but every once in a while, you can reincarnate the darling you had to kill. In a previous post, I described how identifying the fixed points in … More New Book Update: Reincarnate Your Darlings
Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Yule, New Year all celebrate the return of light out of a time of darkness. Even though winter starts today in the northern hemisphere, from this day forward, every day will be a little longer. The sun will rise a few minutes earlier and set a few minutes later each day. The … More Celebrate Light and Dark
Brace yourself: the holidays are upon us. We have decorations to put up, presents to buy, cards to send, special dinners to cook and treats to bake, parties with co-workers, get-togethers with family and friends, and plays and concerts to attend. It’s a fact that most of us have more opportunities and obligations around the … More Don’t Let the Holidays Block Your Writing
Writers ask me, “How can I tell when I’m resisting my writing?” “You make your best guess,” I tell them. Before they can realize how much of an answer that isn’t, I describe typical examples of resistance, many of which sound familiar enough to assure them that resistance is part of their writing life and … More Ask Not for Whom Resistance Tolls
If BaneOfYourResistance is one of your favorite writing blogs, if my posts have given you insight, comfort, encouragement, information or practical advice that has helped you keep showing up for your writing, if you think other writers would benefit from knowing about this blog, I humbly request you nominate BaneOfYourResistance.com as one of the Top … More A Request from One Writer to Another
If this Thanksgiving post sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve published it before. It bears repeating. As a writer, what do you give thanks for? Your computer? Teachers who taught you to read and write? Writers who inspire you? Your vision and the flexibility of your fingers and brain? Do you give thanks for your resistance? … More Thanks for the Resistance – Again!
Process is typically the most challenging habit for writers to dedicate time to. Creative play for the sake of play seems so frivolous and non-productive. But before you ditch Process for the sake of something “more valuable,” consider my latest intel on how play pays off: Process leads to mind-wandering, aka daydreaming, which in turns … More Writers Need Creative Play to Get Their Minds Wandering
My previous post introduced the paradox that imposing structure as I revise my novel gives me more creative freedom. This “structured freedom” allows characters and scenes to evolve with dissolving. How the Draft Evolves by Changing Locations This how my drafting evolved when I started adding new scenes for my new POV character Kat: Day … More New Book Update: Structure Gives Writing Freedom to Evolve
Bane of Your Resistance 