Thank you to the Loft Literary Center for offering and to agent Kelly Van Sant for teaching the online Query Comprehensive class where I revised (and revised again and again) my query letter. I wasn’t sure I needed a comprehensive class; after all, I knew the basics. But the timing was ideal — I had … More New Book Update: The Gift of Being Rejected
It’s day 10 of NaNoWriMo or November 10 for those of us not doing NaNoWriMo. So it seems like a good time to revisit this, my most popular post. Even if you aren’t doing NaNoWriMo, you can still play with the Random Scene Generator. Random Scene Generator It takes about a half-hour to create your … More Random Scene Generator: 10 Steps to Solve the “I don’t know what to write” Problem
When you don’t have a clue what to write about, let yourself be inspired by whatever National Day is coming up. Since National Donut Day is right around the corner, let’s use donuts. No, not by eating them. All right, go ahead and eat one, then consider other ways you can use be inspired by … More When You Don’t Know What to Write…
(NOTE: Not even considering NaNoWriMo? Keep reading; this stuff applies to any writer.) Of course, knowing who your characters are, what they want, what they need and what stands in their way is important, but if your habenula isn’t firing right, NaNoWriMo is going to be a month-long lesson in frustration. To be precise, I … More Forget Plot Outlines! Is Your Habenula NaNoWriMo Ready?
FOMO is real – both the fear and the missing out part – and is particularly risky for writers. The Fear Like any fear, FOMO will activate your limbic system, which evolved to react fast to tangible, immediate danger. In the face of imminent life-or-death threats, your brain doesn’t waste time contemplating the pros and … More How Scratching the FOMO-Itch Blocks Your Writing
In response to the previous post, Block Your Saboteur Before It Blocks Your Writing, Glynis Jolly commented that her saboteur was showing up as annoying health problems: “Being flexible is about all I can do to fight it. Nevertheless, I do have a schedule in place for my writing. Some days are good and … More Too Sick to Write? Maybe, Maybe Not
The Saboteur has many faces: Attacker, Enticer, Innocent, Protector and Unlucky. Different routes to the same goal — to block our writing. Just when we think we’ve figured out how to identify the Saboteur and avoid the roadblocks it sets up, it morphs into a different form and uses different techniques to invade our thinking. … More Block Your Saboteur Before It Blocks Your Writing
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 … More What Rejection Really Means to Writers
I’m pleased to introduce author and entrepreneur Dave Chesson as this week’s guest blogger. When Dave’s not light saber dueling with little jedi or sipping tea with princesses, he tests new book marketing tactics and helps authors improve their book sales. On his blog Kindlepreneur.com, Dave explains that he spent more than $15,000 in … More Writers Arm Yourselves with Resistance Fighting Tools: Guest Post by Dave Chesson
To discover a story, writers use a different kind of cognitive activity and enter a different state of consciousness. Whether we call it the writer’s trance, creative flow, flow writing, freewriting, dreamstorming or the awakened dream, it’s where most writers find creative bliss. The writer’s trance is notoriously illusive, but you can enhance your ability … More How to Enter the Writer’s Trance
Bane of Your Resistance 