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When Mental Clutter Limits Your Writing, Clearing Your Mind Takes New Meaning
If you feel scattered and find it difficult to focus your attention on your writing, you’re not alone, not weird, not wrong. You’re probably suffering from mental clutter. Your brain is filled with too many things to think about, remember, ponder, take action on. You’re struggling to make sense of a cacophony of demands on […]
Pulling Out of the Writer’s Stress Spiral of Death
My last post explained how chronic stress rewires the brain to make the limbic system more reactive and the cortex less active. The more stress we feel, the more we react from the limbic system, the more we rely on the limbic system, the less creative we can be and more stressed we feel. How […]
Are You Spinning In a Stress Spiral of Death?
Okay, that’s a bit dramatic; let’s make that the stress spiral of creative death. What Do Writers Have to Stress About? As writers, we have plenty to stress about: the craft challenges of writing effectively, our fears of rejection, the vulnerability writing requires, accepting the uncertainty that is a necessary part of creativity. As if […]
Don’t Know Where to Go Next With Your Writing? Congratulations! You’re on the Verge of a Breakthrough!
I’m fascinated by how we go from not knowing to knowing. Think about it. Everything you’ve ever written, everything anyone has ever written came from we-don’t-know-exactly-where. There was a time when those words, ideas, images, those characters didn’t exist. Then someone made scratches on a page or tapped out letters on a keyboard and entire […]
Sorry, My Novel Nudged Out My Blog This Week
Sometimes you have to pick your priorities. Correction: you ALWAYS have to choose your priorities. This week, my new novel was a higher priority than this blog. At first, I felt guilty about not being able to work on both the novel and this blog, then I realized that choosing to put my primary writing […]
Why Dogs Make Us Better Writers
One year ago today, I said goodbye to Blue, aka Boo Boo Blue, Princess Abooboo, Bluester and so many more silly names. Grief fades, love endures. And yet, all I have to give you in a post today is a reminder (repost) of why opening yourself to this kind of grief is essential for writers. […]
Boost Three Habits with a Writing Buddy: Guest Post by Katy Perry
I loved having Katy Perry in my Loft classes. She not only gave the Three Habits “a try” as she writes, she embraced them and made them her own. Katy came into class with an abundance of native talent and already honed craft skills. Her willingness to make, track and honor commitments brings her writing […]
Free Your Writing With Limits
I love a good paradox and this is one of my favorites: the best way to set your creativity free is to impose creative constraints. Poets do it all the time. The sonnet, haiku, sestina, villanelle, quatrains, even the common limerick are all examples of the structures and constraints poets use to keep their writing […]
How Recommitting to the Art Side of Writing Eased My Resistance
Publishing is business; writing is art. Writers must attend to both the business side and the art side of their lives, but in what ratios? Challenging as it is, creating art is where we find joy. Publishing is where we hope to find satisfaction and success, but where we’re far more likely to find disappointment. […]
How I Make Time for Writing: Guest Post by Eileen Peterson
I met Eileen Peterson in a Loft class more than ten years ago. Eileen has a delightfully pragmatic approach to making life work as a working mom who writes and a writer who works and parents. Writers with or without children can benefit from Eileen’s insight into how to make time for writing. She’s honest […]
