Way back in January, I decided to try out a new-to-me technique: selecting a theme word for the new year. So now it’s time for the first quarterly report. According to my old MBA training, anyway. Have you tried doing this theme word thing? What word(s) did you pick? Or did the theme pick you? I [...]
Tagged as:
creative habit,
goals,
Time to Create
The devil’s propensity for details pokes specifically at perfectionists. The details of any project are the perfectionist’s easy target. Let’s dot each i and cross each t and for heaven’s sake let’s make sure the apostrophes line up just so. Can you relate to this vision of hell? I’ve written about perfection before, and recently [...]
Tagged as:
beliefs,
perfectionism,
self coach,
writer tips,
writer's block
To encourage writers participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I started writing The Daily Writer Notes, sending out an encouraging little email each morning. The series sure kept me writing at least a little something every single day! I enjoyed writing these so much that I’ve decided to keep on writing them every day [...]
Tagged as:
Motivation/Inspiration,
NaNoWriMo,
self coach,
writer tips,
writer's block
As a writer, how often do you stop to reread your work and then agonize over what you just wrote because it’s not perfect? How much time to you spend mulling exactly where to start a scene, debating the perfect first line for the fifth chapter, toying with the perfect verb for a key sentence, [...]
Tagged as:
anxiety,
creative block,
creative habit,
mental energy,
NaNoWriMo,
perfectionism,
self coach,
writer tips,
writer's block
Family and friends must understand that your writing time is important. It’s beyond important: it’s sacrosanct. It’s not interruptible. But it’s not fair to ask family and friends to allow you the time you need to write — to take your writing seriously and to support your creative efforts — unless you yourself take it [...]
Tagged as:
mental energy,
NaNoWriMo,
self coach,
writer tips
Any big writing project, or even a modest writing project (is any writing project modest? I don’t think so!) requires you to sit down and actually write. Finding the time to write is a matter of priority setting and a matter of logistics. Once you’ve cleaned up your calendar and eliminated any “extra” responsibilities, look [...]
Tagged as:
creative habit,
self coach,
writer tips,
writer's block
You may be wondering about all the NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month fuss. Wondering why anyone would even want to try to write a novel in a month or 50,000 words of anything in thirty days. At that pace, the quality will be subpar and the burnout risk is above average. Let’s be bluntly [...]
Tagged as:
creative habit,
daily writer notes,
goals,
NaNoWriMo,
self coach,
writer tips,
writer's block
Just came across a quick but high performance interview piece with creativity expert Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way . She explains “how she does it” and offers an overview of her techniques for unlocking creativity and tips for overcoming some common blocks or obstacles. Check out this Success Magazine article for highlights including [...]
Tagged as:
Artist Date,
Artist's Way,
creativity book,
Julia Cameron,
morning pages,
self coach