Creativity can be so Messy

A behind the scenes look at a Real Artist or Real Writer or Real Creative-Person-Doing-Fill-in-the-Blank in action frequently reveals a less than neat and tidy process going on. Let’s face it, the creative product is the result of many forces at work over a period of time. Some of these forces are predictable, like learning […]

Read the full article →

Creative Time Management

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 […]

Read the full article →

Protect us from Perfection

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 […]

Read the full article →

Special Daily Writer Note

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 […]

Read the full article →

License to Write Badly

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, […]

Read the full article →

Protect Your Writing Time

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 […]

Read the full article →

Set Aside Time to Write

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 […]

Read the full article →

Get Help Writing 2000 Words a Day

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 […]

Read the full article →

Just in Time for NaNoWriMo

Publishing the first issue of Scoops and Swoops newsletter has emboldened me. The thrill of hitting that send button is close to the terror I feel leaning over a precipice, an abyss, or my balcony. (You can subscribe to it on the sidebar right. Next issue is sometime in November. First issue is archived here.) […]

Read the full article →

Julia Cameron Interview on Creativity

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 […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →