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Practice. Polish. Persist.
Artwork by Nikki McClure In many copies of my first published book, Make a Scene– a guide to that quintessential game-changing writing element, the scene–I often sign copies with the following...
View ArticleAdd it Up: Your Writing Practice is a Scavenger Hunt…
It seems to go with the writing territory that most writers also long for an audience to read their words. Perhaps that’s ultimately what the urge to write is about: to connect one’s own expressions...
View ArticleExactly Where You’re Supposed to Be
It’s said that the difference between a writer who successfully publishes and one who doesn’t comes down to persistence. But what does this adage really mean in today’s writing world? What makes one...
View ArticleThe Ecstasy of Waiting
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there...
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Don’t Start Something New in 2014 (Finish Something Old)
Indigo Images. Photo by Jennifer Barney. I know the temptation of the New Year to clear the slate, push all those half-finished projects and goals of last year to the side and start fresh. The...
View ArticleWriting for the Long Haul
“I don’t teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach the life…” Richard Bausch Many of you know by now that I’m working on a book called A Writer’s Guide...
View ArticlePerils of Praise in a Writing Practice
“Sweet words are like honey, a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach.” — Anne Bradstreet Who doesn’t like to hear how wonderful, talented, compelling, interesting, smart, valid or poetic...
View ArticleBuild Boundaries Around Your Writing.
Writing is a solitary art that requires deep focus and quiet and, more importantly, protection from the many forces that threaten to steal your writing energy, from well-meaning acquaintances to...
View ArticleHow to be a Writing Lifer
There are writers who write for a season or two but then allow the whims and perils of the process to discourage them, and there are writing lifers. Lifers don’t ever quit, though they may, in fact, go...
View ArticleEnough
At some point or another, after working yourself into a lather, your eyeballs stuck open from eons at the computer, and your fingers frozen into clamped little typing claws, your brain will tell you a...
View ArticleWrite to Connect
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block...
View ArticleYour Writing Practice is Calling | Why Do You Write?
We all write for different reasons, at different speeds, and with different goals in mind. All of the writing you do, from the most private journaling to paid articles or books, is part of what I call...
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The Value of Practice | Food For Thought Friday
Not all of you may consider yourselves spiritual, nor do I expect you to. But once in a while I like to throw out a little note from a spiritual teacher as food for thought for your writing: “Spiritual...
View ArticlePlanting Seeds in Your Writing Life
Today I stepped outside to sniff the sky, because there is no scent more powerfully nostalgic for me than leaf-damp, mulchy fall air. Fall is my New Year–a time for planting bulbs and seeds in my...
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Stories of Persistence: Interview with Jessica Barksdale
1. How did you develop a writing practice over the years? Mostly, writing has always made me feel more human. Once I realized this, I decided that not only did I prefer to be sane but I would have a...
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A Little Navel Gazing
Scroll down for some of the awesome writer tips that ran yesterday on my Facebook author page from some writers I admire deeply. Normally I’m too shy to share interviews I’ve done, because who cares,...
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