Establishing a habit as a writer can be tremendously freeing. It allows writers to settle in and let the words flow for whatever time is available to them. But like all else in the world, there’s a good thing and a good thing gone too far. Which is which in the process of writing? Why Establishing a Writing Habit Is Important Establishing a habit related to writing gets words on the page consistently. It benefits the writer’s identification of self. … Read More »

Do you have a favorite quote, famous saying, or inspirational message in view as you write? How about scraps of paper with words of encouragement taped to your desk? I have a few of these—some old, some new. I love them. I need them. I keep them in plain sight to feed my soul, calm my mind, and keep my fingers moving words into being. A few of my favorite things Here are a few bits within reading distance of … Read More »

Virginia Woolf strikes a pose—in my imagination. She looms large in many writers’ minds as a genius memoir writer and fiction writer, a most important author of the 20th century. She was a founding member of the famed soiree “Bloomsbury Group,” a revolving-door-meetup of writers, philosophers, intellectuals, and artists who regularly shared their work in a part of London called Bloomsbury, hence their name. I imagine it was a writers’ critique group on steroids. Moments of being Whether we are … Read More »

Novels, short fiction, and verbal storytelling give readers whole worlds that exist only in their heads. Literally in their own heads because no two readers are going to mentally see all the details of these fictional creations in quite the same way, but they can seem very real. As fiction writers, if we want to steal material from real life to create fiction, how do we separate the two in ways that disconnect truth from fiction? People It can be … Read More »

What writer hasn’t been stung by a critique? Sure it hurts, but criticism’s power to poison isn’t a given. The poison isn’t inherent in what is said, who says it, where or when it happens, or how it’s delivered. The  power of criticism to damage lies in how we take it in, what we allow it to mean to us, and the way we allow it to affect our work or eat away at our insides. When we automatically reject … Read More »

Every writer welcomes and treasures those times when the writing comes easy. The scenes pretty much write themselves – all you have to do is put your hands on the keyboard and they settle themselves into your story with ease and grace. What happens when that inner voice guiding you goes silent and the writing comes to a screeching halt? Mix It Up I’ve written about this before. When I’m writing (and things have slowed to a crawl), I step … Read More »