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Posts from the ‘Writing Life’ Category

Mar 16

Three outstanding posts by writers for writers

The internet can be distracting. I often feel like Alice slip-sliding through the rainbow-colored world of the internet when I should be writing. But, sometimes, it’s good to drink from others’ Kool-aid. Especially, if it gives you some great ideas like these posts below written by writers for writers.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

“Enough,” by Kathie at cast-light.com. This post is about taking time to rest and honor ourselves. With all the recent stressors in my life, I needed to read this.

“Assess your novel as a screenplay,” by R.P. Kraul at rpkraul.com. A great idea. Even if I don’t go through the entire process of turning my book into a screenplay, I can think about the differences it might create in my manuscript if I did.

“Prayer–or Plan?” by Denise Shekerjian at www.soulofaword.com. Do you plan your story before writing? This post gave me some good reasons why I’m going to spend more time planning my next book.

Mar 12

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Find your real story by asking these questions

Like my life, my memoir has been a work in progress. The manuscript I have now barely resembles the one I started six years ago or what I thought was the finished product of two years ago. Writing it has been an evolution–of my emotions, my identity, and my story. Or, what I believed was my story.

My first draft was my mom’s story. My next draft or two was my father’s story. Finally, in my latest draft, I focused on the story of how my intuitive gifts developed throughout my childhood and into my present.

I’ve learned more about who I am and what my “real” story is in the last year then the 40-some years before.  And, I’m getting closer to a completed manuscript. I can tell because my story is generating more interest from readers and agents alike.

To focus my memoir and find my real story, I asked myself these questions: Read more

Mar 9

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Three stellar posts about writing

One of the things I love about writing this blog is how much I learn in the process.

Today, I’m highlighting several excellent posts from other bloggers who inspired me. Enjoy!

In this post, Joe Bunting writes about How to use motif to enhance your writing.

Chuck Sambuchino shares Five tips for writing a novel/memoir synopsis.

Tiffany Lawson Inman writes about character emotion in Too quick to tears: Emotional timing is everything.

Mar 8

Craft your writing mantra with these six tips

In Carly’s post “Boost your writing ambitions with a personal writing mantra,” she writes about the benefits of developing your own writing mantra. At the beginning of this year, when I set my writing goals for 2012, I decided to give this a try.

My main goal was to build up my publishing credits by submitting my work to literary journals and contests. I have plenty of work ready to submit but over the last few years, my life got ultra busy, and I just wasn’t taking that extra step to get my work out there. So I decided on the phrase, “Progress on Purpose,” because it reminded me that any progress I make is because I am consciously and purposely making it happen.

It was a nice idea but I found that I could never remember the mantra! Maybe my brain stuttered over the alliteration or maybe they were just words that I wouldn’t normally use (being the laid-back-country-girl that I am). Just this week, during one of author Bob Mayer’s online courses, I discovered a new writing mantra that I can easily remember and that has more meaning for me: “The more I do something, the easier it becomes.”

Read more

Mar 6

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My favorite writing journals

I have a confession to make. I’m a journal-a-holic. It’s serious. It’s bad. I should be ashamed. I don’t always write longhand–often I use my laptop–but when I do write in a notebook or journal I want it to be special.

I’ve always liked bright, shiny things. They make me feel happy. So, naturally, I want a sparkly writing journal. And, because I have several journals going at once for various projects, I use my label machine to make a label for the front cover. (It satisfies my O.C.D).

Below are a few of my favorite journals:

The Spirit of Flight Journal. I have two of these — one for poetry and one for my fantasy book. I like the picture on the outside cover. It reminds me of the protagonist of my next book. Read more

Mar 5

Play like a child to boost your creativity

One of my writing teachers once gave me and the rest of the students in our class an assignment to “play.” She went so far as to assign toys to us.

Somehow, she knew that playing would help us stretch our creative muscles. She instructed me to play with Play-Doh, the squishy colored clay you probably had as a kid.

I remembered this recently while reading the book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Wantby Martha Beck. Beck writes about a genetic trait called “neoteny” from the Greek word “neo,” which means new, and tenein, which means “to stretch.” Read more

Mar 2

My 4-step plan for taking care of myself while writing

Writing is a solitary job. We hide ourselves away in our own little world and sit for hours a day, sometimes forgetting to eat, drink, or even get up and stretch. Over time, these little neglects add up and suddenly I find myself having a hard time standing straight after a long writing session. Or, I feel lightheaded or mentally foggy because I haven’t eaten enough.

I don’t like to eat first thing in the morning–I’m more of a “where’s my coffee?” kind of girl. In fact, even thinking of eating something as soon as I get out of bed makes me nauseous. I like to wait a bit. But then I get busy–the phone rings or there’s some emergency in our business–and, before I know it, it’s 1 or 2pm and I still haven’t eaten. It’s no wonder why I’m so hungry at night and then eat too much. I KNOW this wrecks my metabolism and causes even more stress to my stressed-out thyroid so I’ve been working on some strategies to help myself remember to eat and move.

As artists, and especially writers, it’s important to take care of our minds and bodies, to stay mentally and physically alert. The conditions of our body and mind can directly impact the quality of our art.

Here are a few tips I find helpful: Read more

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