Sep 11
Neil Gaiman’s N.Y. Times bestselling novel Coraline
To celebrate the book’s birthday, Gaiman reads aloud the entire novel with a few of his famous friends including, Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket; Cassandra Clare; and R. L. Stein.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
To learn about the benefits of reading your own work aloud, please read my previous post “Editing Techniques to Make Your Prose Sing.”
Sep 10
Doodling has a unique way of affecting how we process information and work out problems, says Sunni Brown, who teaches people how to do strategic doodling. It literally improves our creative thinking.
I find when I push too hard to come up with an idea or direction for my stories, the harder it is to find a creative solution. When it comes to getting a draft of a story down on the page, doodling can help you relax and have fun. It’s a helpful distraction — a way of playing, doing something to get into the non-analytical mode of creating that allows your wild ideas to swirl around.
To make it easy to doodle, I like to keep a sketch pad on my desk and in my writing to-go bag in case I start getting too analytical about my writing.
For more insights about doodling from artist Judy Clement Wall, read her post, 10 Things doodling has taught me about the creative process.
Watch Sunni Brown’s Ted Talk about doodling for more fun facts about doodling, including definitions for the word.
Related posts:
Having been a poet for 30+ years, I know the importance of each word. Every single word needs to be polished and perfect—perfect for our intended meaning, the emotions we want to evoke and the music it brings to our ears.
A great way to learn how to improve your prose is to read poetry. For help developing a daily poetry habit read Carly’s post “Write lyrically by reading poetry.”
The great news is we can apply the lessons we learn from poetry to our prose. It seems like a daunting task, doesn’t it? Every word in your 90,000-word manuscript polished and perfect? Read more
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” – G. K. Chesterton
I’ve never met a writer yet who doesn’t feel resistance to writing in one form or another.
Sometimes getting stuck is a sign you need to do more research or try freewriting your way to ideas. The antidote is to just push forward no matter how messy it may seem.
Resistance can take the form of procrastination, failure to write certain scenes that are “difficult,” and a fluttery feeling in your stomach that feels like fear but is a good sign that you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone. At that moment, your shadow self may be telling you all sorts of things to feed the fear.
“You’re too old.”
“You’re not creative enough.” Read more
In this interview with Time magazine, the late author Elmore Leonard answers 10 questions about writing and his career.
I was intrigued to learn he wrote all his novels by hand–with pen and paper. He then typed his scenes on a typewriter. I usually write my scenes on the computer but go back to pen and paper when I’m stuck or when the words aren’t flowing. There’s just something about the physical act of writing that gets me going again. Do you write by hand? Typewriter? Computer? Why do you write the way you do?
Listen to the short interview below to hear what else Leonard has to say and what his “perfect crime” would be.
To find out what other famous author used a typewriter, read this earlier post by Carly.
“You don’t like it. It’s not doing well. Find a way.” Diana Nyad’s mantra as she swam from Cuba to Florida.
On her fifth attempt, Diana Nyad, 64, met her goal Monday to swim 103 miles from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida. It took her nearly 53 hours.
Nyad, made her first try in 1978 at the age of 28. She made more recent attempts after turning 60, battling jellyfish stings, asthma, dehydration, and sharks. In this final attempt, Nyad swam without a shark cage and had a support team who went before her to clear the way of jellyfish and sharks. She also wore a special mask to protect her face.
For anyone who has goals, whether they’re to make a record-breaking swim or write and publish a book, Nyad’s example offers a lesson in persistence.
One of the things that has helped me reach my personal goals has been finding people who inspire me and whose example I can follow. I followed Nyad’s progress since her attempt in 2010 and this weekend as she met her goal.
According to a CNN story, as Nyad came ashore, she told reporters she had three messages: “One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.” Read more
Writing about ourselves can be a terrifying and confounding task, whether it’s for an About page, a memoir, or autobiography.
If you’re confronted with the task of writing about yourself, it can be an easier project if you think in terms of storytelling. What are the stories of your life?
Try these story starters to create a list of topics you can draw from to begin your manuscript. Armed with a list of ideas, think about the scenes you could write. Once you have raw material, you can shape it into a finished whole.
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