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Jul 9

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Four questions to help you mine your life for story ideas

Most of my writing is personal. No matter what genre I’m writing in—poetry, creative nonfiction, or fiction—much of what I write about comes from my personal experience. In her post, “What obsessions will end up in your writing?” my blog partner, Carly, asks us to consider what events in our lives have “marked us.” Looking to these events and memories can be a treasure trove of story ideas.

What memories or stories haunt you?

I still remember reading a news article over ten years ago about an older couple that went out for a drive and got lost for three days because they both had Alzheimer’s and couldn’t remember where they lived. This short article in the paper has stayed with me all these years. Obviously, it will become a short story someday.

What poems or spoken-word performances inspire you? Read more

Jul 8

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What obsessions will end up in your writing?

As writers, we carry within us memories that end up in our writing. These memories that “mark” us could be a scene or the basis for a novel. When I’m looking for something to write about, I’m often compelled to go to a memory or story that has stayed with me.

Author Siri Hustvedt says that, as a child growing up in Minnesota, a suicide of a boy in a barn down the road from her house marked her. The event later showed up in her poem, “Weather Markings.” Read more

Jul 4

A tale of a vigilante copy editor

How many times have you seen a sign (or anything for that matter) with punctuation or grammar errors and itched to fix it?

In Brooklyn, NY, someone at the sculpture park at the Pratt Institute did just that. Check out the story and 4-minute video at the New York Times.

Jul 3

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Try Scapple for mind mapping your writing ideas

In an earlier post, I wrote about the power of clustering to generate new ideas. Normally, I use paper and pen because there’s something about writing my ideas out longhand that gets my synapses flaring. But recently I discovered Scapple, an online tool that helps you get ideas down on the page and then make connections between them.

Scapple is for Mac and sold by Literature & Latte, the people who created Scrivener. You can use Scapple as a mind mapping tool or not. The program doesn’t force you to make specific connections. It doesn’t expect you to start out with one central idea off of which everything else is branched. There’s no built-in hierarchy–every note is equal, so you can connect them however you like. Read more

Jul 2

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How to preserve your memories in a travel journal

One of the best things about traveling is the anticipation before the trip. Another is reliving the memories later.

If travel is on your agenda this summer (or winter depending on where you live), it’s a perfect opportunity to write a travel diary. You’ll capture memories of your holiday and likely return with material you can turn into stories, poems, or maybe even a travel story you can sell.

Pack these travel writing tips for your next trip:

1. Observe and write with all your senses. Note the scents as well as sights. Record what you hear. Once when I was traveling through a village in southern Greece, I saw an older couple walking up the road with a flock of sheep. When I remember that trip, I hear the ringing of the bells that were attached to their collars. If I hadn’t gotten out of the car to photograph the couple, I wouldn’t have heard the sound. Read more

Jul 1

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Use Camp NaNoWriMo to reach your writing goal this month

Want to write a novel in the month of July? Well, now you can thanks to Camp NaNoWriMo. Based on November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Camp NaNoWriMo provides the online support, tracking tools, and hard deadline to help you write the rough draft of your novel in a month… other than November.

Not ready to write a novel in a month? No problem. You can use the support and deadlines of Camp NaNoWriMo to set other big writing goals–edit a manuscript, finish a first draft or finish a second draft. I even know a man who’s going to use this month to write one new poem a day.

Whatever your writing goals this month, check out the website and see how you can use it to reach your targets.

While you’re at it, check out these past links about how to write a novel in a month:

NaNoWriMo or not, boost your word count

How keeping a writing practice list can increase your NaNoWriMo word count

Jun 27

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How to remain an artist once we grow up, part one

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up – Pablo Picasso

This quote by Picasso is touched upon in a delightful Ted Talk given in 2006 by Sir Ken Robinson who says our education system is designed to educate the creativity out of children.

When we’re children we’re curious and play without inhibitions. The world is our secret garden. Once we go to school and become educated, we worry about “making mistakes.” We worry about whether or not we have the “right answers.” This worry about being correct all the time kills our creativity and our spontaneity. Read more

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