Aug 10
Earlier this week, Carly wrote a blog post featuring a talk David Lynch gave about the effects of meditation on creativity.
Meditation is a wonderful tool that has added immeasurable benefits to my life, including:
Instead of fearing imperfection in your work, embrace it. Sometimes we have to get it wrong so we can get it right. I prefer to call it experimentation.
The discipline of any creative pursuit — writing, painting, photography — requires constant trial and error. In fact “errors” are precursors to original ideas. They reveal new directions, the unexpected, a twist.
Even athletes know this. Marathon runner Ryan Hall could have been speaking about writing when he was quoted in a New York Times article about his quest for an Olympic gold medal: Read more
From the time I learned how to read, books have made a huge impact on me. I’ll never forget my third-grade teacher reading, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” and bringing me and my classmates to tears.
Other books I remember:
Charlotte’s Web
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow. Celia Garth transforms from a fashionable dressmaker to a patriot spy during the Revolutionary War. Read more
In my post, “Six Elements of Great Short Stories,” I wrote about the six things literary agent April Eberhardt said we should think about in our stories: setting, character, point of view, conflict, plot, and theme.
She suggested carrying some index cards with these elements listed and using them when we see something in our daily life that sparks our interest.
She used the example of the day she was driving in the city and saw a car full of nuns next to her. What drew her interest was the unexpected–they were driving a new Lexus and laughing hysterically. She began to wonder about their story.
So, if I take her advice and list the elements of this situation on my index card, it could look something like this: Read more
Aug 6
The creative process requires clarity and energy, says award-winning director David Lynch. He advocates meditation as a way of achieving a higher consciousness that leads to a deeper awareness and heightened sense of creativity.
In this 8-minute clip from a speech called “Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain,” Lynch speaks about the impact of meditation on his life and how it can help filmmakers and other artists boost their creativity.
No matter what genre we write or like to read, there are certain books that, as writers, we can learn so much from.
I remember the first time I read Carson McCullers’s novel “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” What struck me most was the way she used setting in her story – how it became a living, breathing presence.
What are the best books to read and learn from? Opinions vary but below are lists from two successful authors and one grand list from the Guardian. Browse their lists and then create your own.
From suspense and thriller writer Lee Childs: Top 40 Books of All Time
From Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon: Top Ten List
And from the Guardian: The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time
Do you have any favorites to add?
In my quest to improve my writing craft, I’m always saving great writing articles and pieces of advice. Like photographs we take and throw in shoeboxes until that day we’ll put them in an album, these articles and snippets of writing advice float around in boxes and folders. No more.
I’m going to follow author Chris Orcutt’s advice. Orcutt saves articles and handwritten notes from books he’s read and posts them in blank composition notebooks. They serve as a customized writer’s resource. He calls them his secret writing weapon. Read more
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