How can you attain optimal creativity in your writing life? It’s all about motivation. Think for a moment: What motivates a person to want to climb Mount Everest? The task is difficult, near brutal, and several people have died doing it. I wondered why someone would spend all the moneyContinue Reading
When I was writing my first novel, I gave little thought to my physical health—how I was sitting, the postage-stamp size of my desk, if in fact squinting down at a screen with hunched shoulders was a good idea. I had two small children and an urgent need to getContinue Reading
Are you in a writing funk? You may not have noticed it creeping up on you. Then one day, you’re no longer excited about your writing. You may go so far as to say that you don’t really care if you write or not. What’s going on? Should you beContinue Reading
by Ulrike Selleck When I was five years old, I drowned. While my friend and her mom desperately tried to fish my lifeless body out of the water, I actually had the most amazing, beautiful, light-filled, and cozy experience. I experienced where I lived, who I really was, had been,Continue Reading
A friend of mind got a rejection the other day. She’d worked really hard on the story, putting it through numerous edits. The journal was one she’d read and admired for years. It was a big blow. I tried to console her, but she wouldn’t really allow it. “Nah, I’mContinue Reading
Sitting at a desk for long stretches of time takes a toll on my body in many ways. When I’m chugging along, it’s hard to avoid as many as 20 hours at a computer each day. But to be fair, this is the case with all of us who workContinue Reading
If you’re going to be a writer, you gotta toughen up. People are going to criticize your work. Agents and editors are going to reject you. Readers will impale you with bad reviews. Publishers will turn their backs if your sales are lackluster. Rejection awaits at every turn, so youContinue Reading
Sitting for long periods of time puts a strain on my back, neck and legs. Sometimes my hands cramp or my elbows tingle. My shoulders ache and my neck hurts. I have the opposite of the munchies—if I’m really in the zone, I’ll go until 4:00 in the afternoon withoutContinue Reading
Could your punctuation reveal something about you? You’ve heard of handwriting experts—those people who can read something you’ve written by hand and tell you what your personality is like. A certain slant to the letters, size of the consonants, or openness between words can reveal characteristics you’d never expect couldContinue Reading
I actually ended up with tendon overstrain as I was publishing my first book and it’s basically never gone away since that time. It starts in my thumb and ends up affecting me all way into my shoulder and neck the longer I work. It requires that I always useContinue Reading
Are you ready to set some writing goals? Usually it’s a good idea, particularly for writers and other creatives. We need goals to keep us moving forward. But we have to be careful. Good goals help us improve and achieve. Bad goals lead to disappointment and discouragement. Following are sevenContinue Reading
As the year comes to a close, I was thinking of the age-old debate about whether or not you can teach someone to write. Is an artist born an artist, or can anyone learn how to be one? Human Beings are Made to Learn I’ve been a teacher for mostContinue Reading