What would you think about showing yourself some self-love on Valentine’s Day? Writers spend a lot of time going through critiques, learning about our weaknesses, enumerating our flaws, dealing with less-than-awesome reviews, trying to do better, and feeling like we come up short. I think we could all use justContinue Reading
Did you set good writing goals for the New Year, or did you set goals that will only discourage and delay your progress? I talk a lot about goals in the Writing and Wellness “Start the Year off Right” bundle, which you can download for free here, but I thoughtContinue Reading
I had the pleasure of playing French horn in a recent local theatrical production of “The Little Mermaid.” The typical process goes like this: the orchestra meets a few times on their own to become familiar with the music, then the orchestra meets with the actors/singers to go through theContinue Reading
My family and I took a trip to Alabama one year to see my younger brother, who was attending military school there at the time. We went out to lunch at a cute little restaurant, and when the waitress asked if we wanted something to drink, I requested, as IContinue Reading
by Carrie Brummer My first professional post was teacher at the age of 22. I spent years in the classroom LOVING what I did. But then, something started to niggle in the back of my mind. I started to wonder, “was this really enough?” “How else could I make anContinue Reading
What do you really want out of your writing career? It’s not always so easy to tell… One summer, I attended a panel filled with award-winning, bestselling literary writers. The experience was outstanding in many ways, but I was surprised by what one author had to say. This author hadContinue Reading
I saw part of an original Star Trek episode the other day that got me thinking about our “dark sides.” It’s the episode where a transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two people. Called “The Enemy Within,” it follows the story of the two as they display unique characteristics. SeemsContinue Reading
Have you given your creative power away? Let’s find out. Imagine for a moment you’re a character in a fantasy novel, and at the very beginning of the story, you’re given the power to write. There you are in your cool leather outfit walking around with your writing power, andContinue Reading
There are several things writers need to learn that we can learn from smart moms. After all, how often have you, as a writer, called your book your “baby?” A lot of us do it, because we put so much of ourselves into our work. We talk about “conceiving” ideas,Continue Reading
by Marcia Yudkin Having coached scores of writers over more than 30 years, I’ve observed that they often struggle for two reasons: They tend to fight their inborn tendencies rather than accommodating them, and they have an overly rigid idea of how writing needs to take place. Have you triedContinue 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
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