There are some things I should have learned by now. This isn’t my first first draft. This morning, approaching twenty thousand words, in the zone of the scene I was ... Read more
Here’s someone who agrees with me that just about anything you can imagine will work so long as it works for you. Walks and yoga are rewards for me, but I’ll ... Read more
When I was eleven years old I would spend hours and hours out in the yard working on my cartwheel. This went on for years, and that is probably why ... Read more
How do we keep writing in spite of our busy lives? Don’t ask me! Everything was going so well. Pages were getting filled with fiction. Post after post for this ... Read more
A paragraph came without warning. I was reading Great House on the way to a wedding in Seattle. I didn’t even have a notebook to write it down, so I ... Read more
When all else fails, count words. Pick a number, any number and write that number of words daily until you are back in the habit, until sitting down to write ... Read more
A few days ago I was whining to my best friend (also a writer) about how I lack discipline and am not writing consistently. We have this conversation quite often. ... Read more
Stuck? Try moving. The body-mind connection is no joke. Take as many walks as you need to in one writing session to reach your goal. Try jumping jacks or sit ... Read more
Writing occurs in solitude. It can only be done by you and requires that you linger long in that internal space of imagination where you have to go alone in ... Read more