There is a psychic shift that happens for me when I am on deadline. Now I am not making (writing or editing) my project into the best project I could ever do, the best story I could ever write, the best sentences I could ever create. Now I am making my project the best I […]
How to Set Effective Deadlines Read More »
Every Sunday, The New York Times arrives in our front yard in Sebastopol. We read it all week long. Five-year-olds do not allow for leisurely Sunday mornings, but the pleasure spreads out well over the course of seven days. Little snatches of Sunday morning. So it is that I just read an article in The
Stress is Good: How You Can Embrace It In Your Writing Life Read More »
1) Tell a story to children. Watch their eyes. Try to thrill them. Try to scare them. Try to reel them in. (Imaginary children are fine, too, if they are as bright and impatient with falsity and curious as real ones. They can sit still for longer.) 2) Read aloud only the last word of
Five Ways to Remind Yourself of Your Astounding Creativity Read More »
A pitch is the answer to the question, of your book, what is it about? 1) First try just answering this. Set a timer for three minutes and write down every answer you can think of to this question: What is it about? 2) Now underline any phrase or verbs or any part of what
How to Write a Pitch Read More »
1) Start with the idea words: love, shame, guilt, fear. Now brainstorm a bunch of actions that correspond to those ideas. Put down everything you think of. Then turn those actions around. What opposite, unexpected actions might also be symptoms of the same ideas or feelings? In other words, push past your initial, possibly well-worn
3 Ways to Turn Ideas into Story Read More »
Devi Laskar, poet and blog editor at BWW until recently, got many of us started on writing down our favorite 1,000 words, reminding us that we have the tools to rocket our worlds. Many of us, including me, got going, and then in the hullabaloo of the holidays, my list-making got cold. Recently, I’ve found
Small, Focused Lists of Words: A Guest Post by Melanie Lee Read More »
1) Pick a time. Take a look at what’s possible. It doesn’t have to be an enormous amount of time, either, unless you absolutely require an enormous amount of time. (But beware of absolute requirements–they don’t function well against the limitations and vagaries of human life.) Do your best to make this a “no matter
7 Steps for Creating a Miracle Writing Practice Read More »
This is one of our stand-bys in the Book Writing World. I assign it to my Mentoring Group each quarter, and each quarter people learn something new about the old ways they work and how to support them and turn them into dynamite strategies for accomplishing everything you dream of accomplishing. These life-changing strategies are
YOUR Writing Success Secrets Read More »
1) One sentence a day. One of my students had two young children at home and was trying to finish a memoir. She committed to writing one sentence a day. Because her primary challenge was to open the manuscript—that was always the hardest part for her, to make that start—the one sentence often lead to
5 Strategies for a Daily Commitment Read More »
What’s wonderful about writing prompts is that they provide cross-currents to the way our minds are already running. If our minds are creaks, babbling along in one direction, the prompt sends a rush going in a different direction. The result? White water, rapids: story. Energy. Writing. When writing with prompts, it can be tremendously helpful
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