Summer is upon us, so it’s time to remind the mom/writers out there about something. I recently re-read parts of an old favorite If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland (originally published in 1938). Reading some of her comments, you’d think she was writing in the 21st Century. Chapter Ten has a lengthy title: […]
Kristi Holl
Motivate Yourself Overnight!
Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins, discusses taking on your characters’ inner lives (their emotions and motivations) in order to write believable story people. If you first get inside them, you become those characters. What if you could use this technique to become the motivated writer you want to be? […]
Writers Running on Adrenaline
What fuel are you running on? Many writers these days are frantically running from place to place, working too many hours, volunteering for too many projects, working nights and weekends hoping for approval. On top of that, in order to write, they are fueled by sugar, caffeine, cigarettes and adrenaline to keep going. Long-Term Damage […]
Success Without Self-Promotion?
Not a week goes by that I don’t get an email asking this question: “I don’t have enough time and energy to do the self-promotion and platform building that is required now. It drains my creativity, sometimes stifling the muse altogether. Is there a way out of this?” Some authors and business leaders are now […]
Shorter Focus = Successful Writing
I read a very surprising study recently on the differences between marathon runners who finished the race and those who didn’t. All the runners were equally fit and trained and healthy. So what was the deciding factor in whether they were hardy enough to finish the 26-mile run? It depended on where they placed their […]
Writing Through Interruptions
I began writing when I had a newborn (ten days old), a todder (two) and a preschooler. If I couldn’t write through interruptions, I couldn’t write at all most days. People protest all the time that they can’t write with continual interruptions, and I never had much of a response beyond “just do it!” I knew […]
Forget About Age
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” –Satchel Paige Two writers in the past month mentioned that they were probably too old to start writing. One had waited till her last child had graduated. Another had waited until he retired. I’d like to debunk that “I’m too old” myth. […]
Writing During Summer Travels
Summer is just around the corner. And for many writers, that means traveling to see family and taking vacations while trying to meet deadlines. Consistent writing may be a necessity during the summer. Can writing and traveling co-exist? Yes, quite happily, but only if you think and plan ahead. Paved with Good Intentions We may […]
Writing after Major Losses
After I’d been publishing for a number of years, I had an eight-year period where major personal and professional losses piled on each other. During this time, I had four surgeries in thirteen months and took on extra work to pay medical bills. Our teenage adopted child was having severe emotional problems, I went through […]
Writing Through Relationship Struggles
Do these scenarios sound at all familiar? (They all happened to writers I know.) You’re writing your first picture book, but your husband is jealous of your time at the typewriter and won’t speak to you at supper. (I know this sounds childish, but it happens fairly often.) Or your wife reads your book and […]