There is a famous quote: “If you take one day off writing, your muse will take off the next three.” In other words, it will take you three days (after skipping writing) for you to get back into the flow of your writing project. Even taking one full day off will cost you in focus. […]
Kristi Holl
Principles of a Creative Life
“The healthy creative life is an intentional life, in which the person examines options and opportunities, necessities and desires, and makes his or her choices accordingly.” ~~(Vinita Hampton Wright) in The Soul Tells a Story You may know exactly what your writing dreams and gifts are because you’ve pondered them and journaled about them for […]
A Writerholic’s Many Faces
Did you know that, contrary to popular belief, workaholics (and the sub-group writer-holics) don’t work all the time? In fact the term can describe “any person who is driven to do too much, whether that person works sixty hours a week or runs around like a chicken with its head cut off…Some work addicts appear […]
Silent Sabotage
The writing is flowing, you’re accomplishing your daily word counts, you’re in the flow! Then, without warning, you take a nose dive. You spiral downward to crash and burn. Your writing comes to a screeching halt. Why? Silent Sabotage This phenomenon happens when we least expect it. Silent sabotage comes in many varieties. Here are […]
Learned Optimism
Are you a pessimist? You might be surprised. Choosing to be an optimist, according to author Randy Ingermanson, can change your writing life. Read his article below, reprinted with permission. It’s long–but worth it! (By the way, I whole-heartedly endorse this book, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life.) What’s Holding You Back? […]
The Vicious Procrastination Cycle
Because I have a tight deadline, and I also need to go to bed early for a race I’m running in the morning, I am going to re-run a popular article from a few years ago on the procrastination cycle. It will bear repeating! ****************************** There’s more to dealing with procrastination than snarling at yourself […]
Pulling Weeds and Planting Flowers
Writers are good at pulling up weeds, but they sometimes forget to keep going and plant flowers in the dirt. After you pull weeds, don’t forget to plant flowers. Many writers in December and January talked about their goals for the new year. Many are working hard to break habits that keep them from their […]
Make Good Use of Your (Over)Reacting Habit
“10 Habits of a Successful Writer” was the article title in the writer’s magazine. Same old, same old, I thought, intending to skip over it. After all, I knew the rules by heart: write every day, write what you know, write first in the day, etc. Then I glanced at the actual list of writing […]
A Writer's HAPPY New Year
I finished my 2014 list of goals and exchanged them with a writing friend. We have been doing this for several years. This year, though, making my list (and reading hers) left me exhausted and depressed. Not the “happy new year” feeling I was going for! What was wrong? Both lists included so many good […]
In Your "Write" Mind
Do you think about what you’re thinking about? You should! Controlling Toxic Thoughts I’ve been reading a lot lately about current brain research and the huge impact our thoughts have on our creativity, our health, and how we use our gifts. I highly recommend a couple of fascinating books by Dr. Caroline Leaf called Who […]