Beginning the new year is much like writing a new book. We have an idea, and we’re working out the details. There’s excitement, high hopes, blank pages, and a sense that anything can happen. This could be our best year ever! This could be our breakout (or “break in”) year! This could well be our […]
goals
Lions, and Tigers, and Bears…oh my!
Deadlines, and funerals, and a computer virus…oh my! It’s been one of those weeks! (Photo courtesy of http://the-english-spot.blogspot.com/2009/11/cartoon-idiom-to-be-swamped.html) A Few Days Later It’s the weekend, and I’m more tired than I’ve been in a good long while. And with the holidays coming, I’ve plotted my deadlines and weekly/daily writing “must do” lists on a giant […]
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 […]
Course Corrections
I recently read that the trajectory of the successful Apollo moon rocket was “off course” 90 percent of its flight–and yet… It still reached the moon! How did that happen? Scientists acknowledged the deviations from the expected path. They repeatedly made the necessary course corrections. They achieved an adequate (though not perfect) trajectory to the […]
Thinking: First Backward and Then Forward
Soon my writing friend and I will Skype for a few hours about our 2013 goals. We’ll discuss what we’ve accomplished, what we’ve given up on, and what is still challenging (and defeating) us. Current State of Affairs In past years at these goal check-ups, I’ve been both pleasantly surprised and chagrined at my progress. This year […]
Weekend Gems
For your weekend reading pleasure, here are four articles I think you’ll find inspiring and practical. (We need both!) Bookmark them all, or save them to Evernote, and each time you need a break from your writing, read one of these articles. You’ll be glad you did! Here’s one of the best quick reference guides […]
The Danger of Fuzzy Goals
How’s your focus? It’s a question I’ve dealt with this month as I’ve led two October writing challenges and am thinking about goals for 2014. I started out the month great, but I lost focus somewhere. I set out to discover why. My calendar was so full of very good things, but I was frequently exhausted and […]
Chop! Chop! Writing in 20-Minute Slices
Thirty years ago I read an article that said writing was like eating a salami. You’d choke if you tried to swallow the whole thing at once. Slice by slice, though, it was easy. Life has been hectic lately, with few large chunks of time to work. So I went back to creating 20-minute tasks […]
Warning: Do You Know Where You Are?
When trying to get from where we are as writers to where we’d like to be, we will need to follow a path to that publishing destination. As mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve been re-reading Andy Stanley’s The Principle of the Path which states that it’s direction–not intention–that determines our destination. We are travelers, […]