DAMN GOOD WRITING TIPS

When Should Your Writing Come First?

by admin on May 15, 2013

If your writing always comes first, to the detriment of everything else, you might end up with a lot of words but few friends. Writers are, after all, first and foremost human beings with rich and complicated lives. We have obligations, responsibilities, and relationships that need tending to. But there are crucial times in a [...]

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What Is a Writing Mentor?

by admin on March 1, 2013

The word “Mentor” comes to us from The Odyssey. The goddess Athena assumes the guise of Mentor, thereby helping the Greek hero Telemachus on his heroic quest to spurn his mother’s suitors and find his father’s killers. Mentors are god-like creatures in disguise. And they serve to prepare you––the hero––to face the unknown adventure of [...]

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Five Strategies for Writing through the Fear

by admin on February 19, 2013

Fear holds us hostage. We sit down to write and end up wasting hours on Facebook. We blame ourselves for being lazy and inept. In worse case scenarios, we just give up and stop pursuing our writing dreams. But while fear is part of the writing process–-don’t we all worry about writing well enough, having [...]

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Round Up Your Allies and Write Your Book

by admin on January 29, 2013

Last night I heard US Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor talking about her latest book, My Beloved World. Her amazing journey took her from the housing projects in the Bronx to the highest halls of justice. She didn’t have it easy. She learned early to take responsibility for herself. What she did have was a [...]

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What are Your Strengths and Growing Edges as a Writer?

by admin on January 17, 2013

I discovered the following list of writing “Strengths” and “Growing Edges” leafing through a 2009 journal. Strengths: I write every day I am willing to keep working at a piece for as long as it takes My writing is poetic and inspiring I am an original thinker I am 100% committed to earning my living [...]

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Driven to Distraction

by admin on December 29, 2012

My New Year resolution is less time on Facebook and Twitter. And, even it it seems like a good way to sell more books, I think I’m going to forgo Pinterest. Why? Because social media is driving me to distraction. I don’t just have less time to write, I also find that I lose the [...]

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The 10 Main Reasons to Write a Book

by admin on December 3, 2012

I keep receiving emails about writing a book in 90 days or over a weekend. This quickly conceived and written book, I am told, will earn me hundreds and thousands of dollars. While I sit at my computer, the clock is ticking. Money is slipping through my hands because I do not have a book. [...]

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Chaos to Coherence–the Path of Creativity

by admin on November 8, 2012

The secret of artists, writers, and other creative people throughout millennia––whether they are conscious of it or not––is that they know how to collaborate with chaos. Yet, oftentimes it is the very presence of chaos and confusion that leads to fear of failure and instills resistance in us at the very beginning of the creative [...]

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Take the Writing Authenticity Test

by admin on October 26, 2012

It’s easy to fall into the trap of playing it safe when we write. We want people to like us and our work. Yet by watering down our beliefs or experiences, we often leave out the vital details that bring our writing alive. If you want to write well, you have to get real. And [...]

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10 Ways to Get Ready to Write!

by admin on October 1, 2012

How do we cultivate a state of readiness for writing, even when the doorbell announces guests or our least favorite aunt descends upon us for the weekend? Below are some of the ways I’ve learned to write regularly, no matter what else is going on in my life. These are just my ways; please feel [...]

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