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…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsFear 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…
DetailsLast 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…
DetailsI 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…
DetailsMy 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…
DetailsI 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.…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsIt’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…
DetailsHow 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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