Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Are you ready to deepen your commitment to your writing? Do you write or want to write novels, a memoir, or a nonfiction book? Are you ready to deepen your commitment to writing, to your writing self, to the story you want to tell? Are you ready to be a warrior for yourself, act on your creativity, and announce to yourself and others that you are creative?

Is your work in the public domain? What is public domain? And why should you care?
As a writer you automatically own the rights to your work*. Your work is NOT in the public domain unless you put it there, through Creative Commons for example.
For more details on this issue, see the Library of Congress Copyright [...]

Writing is a powerful tool. Don Kirchner is a wondeful living example of what I mean. I met Don at an entrepreneur’s conference in Los Angeles in 2007 and was impressed by his soft smile and compelling story. He had spent time in the federal prison [...]

Some writers are at constant war with themselves, trying to force themselves to write, arguing with themselves, blaming themselves and living in constant strife. Others see themselves at one with the universe, in perfect harmony, guided by Spirit, at peace, and in constant love with inspiration. Yet both struggle with the written word. Both find [...]

Fall is a great time to think about and put in place new rituals for your creative writing.
Why are rituals an important part of our creative practices?
Twyla Tharp, in The Creative Habit: Use it and Learn it for Life, speaks of the power of the “ritual of preparation.”

I find that other art forms invigorate and inspire my writing. The other day my 4-year-old nephew asked, “What’s that?” He was pointing to the two vertical vision boards sitting in my wisdom corner in my office.

I told him what they were, explained that …

Have you lost your way with your writing and don’t know how to forge ahead? If so, this is a good time to step back, hold on to your courage and re-imagine your current writing project or work in progress (WIP).
Imagine your writing project as a delicious dish. Take a moment to immerse yourself in [...]

My spirit is uplifted by grand buildings. I hear the whisperings of times past. Stories seep out of the old stone, echoes of footsteps remind me of people I have never met and never will.
The Montmartre church, the Basilique of Sacre Coeur, makes me think of secret rendezvous and gatherings of folk. I loved gathering [...]

Thank you Josie Brown for bringing this contest to my attention!
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Enter SMW’s Great Girlfriend Getaway Essay Contest!
You tell your friends your dreams and goals. With them, you relay your greatest fears, and cry your bitterest tears. Now, honor these women with your words, by entering the SMW Great Girlfriend Getaway Essay Contest
Grand Prize: A 2-night [...]

 happens in the NOW, not in the past, not in the future, not in your head, not in conversation, and not in your dreams. From all those places — the past, the future, your head, your imagination, your conversations, your dreams –- come your inspiration and stories for your writing.
Words trailing one after the other, [...]

Excerpted from Overcome Writer’s Block by Beth Barany
The Garden Within
Who you are as a writer has grown from your lived experiences, your passions and your frictions, your soil. Your fertilizer, your weed pulling, your garden. Your writing won’t be like anyone else’s nor will your career, nor will your daily routine. This may appear [...]

Writing Tips: Choice Begins with You
To write or not to write, that is the question. Here, the pen is mightier than the sword. I went to sleep last night thinking about choice, and woke up inspired.
What became so clear to me as I woke up was that it was entirely up to me, to write [...]

The best and quickest way to start writing is to give yourself permission to write a shitty first draft. This great piece of advice was garnered from Anne Lamott’s book on writing and the writing life, Bird by Bird. So you want to write that article, blog post, or chapter?
First, give yourself permission to write [...]

Your Mindset is Everything
What to Do About Fear and Negativity

Many teachings, like The Secret, and others, talk about having a positive mindset, visualizing your success and focusing on your goal. You know what kind of book you want to write, right? If not, do the GMC exercise, posted here.
While that’s all well and good, [...]

“Passion is the foundation of life.”
– Unknown

Tell me, what’s your passion?

As a writer – you are ALL writers in my book –, I ask you to delve deep down and answer this question as honestly as you can. Include anything that is considered odd, weird, or poorly understood by those around you. No limits [...]

Misconception #1: It’s easy to write a book
Well, um, not for most people. It takes much application of effort to complete a manuscript, article, e-book, or report. What does “application of effort” mean? Daily or regular pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

And sometimes on days where it’s difficult to get [...]