Transform your writing life.
A theory, with a case study (n=1) Here’s a silly situation! I started A Writer’s Roadmap (AWR) in 2019 as a subtitle for what I pictured as a few nonfiction e-books in the how-to genre, specifically how to write and publish a book. I obtained the URL and made a website for it with no real …
I’m sitting in what feels like the dark (my office / flexspace, which is in fact a large closet), still riding a bit of a high from the International 3-Day Novel contest (3DN for short), which ran over the Labour Day weekend. Everyone I know who’s tried the 3DN either does it once and goes, “not …
The Summer Olympics are on TV! And they’re happening in real life, too, OF COURSE…over in Europe, over in Paris, over where baguettes grow on trees et le fromage, c’est magnifique. I was going to write a bracing postcard about how Olympic athletes get their stuff done. Ability + decision + dedication + support in …
The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. —Roman Saying, quoted in Charles de Lint, Dreams Underfoot, 1993 Yesterday I met a goal six months in the making–my podcast buddy James Buchanan and I “soft launched” Gifted Underachievers, a podcast for midlevel creatives with delusional ambitions. We “gentle launched” …
…And Why You’d Want To Maybe I should qualify that: How to fake your own death if you’re stifled / frustrated / stuck in your creative life. Here’s a four-stage process I recommend: 1. Before the how, consider the why 2. Rate your days, alien-style 3. Analyze & prioritize 4. Remove & replace Stage 1: Before …
Who do you hang out with, and how do you feel afterward? This is a question I’ve been asking myself after I read a quote attributed to the late great Nipsey Hussle: “If you look at the people in your circle and you don’t get inspired, you don’t have a circle. You have a cage.” The people …
I just found the rough draft of a piece I wrote a piece for a local writer’s magazine . It proposed 8 steps for writing a novel, to wit: #1: Start with Character Plot might seem to be the most important thing in a novel, but consider a plot like “Joe goes to the store for a loaf of …
Let’s blether about the ether. I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Writing can be hard.You’re taking little black marks and making an experience for someone you don’t know. You can’t really see it objectively for a long time. In fact you can’t see it, period, for most of its creation. Knitters have wool, sculptors have clay …
Guess what the writer’s #1 roadblock is! It isn’t lack of time. That might be on the list, but it’s not #1. It ain’t lack of resources. Lots of people have written books despite lacking external resources. It’s not lack of money. Money can buy you time, coaches, and feedback, but it can’t help you actually write the book. …
My friend X has been trying to write a book for about 8 years now. Not because she WANTS to, but because she knows it will increase the visibility and credibility of her business–she trains people to get comfortable with public speaking in all environments, from business presentations to TED talks. For X, the book …
What are silent writing groups? These are groups that meet online or in person. They start and end at pre-established times. Participants are expected to write in silence for the allotted time. Group size varies, depending on the time and location. Are they really silent? Yes, for the writing portion of the meeting. There will …
Thursday Postcard The Case of George Saunders You might have heard of American writer George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Booker Prize. Saunders writes a lot of short stories and has published several collections. He’s won a whole bunch of awards for the short fiction as well. His stories are both moving …
When you are mostly successful in your career, or in school if you’re a student, being a novice at something you care about takes guts. In my first serious writing group, which was held at night in a skyscraper above Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus, I was hands-down the worst writer in the room. Not …
“It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.” Daisaku Ikeda I’d extend this to include ourselves. And that brings us to … Principle #5: Focus on strengths and resources rather than weaknesses and deficits This principle is a game-changer, because it balances you …
Thursday Postcard Remembering Dad Every year as it drew to a close, my dad would invent a motto for the next year. “We’re gonna thrive in ’95!” The mottos made me laugh, and they captured a truth about life that I’m getting more convinced about, which is that you often get what you deep-down expect. …
“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” Leo Tolstoy Principle #4: Change is Happening All the Time The first time I experienced the idea that change happens all the time was on day 40 of a 40-day meditative process. The guy whose book led me through the process, Michael Brown, had written that I …
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein Principle #3: The Solution and the Problem Are Not Necessarily Related This principle suggests that no solution can be ruled out for any writing problem until the problem can be identified. Let’s say the problem is that you …
“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” W Somerset Maugham I hope the above quote from Somerset Maugham, who wrote tons of books, has broken the ice and revealed that any article about “6 key principles” should be viewed with suspicion. However. From years of writing books …
Thursday Postcard I’m in a new writing group. Well, new to me. I was in my previous group for 14 or so years, up until 2019, and it was fantastic. We met in person–at first weekly, then biweekly–and became excellent writing friends to each other. Nothing beats access to writers who want to read your …
Thursday Postcard Writers don’t need much…or do they? A pen, some paper…a computer…power…coffee… Shouldn’t writers be able to work anywhere, at any time? In theory, yes. But Mason Currey’s entertaining book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work shows the sheer variety of things writers have relied on to get going. Pipes, cigarettes, nudity, a special bathrobe, apples, sex, …
Thursday Postcard July 21, 2022 Or with a completed book manuscript? Common questions when a book is done: *Where can I find a good beta reader to see if the book works? *Should I get more active on social media so I can sell a few copies to people other than my friends? *Should I …
Thursday Postcard June 23, 2022 Who in this photo is writing? Nobody, because it’s summertime. If you have a family or friends, or just enjoy being outside, summer can be a hard time to write. This postcard is brought to you by my writing body, which sits for long periods and would sometimes rather be …
Thursday Postcard When I was a kid, a librarian drove a bus loaded with books to our neighborhood, which had no library. Every week, she parked the bus a couple of blocks down from our house. Built-in shelves lined the walls, and the librarian checked out our books with the steering wheel at her elbow. The …
Thursday Postcard May 12, 2022 “The writer’s path lies, always, on the road of feeling.” Stephen Harrod BuhnerEnsouling Language: On the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer’s Life Everyone has a body made up of cells, organs, bones, vascular and neural systems, et cetera (my medical training was cut short in kindergarten, so that’s all …
Books written during the pandemic are appearing on library shelves. It seems almost inconceivable that it could happen so quickly. It’s only 2022! And these are traditionally published books, ones that have had to make their way through many steps following that first draft. I guess this shows us that it does not take a …