Writing Process
Finding Clarity: The Value of Writing a Discovery Draft
My student, a high school senior stared at the paper in front of him, then up at me, then back down at his paper before dropping his head in his hands with all the drama of an annoyed seventeen year old, and mumbled, “What do I even do with this? I don’t know how to…
Read MoreSaying Goodbye to Creative Projects
It’s time to say goodbye to a project that I truly enjoyed doing…until I didn’t, my podcast Dear Creativity, Let’s Write. I haven’t published an episode in over a year, but I’ve held onto it because it was a lot of work! Can I just delete that? Also, what if I’m inspired again to do…
Read MoreHow to Organize Research for Your Book
If you’re writing a book, at some point, you’ll need to research, whether it’s a tiny factoid to supplement a scene or story, or a deep dive into psychological studies to build your argument. Conducting research is part of the job description. The challenge comes in organizing the information so that we can find it…
Read MoreDiscovering Your Writing Process: how to find it and why you should
One of the greatest surprises of my mid-life existence is that I’ve discovered that I love Cross Fit (X-fit). My twenty-something children thought it was hilarious when I first started going, but three years in, they don’t laugh anymore. It’s just mom going to the gym. I love it because I don’t have to think…
Read MoreTaking a Writing Break ≠ Quitting: Why taking breaks is important for your creative process
Whether you’re deep into drafting your ninth book or your starting on your first, I can guarantee that you will hit hard parts where your project feels heavy and messy. It’s possibly gone in directions you weren’t anticipating or you’ve written it “out of order” and now piecing it all together feels imperative and really…
Read MoreOn Discovering and Embracing Slow Writing, Slow Creativity
A few years ago, my sister sent me a link to a blog on a couple’s “slow travel” adventures. I’d never heard of slow travel, and I found the concept fascinating, this whole idea of going to a place, staying there for an extended period of time, and really getting to know it. Traveling slowly,…
Read MoreHow long should writing your book take?
We live in an Amazon Prime, Netflix, fast food, “I want it NOW” kinda world. Life moves fast, and when we decide we want something, we generally can get it fairly quickly. No more waiting for a movie to come out or the VHS to get returned to Blockbuster. We just stream it. We get…
Read More5 Ways to Start Your Writing Sessions Strong
Starting a writing session is often the hardest part, the part that takes the most energy, kinda like getting a plane off the ground takes the most fuel, but once it’s in the air, it soars. Just like many of us pour ourselves a warm cuppa joe or hot tea in the morning to get…
Read MoreBook Writing Strategies for Aspiring Authors that Actually Work
20 Writing Strategies Aspiring Authors can Use to Plan, Write, and Finish their First Books An interesting thing happens when I tell people that I’m a writer. Their eyes open wide in surprise, and they usually say one of two things, either, “Oh, that’s so cool. I could never do that,” OR “Oh my gosh,…
Read MoreYou are Your Best Audience
Let’s talk about your audience and WHO you create for. I had a big aha about this a few weeks ago, and it’s an idea I’ve been exploring. It started when I began digging back into my old blog posts and thinking about WHY I’d started my very first original blog which I started in March…
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