I’m too old, I’m too tired, I can’t write for hours anymore… But something won’t let me quit writing! Is there a solution? Through a lot of trial and error, I found the solution for me: the 5-Minute Life. It didn’t just revolutionize my writing. You can also break a bad habit, or start a […]
writing challenges
Getting Unstuck after 2020
After losing two family members in the pandemic, I had a month-long severe reaction this spring to my second Covid shot. When I resurfaced, feeling practically comatose, I was behind on one Christmas mystery book deadline and a novel (set in 1850s England.) None of my decades-old “get started” techniques worked, which induced a near […]
From Panic to Focus: Save Your Writing Project
In the fall of 2019 I spent several weeks researching a mystery series set in a small village in the North Yorkshire Dales. The locals who own the shops depend on tourist trade from daily bus tours and mountain bike groups. In early 2020 villagers sent out a plea for the tourists to please stay […]
Attack of Writer’s Decidophopia
It’s not so easy to put first things first. It’s not even easy to decide what should be first! I want to write first in my day because so many writer bios of famous successful authors say that’s what they do. They stumble to their offices first thing, in their slippers and carrying coffee, to […]
Compartmentalize to End Procrastination . . . But How?
When re-reading Getting It Done by Andrew J. DuBrin, PH.D., I came to a section on dealing with procrastination. One piece of advice is something I’d like your feedback on. I have struggled to compartmentalize as he suggested. Except for occasional months here or there, I haven’t acquired that skill. The author said you can […]
Uncluttered Office Equals Focused Mind
Are you ever overwhelmed by clutter (even good clutter)? This will be primarily a photo sharing blog post—and you can skip to the last half of the post if you want to—but I want to share what prompted my office decluttering project. I have a small 10-foot X 10-foot office which holds a treadmill/desk, a […]
Wounds from the Game of Writing: Earning Battle Scars
Wounds: we all get them. During the 1988 Jamboree encampment of 32,000 Boy Scouts, one troop (38 Scouts) led the entire Jamboree in cuts treated at the medical tent. The huge number of nicks from busy knives sounded negative until someone toured the camp and saw the unique artistic walking sticks each boy in that […]
Borrowing Habits
Back in college, I had a friend who lamented, “If only I could run on my stomach!” She loved to run, never missed a day, and had thighs of steel. She also loved to eat, never missed a snack, and had a stomach like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. If only she could apply her running […]
Writing á la Pavlov
In previous weeks I’ve shared why I went AWOL for months, the need to rest, reflect and realign, how to re-figure your writing output, and how to avoid burnout in the first place. What if you’re ready to write again? You may not have hours every day to write, or you may have tight deadlines. […]
Inner Critics: Valuable Editor or Time Waster?
Writers are opinionated people. Our brains never seem to stop. We criticize because we “know” how things and people should be. This “critical editor component” of our personality is absolutely invaluable to the editing and revision process. If you can’t spot what’s wrong with a manuscript, you can’t fix it. However, this same critical ability can […]