At last, success! If you’ve taken time to do each of the previous steps, congratulate yourself. It’s been time well spent. But if you’ve done the work, you want it to last. That brings us to Stage 4 for making changes in your writing life, where you learn techniques for maintaining long-term success. (First read […]
writing habits
Stage 3: Taking Action
Ready for Stage 3? It’s about taking action. (First read The Dynamics of Change, Stage 1: Making Up Your Mind, and Stage 2: Committing to Change.) If you’ve done your homework in Stages 1 and 2, you’re probably more excited about this action phase than you would normally be. Why? You’re prepared. You’re motivated. You’ve taken […]
When Deadlines Meet the Holidays
I love having deadlines. I really do. It means money will be coming in for my daily writing, as long as I meet those deadlines. But when overlapping deadlines meet Thanksgiving and Christmas (and all the dinners, shopping, cards and company that go with it), I feel my internal panic button set to go off. […]
Building Writing Muscle
Some years ago the doctor was considering surgery on my elbow. Why? Because I had damaged the joint with a weights routine that was too heavy…way too heavy. I thought I’d make up for a late start and build up my skinny arms overnight. Instead, for a while I couldn’t lift anything as heavy as […]
Undo-It-Yourself Projects
(Due to illness, I am re-posting a popular article from a few years ago.) “A bad habit never disappears miraculously; it’s an undo-it-yourself project.”~~Abigail Van Buren We all have some self-defeating behaviors, and sometimes these behaviors can cause our writing dreams to be grounded. Through my years of writing, I certainly developed some bad habits […]
No Motivation or Willpower? A Simple Solution
Motivation is a great thing to have, but note this: it’s unreliable. And because it’s unreliable, motivation is NOT a good strategy for making change in your writing life. Motivation to write comes and goes. I love when it’s there. I love that “can’t wait to get to the keyboard” feeling about telling a story. […]
"They Say…" Writing Advice
I hope you new writers question everything “they say” you have to do to succeed. That includes any advice I might give on this blog. Thirty years ago “they said” a new writer had to find a way to get to New York and meet the editors face to face if she wanted to sell […]
Getting Your Ducks in a Row: Organization or Procrastination?
Some time ago one of Suzanne Lieurance’s email “Morning Nudges” hit me between the eyes, and I printed it out as a reminder. I see this week that I need the same nudge again. Maybe you do too. Ducks on Parade “People will tell you that before you start on any new venture it’s a good idea to get all […]
Five Stages of Procrastination
How is procrastination like a bridge you set on fire yourself? According to Neil Fiore in The Now Habit, it’s similar to a situation where we scare ourselves into being frozen. Fiore says to imagine a very long flat board on the ground in front of you, and then imagine walking on it to the […]
Writing–and Writers–That Last
I’ve been watching Walton’s re-runs since the recent death of Ralph Waite. (He was the father of the Waltons.) So for you Waltons fans, here is a re-run of a post done after visiting Walton’s Mountain, VA…and what I learned about writers there. I’m going to reveal my age here–I was born the same year […]