Imitation & Ingenuity in Your Writing Practice

The Writer's Life

Emulating and mirroring other authors’ techniques will build your creative muscle and illuminate your writing process. In recent weeks, we have encouraged you to create silence and listen to your inner voice. Perhaps, this quiet introspection has led you outside your...

Calming a Writer’s “Inner Disquiet”

The Writer's Life

Restlessness is a fundamental ingredient of the creative process. Embrace it in order to understand your full artistic potential. Carpe Diem! In 1989, actor Robin Williams starred in The Dead Poet’s Society. As you may recall, this film centered on a small group of...

Silence is Golden for Writers

The Craft of Writing, The Writer's Life

If noise clutters your mind, you will produce shallow writing. Create silence and empower your authentic voice. As you enter the room, you immediately feel its aching potential. The neutral walls yearn for color, texture, or art—anything to animate the room, to tell...

To Share Your Writing—or Not?

The Craft of Writing, The Writer's Life

I recently attended two productive and gratifying writing events: one a week-long workshop, the other a three-day retreat. These events were, at once, similar yet very different from one another. On my long drive home from North Carolina, I contemplated those...

Organizing Your Ideas

The Craft of Writing, The Writer's Life

Last week, we talked about having a container(s) for your ideas so they don’t evaporate or move on to another creative soul ready to receive them because you are not in a position to use them immediately. The logical next step is to have an organizing principle for...

Refill Your Creative Well

The Writer's Life

Last week, I wrote about post-publication depression, then received feedback from several authors who have indeed faced something that feels like depression after they finished writing their books or published them. This week, I offer an alternative view, a reframing...