Creative Endurance. David Yoon suggests creative endurance can be cultivated. “Grit is not a personality trait or a special skill. It’s not even all that special. Anyone can have grit because grit is simply a set of good habits.” Some excellent suggestions here. Getting Unstuck. Love these tips from Janice Hardy for how to get…
Very early in my career, when I was visiting there for my class reunion, I held a booksigning at a bookstore in my hometown in Iowa. There were few interested customers. The store manager, obviously thinking to cheer me up, told me a story about how author Robert James Waller had held a booksigning there…
A writer friend once told me if you’re writing a sad scene and it doesn’t make you cry, you’re not doing it right. If you’re writing a humorous passage and it doesn’t make you laugh, you’re not doing it right. Wise words. I would add, if you’re writing suspense and you’re not anxious, you’re not…
The living might be easy, but the writing . . . not so much. Perhaps because I am a writer of horror and mystery, I prefer a melancholy atmosphere—dreary weather and short, dark days—for holing up with my laptop to create twisty stories. When the pools open, the barbeques belch smoke and the drinks don…
Distractions? Procrastination? Dillydallying?