We all need a little inspiration from time to time (in between working our asses off, of course). Inspiration is like the protein that feeds the muscles of creativity and our continued dedication to the craft of writing. One of the best ways I know to get inspired is to read the books of other…
I have a confession to make. For the last twenty odd years, I have been smoking weed every night of the week. I also confess to loving it. I don’t drink or do any other drugs (any more), so smoking weed is like my one “vice”, although I don’t think of smoking weed as a…
I’ve never really been one for writing down ideas in notebooks. I have tried to do so in the past, but I never maintained the practice. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that it was a waste of time. In the brief periods where I have recorded some of my ideas, I found little benefit…
Sometimes I dread reading a review of my work for fear of what it might contain. No one likes to have their work torn to shreds by a reviewer who had a problem with, or blatantly hated, what you had to offer. Probably the most painful reviews to read are those that are the most…
As a writer, I am more productive now than I have ever been in the past. The reason why I am so productive these days is because I have learned to focus. Staying focused is a daily battle for me, as it is with most people. At any minute of the day, there are always…
The other day, I came across a series of videos recorded by writer and broadcaster, Ira Glass. In the videos, Glass talks about the art and craft of story telling, and hands out quite a bit of advice on writing and the creative process. In one of these videos, Glass talks about the value of…
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about achievement it’s this: you have to keep going and persevere with what you are doing. More than anything else, perseverance will see you through to the end. Perseverance is almost like a skill and it contains a few different elements that you should be aware off in order…
You wanna mess up a writer tell them to write something original. See how long it takes them to freeze up and then fall to bits. What many beginning writers fail to realize to their detriment is that purposely trying to come up with wholly original stuff is folly and only results in one thing:…
Where would a writer be without their subconscious? What chance would a story have to be written without the help of the subconscious to tell it? Writers kid themselves into thinking that they are the sole architects of their creations, when really, they aren’t. Sure, a writer does most of the leg work, puts in…