Tick-tock. The clock rolls on—marking time for all of us who are in the day-by-day progression of processing our understanding of and reaction to the nearly global and mostly voluntary quarantine in response to the startling arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. My own emotions have been all over the map—from a rational and pragmatic outlook […]
March 23, 2020 by 106 Comments Writing InspirationThe Power of Hopeful Stories in a Stressful Time
What is your story putting into the world? I mean that question literally. Every story takes up space in the world—and not just on a bookshelf. Every story you read or watch becomes a part of you. It changes you. Your brain physically changes to make space not just for the memories of this story, […]
March 2, 2020 by 111 Comments Writing InspirationCreativity vs. the Ego (Or, the Value of Unpublishable Stories)
Why are you writing? It’s a question almost as vast and confusing as the dreaded, “What are you writing?” Why we write… We write for ourselves. We write for others. We write to have fun. We write to pay the bills. We write for fame and glory. We write in search of hope and justice […]
January 13, 2020 by 64 Comments Writing Inspiration3 Life-Changing Rules for Finding More Writing Inspiration This Year
Writing inspiration—so easy to take for granted when we have it, so hard to rekindle once we’ve let the flame go out. When I was young, I never questioned the fact that my imagination was a vivid and constant companion. It was a river flooding through my life and in whose waters I could baptize […]
October 7, 2019 by 311 Comments Writing InspirationA Challenge to Write Life-Changing Fiction (+Giveaway)
Stories have intentions. That wonderful idea was just one of many nuggets I found myself highlighting in what has so far turned out to be my surprise read of the year—noted literary agent Donald Maass’s The Emotional Craft of Fiction. Like many of you, I cut my teeth on Maass’s now-classic Writing the Breakout Novel, but […]
September 23, 2019 by 134 Comments Writing InspirationAre You Struggling to Be Creative? This Might Be Why
I talk to my wonderful mother on the phone every night. We talk about everything from health to books to psychology to faith to whatever might be making us grumpy at the moment. This week while discussing health and diet, she shared something she’d read that said she was now at the beginning of the […]
September 9, 2019 by 28 Comments Writing InspirationWriting’s Secret Formula: How to Write Stories That Matter
“Writing is magic,” notes Stephen King, the most prolific author in history, “as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.” I concur, so much so that it is the featured quote on my website. But is it magic? Is writing so […]
February 25, 2019 by 111 Comments Writer's Help7 Things to Try When Writing Is Hard
Some writers might look at that title and respond incredulously: “When isn’t writing hard?” But as I’m sure all writers everywhere can attest, there are times when writing is hard in the normal sense and times when it’s hard hard. Often, the difficulty lies simply in the unwieldy story—and the need for an ever-evolving understanding and ability […]
July 23, 2018 by 63 Comments Writing Inspiration4 Steps for How to Turn an Idea Into a Story That Rocks
Ah, ideas. To a writer, is there any sweeter word? But as we quickly learn whenever we try to trap those ideas on paper, the real magic trick is figuring out how to turn an idea into a story that first works and then rocks. Bar none, my favorite part of the writing process is […]
June 25, 2018 by 53 Comments Writing InspirationWriting as the Art of Thinking Clearly: 6 Steps
As an infamously vivid dreamer, I often find myself waking up with this surging certainty that my subconscious just gave me the best story ever. One of my most memorable dreams featured an end-of-the-world plot. Aliens were coming! Asteroids were coming! Klaxons were blaring. People were running around madly. I think the theme from Armageddon might even […]
