Self-doubt is one of the biggest obstacles a writer will ever face. It creeps in at the worst moments—undermining confidence, stalling progress, and making you question whether your stories are even worth telling. Conquering self-doubt in writing isn’t about eliminating it altogether; it’s about learning to work with it. The key is recognizing self-doubt for […]
January 16, 2023 by 91 Comments Podcast6 Lessons Learned From 4 Years of Writer’s Block
To be a writer, one must do two things: write and, perhaps surprisingly, not write. Usually, we champion the first and demonize the second with much fear and trembling, giving it dread labels such as “writer’s block.” The implication is that, for a writer, not writing is about as bad as it gets. The truth, […]
June 22, 2020 by 78 Comments Writing InspirationUsing All Four Cognitive Functions as a Writer
My heart is so full as I write this. So many things going on in the world right now—both good and bad. It makes me reflect, not for the first time, on the tremendous gift given to writers in the simple fact that we have a place to put not just our feelings, but every […]
June 1, 2020 by 104 Comments Writing Inspiration11 Exercises to Enhance Your Visual Thinking
Which comes first for you—images or words? For storytellers, both are important. We craft words on paper to communicate our visions to readers. We want them to see what we see, hear what we hear, experience what we experience. Concentrating on visual thinking is an exercise many of us can use to access our creativity […]
March 2, 2020 by 112 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 […]
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 […]
February 25, 2019 by 112 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 […]
October 24, 2016 by 48 Comments Outlining Your NovelHow to Find and Fill All Your Plot Holes (How to Outline for NaNoWriMo, Pt. 4)
What is the single most important job of an outline for NaNoWriMo—or any other book at any other time of the year? We might come up with lots of answers, but they all tend to boil down to just this one: avoiding plot holes. I hate plot holes. They drive me bazooey. There you are, […]
