The Writer's Cottage

Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

I like today’s quote from St. Francis of Assisi:

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

Writing feels impossible sometimes, especially if you’re trying to write a book or flesh out a query for a fantastic new idea that occurred to you overnight. It seems that writer’s block will never move out of the way.

But if you study St. Francis’s words, you can see the old adage “Do it for just 15 minutes” come to the surface. In other words, if you’re stuck in your writing, choose a task from your mundane to do list and work on it for just 15 minutes. Set a timer if you must to make sure you stick with that 15-minute guideline. Then when the buzzer sounds, switch over to your writing task, again setting that time for just 15 minutes. Your writing will flow out easily from your creative mind because you have “warmed it up” with your 15 minutes of doing what’s necessary. Now you’re doing what’s possible–writing. Keep practicing this routine every day, and next, before you know it, you’ll be accomplishing what you previously thought was “the impossible”: finishing your book, completing and sending the query on that great new idea… achieving your dreams of being a writer.

Happy Writing!

Sue

I’m teaching an ESL writing class this semester at the local community college. ESL stands for English as a Second Language. The students in my writing class are advanced speakers of English as another language besides their native language. They are from South Korea, Egypt, Brazil, Caracas and Romania.

Although they are mostly fluent in speaking English, they need to improve their English writing skills. That’s why they were placed in my class. They have been writing paragraphs all semester, polishing their skills so that they write at least three passing paragraphs. They’ve nearly achieved this goal as a class. At the end of the semester, we are going to enjoy food from everyone’s native culture and discuss tips and tools to help them continue to improve their writing.

That’s the thing about writing — whether in your native language or another language. You must keep writing every day. If you don’t use it, you will definitely lose it.

So how can you incorporate writing in your very busy daily life? Here are some ways I listed to discuss with my students:

• Buy a daily writer’s book, such as The Writer’s Book of Days. These books are great because they give you a writing prompt for every day of the year. Some of the prompts are sentences you are supposed to finish, topics, or questions to answer. You are supposed to write for 15 minutes nonstop. I used to do this daily writing practice every day. I haven’t done so in a while and I can tell in my writing! When I was writing from my book of days every day, my writing on my day job and in my freelance work improved and I sold more pieces! The lesson here is to write every day and these books are great tools to help you do just that.
• Write morning pages before you get out of bed. Julia Cameron talks about these in her bestseller, The Artist’s Way, another excellent book for all writers to read by the way.
• Read one book about writing at least every month (I think it’s best to read two writing books a month, but let’s start with just one). Right now, I’m reading Sol Stein’s How to Grow a Novel.
• Read at least one novel a month for pleasure. And, while you’re enjoying the story, pay attention to how the author writes it. In fact, you could read the novel the first time for pleasure and then go back and re-read the novel to study the author’s technique and the general techniques for fiction writing. I know of one now-famous author who started writing fiction by doing this practice. It helped her see the geneeral format for the genre she was interested in writing. She then went on to write and publish many bestsellers.
• Of  course, we cannot forget about writing in our journal every day. Journal entries are different than morning pages and the book of days writing practice. Journaling is for our eyes only; it is more personal. When we journal, we don’t worry about grammar or style; we just write and write and write. It’s the time we gift our creative muse to just “let it all hang out.” Journaling is very important to honing our writing skills and assuring our creative muse that we will pay attention to her and we are serious about being writers.

That’s all for now. I’ll add more after my students and I have our discussion in a few weeks.

Happy Writing!

Sue

 I have a great life. I’m sitting here in my home office on a Monday morning looking out the window of an incredible winter scene. The river is still. Bordering it are snow-tipped trees and snow-covered banks. There’s even an adventurous duck floating down the icy river. I wonder if he, too, is enjoying this peaceful moment. The sky is clear blue, the deep kind of blue that looks like the ocean turned upside down in the sky. My beagles are resting on the floor surrounding my chair. They, too, notice the serenity of this beautiful first morning of winter.

The writer’s life isn’t always this serene, I know. Believe me, I know. Lately, it’s been more nerve-wracking, trying to get decent-paying work in a very tight economy. But for this moment, as I gaze out at the scene Nature painted, I am reassured that the writer’s life is indeed a wonderful one.

Happy Writing!

Sue

I’m reading some great books these days on positive thinking and how our thoughts affect our lives. What affects my life affects my writing, after all, so I consider this type of reading crucial to the health of my writing life. These days my writing life has been meager due to the stresses of downsizing, day job loss, and some health issues. But there is hope in this blog today because I have been finding hope in these books. The first one is As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. Originally published in 1902, this gem of a pocket book summarizes the world’s (ancient and contemporary) wisdom on the power of thought. I have highlighted and noted so many phrases in this little volume. Here are a few for your inspiration:

• [A person's] wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
• [People] are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.
• [A person] is the causer (though nearly always unconsciously) of his circumstances, and that, while aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end.
• Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.

Another book that is really “speaking” to my writer’s Muse these days is written by Dr. Karen E. Peterson: Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period. Dr. Peterson writes about how our right brain (the home of the Muse) and left brain often are at odds with each other. Through a series of dominant hand/nondominant hand exercises, she helps the blocked writer “see” into his/her right brain and therefore get insight into the resistance that the right brain is putting out there and thereby blocking the writer’s efforts to create. The promise of the title is true: in less than 10 days of reading this book, I have found I am able to finally put pen to paper (or fingers to laptop keyboard) and write 2,000 words. Now that’s progress!

On your writing journey, remember the rewards of reading, especially inspirational texts, for your writing.

Happy Writing!
Sue

Among all the barriers to pursuing one’s dream, writer’s block must be up there in the land of giants.  If any of you have ever suffered with writer’s block, you know what I mean. It’s very frustrating to sit down at your computer every day at the appointed time you have set aside for your writing only to find a barren desert where your creative mind is supposed to be!

As you have probably surmised by now, I have been facing writer’s block lately. Actually, this syndrome has been occurring off and on for three years. But now that I have made a clear decision to write every day, t’s harder to ignore the condition (which, in the past, I sidestepped with a nice chocolate treat, thank you very much!). Many extra pounds and days later, I realized that I have to face and conquer this giant that is standing in the way of my dream of an eclectic, fulfilled, and independent life as an abundantly wealthy writer.

Here are some of the ways I’ve decided to conquer this giant of writer’s block. Maybe they will help you.

1. I am going to write at least one full page every morning. Julia Cameron calls these “morning pages” in her books The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write  (great books to have in your writer’s library, by the way).
2. Write out the questions I would ask myself if I were interviewing myself for an article. This technique helps me to see myself — my life experiences, talents, etc. — objectively. One of these questions could develop into an excellent topic for an article or essay.
3. Go to my public library and read current and back issues of The Writer’s Digest. Sometimes, just browsing through a magazine about writing can stimulate your creative muse and give you ideas. Make sure to bring along your writer’s notebook so you capture all of those great ideas!
4. Take a walk with a recording device in hand. I find that when I walk I am inspired with ideas that would never have occurred to me. I discovered that my cell phone has an audio recorder feature in the multimedia section. So when inspiration hits, I pull out my cell phone and talk away. Several times a week, I sit down at my computer to record those bits of inspiration. I am amazed at what my creative muse came up with while I was walking outside in nature.

Let me know if you try these techniques and how they work out for you. I’d also love to hear what you’ve done to help face and conquer your writer’s block giant.

Happy Writing!

Sue

I’m incredibly resourceful. So resourceful that all my friends and colleagues call me “The Resource Lady” or “The Resource Queen.” Whenever someone, friend or stranger, needs help with finding information, resolving a problem, or figuring out their next step, I help. No matter their question, I always seem to be able to point them in the direction of really helpful resources (people, places, things, etc.). Some days, I sit back and go, “OK, so what is this all about? What do I do with this? Do I make a business out of this not-so-hidden talent? Or, do I just continue giving it away, so to speak?”

Here’s what I think today: resourcefulness is a hidden, and necessary talent, of a good writer. Why? Because writers have to be incredibly resourceful to get the information and ideas they need for their craft. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, writing comes down to this mission: organizing and communicating information for a useful purpose. That useful purpose could be entertainment, as in the case of a novel. It could be education, as in the case of a reference or how-to piece. It could be thought-provoking, as with a well-written personal essay.

The point is that no matter what you write, the fact that you are a writer means that you have a hidden talent of resourcefulness. It’s the only way you could be making it as a writer – somewhere inside of you, there is this innate ability to observe, gather, absorb, and remember the information and resources you need to know about in order to write about whatever it is you’re writing.

So the next time someone asks you what you do or what you are, answer: I am an incredibly resourceful writer! (Or, is that redundant?)…

Happy Writing!

Sue aka The Resource Lady