Last week, in the midst of a busy coaching schedule, a busy writing schedule, and my always busy family life, I took time out for some creative banking. I don’t mean I did some funny business with my income tax prep. I do mean I took stock of past, present, and future writing projects, and I discovered how much I have in my creative “bank”. If you’ve been writing for any length of time, you have projects you’ve left simmering on the back-burner and projects you’ve just plain left behind because it was time to move on. Those that are …
Tag: creative energy
GUNG HAY FAT CHOY–HAPPY YEAR OF THE OX!
The start of each new year offers us the chance to begin again, at least in heart and spirit. It is a time to celebrate renewal and rebirth; a time to initiate new projects and to set new goals. We may also need to restate our commitment to ongoing projects at this time. If you weren’t ready to fully embrace the “new” on January 1st, tomorrow offers a second chance. This Chinese New Year–the Year of the Ox–begins on January 26th, and it is the year’s biggest celebration in China and much of Asia. Also called the Lunar New Year …
WELCOMING SILENCE
Weeks into this new year I’m coming out of a silence. Don’t misunderstand. I have been writing and working. And through the holidays–which extend through Chinese New Year in our household–I’ve been social. But I’ve also felt the desire and the need to retreat into reflection whenever possible. At this darkest time of the year, just past the winter solstice, this yearning for silence makes sense on many levels. It represents the time and space to let my creative spirit rest. It is a necessary and welcome element of replenishment, healing, and rejuvenation. It is the white space on the …
ANXIETY AND IMPULSE
Today–a special day for me–I’m sharing a quote from Hackneys, Huskies, a Glimmer Train essay by author Roxana Robinson, the award-winning author of four novels and three short story collections. To read the essay in its entirety visit glimmertrain.com. “All of the fiction I write arises from the same sort of impulse: it’s a feeling of discomfort, a kind of unspecified anxiety, a need to uncover something that troubles and disturbs me. I write toward that feeling. I try to explain it to myself in order to disarm it, to rob it of its potency. I don’t know how this …
QUOTE OF THE DAY–DIGGING FOR DEMONS
I’ve taken today’s quote from Les Edgerton’s nifty book HOOKED: Write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go. “The best sources for significant story problems reside within yourself in the form of your personal demons. The very best writers are those who are courageous enough to go deep inside themselves to face and expose the warts and hidden and forbidden feelings most of us want to hide from or deny, at least to others. Not everyone is able to face his demons and bring them out to the light of day, but if you …
MAKE MEANING
In his book OUT OF OUR MINDS: LEARNING TO BE CREATIVE, Sir Ken Robinson writes that creativity “…is applied imagination. To call someone creative suggests they are actively producing something in a deliberate way…a first definition of creativity then is imaginative processes with outcomes in the public world…” It takes courage to put yourself and your creations into the world. With sharing comes risk–of rejection, of visibility, of success. Whatever your fear, applaud your commitment to creativity. Each creative offering adds energy to the collective desire to make meaning. Each creative offering is a message to others: Be courageous, take …
SURREY INTERNATIONAL WRITERS’ CONFERENCE 2008
I’ve just spent an energized and informative weekend presenting at the 2008 Surrey International Writers’ Conference, located in Surrey, just outside Vancouver B.C. This year’s author presenters included Donald Maass (also a well-known literary agent), Hallie Ephron, Diana Gabaldon, Anne Perry, Phillip Margolin, and Jack Whyte. Agents, editors, and publishers attended from the U.S. as well as Canada. At least one author signed a contract this weekend, and several attendees from past years were here to celebrate publication of their first book. Over the years I’ve attended quite a number of conferences. I’ve added Surrey to my list of favorites. …
SURREY INTERNATIONAL WRITERS’ CONFERENCE
From October 23 to October 27 I will be presenting at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, just a few miles outside Vancouver B.C. I hope to post while I’m there, and I look forward to sharing the highlights on this blog. Wishing you free flow and abundant creative energy.
CREDO — IN LIFE, IN FICTION
Credo (Latin for “I believe”) is traditionally a statement of religious belief. It is also a statement of personal belief, whether you subscribe to a religious tradition or not. If you’ve listened to any of the personal essays from the long-running public radio series, “This I Believe,” you’ve heard a variety of credos. For writers, credos are especially powerful. The act of penning your credo on paper will remind you of your deepest beliefs. These are the beliefs that inspire you to write. You may have done this before; if so, you might be surprised how many writers have never written …
INTENTION & COMMITMENT–YOUR CONTRACT WITH YOURSELF
This post is taken from material I use in my workshop: The 90-Minute Novel. Over the next weeks, as I prepare to teach at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in B.C., I will continue to post exercises from the workshop. Many of them are applicable to writers of memoir as well as fiction. The Contract: When you sell your book to a publisher, you will be asked to sign a company contract. Now, wherever you are in the process of your new writing project, I am asking you to sign a contract with yourself. This contract means you will:A) Aim …