It has been said that to read is to inhale and to write is to exhale. I would expand that to say that experience is inhalation and creation is exhalation. Reading is just one way of experiencing the world. It allows you to live experiences not your own, but it’s also important to gather your own lived experiences. If you’ve read my work for any length of time, you’re aware of how I exhale (i.e. create), but today I’d like to talk about what I inhale. What you take in has a great deal to do with what you produce, and I’ve found that a balance of the following seven…
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Being Haunted by That One Story
What if I told you I’ve been working on the same story for twelve years? I’ve outlined and attempted to start this story multiple times, but it always fails. And whenever I try to explain the concept to someone, it’s too vague to describe. It lives in the back of my mind while I work on other projects, always searching for inspiration. I’ve collected images on Pinterest, made countless playlists, and drawn or designed its characters again and again. Pages of thoughts litter my inspiration notebook, going back generations of notebooks in my desk drawer. I feel like Charles Muntz tracking the bird in the movie Up, when he tells…
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My Writing Space Essentials
Writers are strange, often solitary creatures. And like all creatures, they require the correct habitat in order to thrive. Proper care and feeding can help your writer produce better quality and more consistent work, and though it cannot guarantee they will keep their butt in the chair and their hands on the keys, it can certainly help. Specifically, every writer has his or her own hang-ups when it comes to their writing space. Here are some of mine! It’s probably fairly typical for a creator to need a space that minimizes distractions and interruptions. But I also think it’s important to minimize feelings of self-consciousness. Maybe you’ve had this problem:…
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Wisdom From My Aunt, on Canvas
This amateur painting I made hangs above my desk, reminding me of the wisdom my aunt uses to get through the highs and lows of creating. Read the full story here.
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The 10 Work Boundaries I Live By
With a whiff of the upcoming busy season at my job in the air, I felt the resurgence of my burning passion for the boundaries I use to keep myself healthy and happy, even in the corporate world. So without further ado, these are the rules I live by. I can imagine the possible objections to these rules, so let me address some of them briefly. Work is a necessary means to an end, and I hope you have or gain the courage and know-how to take control of your side of that transaction.
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My Top 5 Tips to Optimize Your Writing Process
Every writer wants to know new ways to help them write more, better, or more often. I’ll let you in on my own routine for kicks and giggles, but remember it always comes down to what works for you. It’s really a matter of trial and error. So what works for me might leave you stymied, and what works for you might end in me scrolling Pinterest instead of typing words.So without further ado… My Top Writing Process Tips: Routine and Habitat 1. Make playlists. If you’re like me, music can be a double-edged sword: rife with inspiration, but a sucker for your attention if you’re not careful. Some writers…
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An Argument for Cross-Genre Fiction
There’s no denying that categorization can be useful. It can help us find what we want. But I have to be honest: I hate book genres. In some ways, I can appreciate knowing what to expect in the form of parameters. If you know you love romance and require a happy ending, you know where to look. If your favorite thing is clever world-building, sci-fi is probably your friend. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than searching the whole bookstore for something you’ll like. (Take it from somebody who generally ends up doing just that.) But no matter how you cut it, I’ve got beef with genres in general, and…
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Please Do Not Feed the Pigs: A Critical View of the Traditional Publishing Industry
Hey. You. Starry-eyed writer. You. Listen to me. I know you just want to write your stories and, God willing, get paid for it, but there is a crowd of people who will offer to help you get published. *takes your little face in my hands* Don’t assume you can trust them, nor that you actually need what they’re offering. Let’s face it: new authors are scared and impressionable, and that makes us easy targets. This industry is like a secret society; it feels like you can’t find an in anywhere, no matter how good your writing is. So whenever someone waves and calls, “Yoohoo! New writers! I know what…
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Why You Should Write That Thing
The only thing writers are better at doing than writing is making excuses. (Admit it! You know it’s true.) And one of our favorite things to excuse ourselves for is, ironically, not writing. Now, if you’re a writer, this is not news to you. Probably you’re reading this article about why you should Write That Thing so that you don’t have to actually open the document and write it. I see you. (And I’m here preaching to you instead of hashing out my latest novel. So we’re even.) But I’m not here to talk about procrastination. I’m talking about stifling a story. I don’t know how inspiration comes to other…
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The Big Question: Why Self Publish?
What do you think when you hear the words “self publishing”? It’s okay, you can be honest here, if only with yourself. If you’re like many people, your first thought might have been, “Were they not good enough to get published traditionally?” Like it or not, self publishing has had quite a stigma attached, and while its image is improving, there are still negative connotations to fight through, not to mention a major lack of knowledge on the subject. That’s why I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about what led me to the decision to self publish and let you in on the questions I asked…