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The work of becoming a prolific writer – someone who writes easily and quickly, and has fun while doing it – is the work of managing your moment-by-moment experience of your writing. Writing is one of those activities that looks easy, but really isn’t. Besides the basic intellectual challenge, writing is also an act of self-exposure, and often to critical or harsh audiences.

“This is all a giant procrastination and you must deal with it. You must.” – Words spoken to author and then-active alcoholic Caroline Knapp by her dying father, also an alcoholic (from Knapp’s book, Drinking: a Love Story) The link between perfectionism and addiction has been well documented, but I’ve come to believe that perfectionism…

Great Expectations: Today’s Babies are Likely to Live to 100, Doctors Predict “And people could be living not only longer, but better, according to doctors writing in the Lancet medical journal, who say that most evidence shows the under-85s are tending to remain more capable and mobile than before. They have more chronic illnesses, such…

So this month I turn 51. (I thought it was 50, but my helpful sisters reminded me…so I’m sending the newsletter I would have sent last year. And, YES, I do regularly forget how old I am. Now back to our regularly scheduled newsletter.) The wonderful thing is, I’m not depressed at all. Sure, the…

An excellent essay by bestselling author Jennifer Crusie on why publishing shouldn’t be the end-all to your writing efforts. She’s got a whole section of advice for writers here

The response to last month’s “confessional” newsletter was amazing – a real outpouring of support. Thank you all so much. Here’s one thought-provoking comment I received: What is it to be professional? When we spend so much of our time working, is it fair to be asked to hide/divorce/suppress big pieces of ourselves that are…

Greed may not be good, but speed sure is. It was only when I got into this line of work that I understood the meaning of the axiom “he who hesitates is lost.” Procrastination – the fear-based inner force that wants you not to complete your projects – will latch onto any feelings of uncertainty…

From Sept. 09 Newsletter – sign up at left. Living With the Dead A haunting tribute to the victims of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina by Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones. My original clipping, now yellowing, is the only thing posted on my refrigerator door other than family photos. JK Rowling Harvard Commencement address,…

(from Sept 09 Newsletter – sign up at left) Dear Friends, I have a confession – I haven’t sent out as many newsletters as I should. Bad form for a business person, and especially bad form for a business coach! I’ve been rationalizing by telling myself that a seasonal newsletter is fine, but that’s really…