Inspiration
Why the Middles of Projects are Tough (Part 2): Plus, How to Have Fun Revising!
Middles are Tough. Last time I wrote about how the middles of writing and other projects can be difficult, citing Dante’s Inferno, which begins “midway upon the journey of our life,” and John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, in which the protagonist, Christian, literally bogs down midway, in the infamous “Slough of Despond.” Middles are…
Read More“Her Face Went From Scowl to Peace”: 7 Secrets of the Prolific Helps Lifelong Procrastinator and Her 12-Year-Old Daughter
From the mailbag: I just wanted to thank you for putting together this comprehensive book. I’ve suffered from writers block/perfectionism my whole life, and once in a while I break through, but then get bogged down again. Your book confirmed some of the core discoveries I made overcoming my blocks, but has done so much…
Read MoreIra Glass on Developing Your Creative Skill: Go for Quantity, Not Quality
The below 2 minute video of Ira Glass explaining how the secret to artistic quality is to do a lot of art is well worth your time. Bayles and Orland make the same point in their terrific book Art & Fear. They tell a (true, I believe) story of two pottery classes: One class was…
Read MoreMy Dad’s Finest Hour
My Dad’s finest hour may have been during the famous U.S. Postal Workers Strike of 1970. Per Wikipedia: “At the time, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in collective bargaining. Striking postal workers felt wages were very low, benefits poor and working conditions unhealthy and unsafe. APWU president Moe Biller described Manhattan…
Read MoreAmanda Palmer on Artistic Legitimacy
Musician Amanda Palmer recently gave a keynote at Grub Street Writer’s Muse and the Marketplace Conference. She’s whip smart and really “gets” this brave new world of social media, and so we should always listen to what she has to say. Her talk at Grub was about something much more important than social media: it…
Read MoreHow to Live Your Summer Life All Year Long
Summer is a time for play, but what does your play tell you about the life you’d really like to be living? Many of us, during the summer: Relax Get more athletic Get more sensual (Shakespeare didn’t write A Midwinter Night’s Dream, after all!) Interact more with nature, and Dress more casually and comfortably,…
Read MoreTerre Roche: Happiness Comes From Focusing on the Song, Not the Success
Terre Roche and her sisters were substantially more than a flash in the rock ‘n roll pan in the late 1970’s. Their debut album, The Roches, was number one on the New York Times list for the year 1979. But as she describes in this moving article, massive critical acclaim does not always translate…
Read MoreIn Defense of Self-Help Books
I’m totally loving this Psychology Today post by Deborah Hill Cone on how it’s snobbish to put down self-help literature: I will come clean. At my grimmest moments I would turn again and again to books which helped change my perspective and get “another way of thinking about life” although they might not be the…
Read MoreI Wish Hilary Mantel Were My Sister II: Manuscript Coherence and Polish Come Late in the Writing Process!
As if Hilary Mantel’s wise words on memoir weren’t enough, she also has something great to say about the writing process itself. In answer to the question, “What’s the best thing about writing a book?” she replies: The moment, at about the three-quarter point, where you see your way right through to the end: as…
Read MoreI Wish Hilary Mantel Were My Sister I: Memoir Isn’t Easy
Honestly, I wish Hilary Mantel were my sister. Despite egregiously spelling her name with only one “l”, she is one cool writer. In a New York Times interview she demolishes the naive view that memoir writing is easy: Memoir’s not an easy form. It’s not for beginners, which is unfortunate, as it is where many…
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