can't talk right now got to write 5,653 words in three days or less with a national holiday in the middle whose idea was it to do this in November my god happy thanksgiving i guess and see you on the other side unless i write myself to death which is possible given i'm feeling… Continue reading NaNoWriMo 2019: Week 4 Update
I've been thinking about scarcity mindset and abundance mindset lately. Generally, as in this NPR interview, they are applied to the way people spend their money or use their resources. Stephen Covey (the man who coined the terms) applied them to the ways people do business. I think there is an application for writers. But first,… Continue reading Scarcity Mindset and the Writing Life
A series of unexpected events including a family health crisis, new job opportunities, and limited writing time have conspired to turn the second half of 2018 into a largely blog-post-less enterprise. Not ideal. I have found writing this blog to be useful, I hope to you, but mostly to me. I am by nature an… Continue reading 2018 Year-End Reflections, part 1
I just got back from a week-long novel-writing retreat in Wisconsin. After recovering from the shock of stepping out of the airport into 95ºF with 80% humidity (and it's not even June God help Kansas), I thought I'd share some reflections from that experience. We often think of ourselves as solitary creatures of coffee shops,… Continue reading Writing in Community
You've set aside a couple of hours to write, and you've been looking forward to it all day. You finally get home. You get your snacks, your tea or coffee, settle down to write, and... You can't find the mental energy to begin the process of writing, or stay in the groove long enough to… Continue reading Why is Writing So Hard?
My writing life is a constant rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs, especially in how I feel about the work I accomplish. I am realizing how much the way I feel effects my writing, and at the same time, that the way I feel does not always match up with reality. My writing times tend… Continue reading Positive Thought Experiment: Writer’s Edition
Almost every writer successful enough to gain a platform to talk about such things prescribes setting a consistent writing time. So, desiring to be a successful writer yourself, and maybe even a good one, you set aside a block of time to write. You look forward to it. You have visions of filling up all… Continue reading Ways to Spend Your Writing Time That Aren’t Writing
I've been thinking a lot about the concept of liminal space. The English word liminal comes from the Latin word limen which means threshold. It is the in-between. Something has ended and the next thing hasn't started. You have left the security of what has been known, but haven't yet entered into a new understanding. You've… Continue reading the in-between
As a vocation, writing can be life-giving one day and draining the next. If we ignore the fact that it is simultaneously the best and most impossible thing, we are not being honest with ourselves. That self-deception is emotionally unhealthy and bad for our writing in the long run. So here's my run at openness… Continue reading writing, identity, and self worth
I haven't been seeing as much progress in my novel as I would like. Novels take time. My brain takes time to understand connections in the story or among characters. I get that. But I was slipping into a kind of stupor with the whole thing, allowing the process to meander rather than chasing the… Continue reading my writing challenge: a case study
Allison Wall 