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Your Writing Life

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Listen to Find Your Writer’s Voice

I opened the document eagerly, excited to see the progress my client had made. She had read a book about how to write a book proposal and had dutifully followed its dictates.

But when I read the proposal, I was dismayed. The ‘about the author’ section was particularly awful. It wasn’t that it was poorly written – it was just drafted in someone else’s voice.

My client had followed the advice to write about herself in the third person. But that didn’t work for her book, which was a very personal story.

Don’t take advice – listen instead
In our efforts to find our elusive writing voice, we often seek advice to make it easier. Sometimes being told how to write isn’t as helpful as being taught how to listen.

As a professional listener, I’m always attuned to what’s being said and how. When you tune in, you can hear your voice become clear. Soon, you’ll be empowered to write captivating blog posts, authentic articles, and amazing books – resonating with your authentic voice.

Listening practices for artists of all kinds
These suggestions apply to artists in all media; rather than jumble the article with multiple examples, I invite you to play with these ways to listen for your authentic voice.
[Read more…] about Listen to Find Your Writer’s Voice

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Permission Slip for Creatives

You have permission to be wild.
You have permission to create your most brilliant work.
You also have permission to produce mediocre work.
You have permission to sleep in when you want, and you have permission to play hooky from work when you feel like it.
How does it feel to receive my permission to be yourself? Kind of weird, isn’t it. I mean, who am I to wave my wand and say that you’re free to do this or that?
Yet permission – or lack of it – is one of the biggest issues standing in the way of creative people enjoying their talent. We wait for permission to:

  • be loud
  • be ‘over the top’
  • take risks
  • try a new medium
  • create according to our own rhythm
  • say what we really want to say.

The problem is, we seek permission outside of ourselves. And guess what? That’s never going to come. When it does, you’ll likely shun it, preferring instead your own independent path.
Write your own permission slip. Consider this to be your global permission slip to be and do exactly what you are moved to do. What permission do you need to feel fully expressed, fully and creatively exuberant?

Share your permission slip in a comment below.  Yes, you may.
Give yourself six weeks of permission to focus on your writing – your way, in your style, in my unique online class, Make Writing a Happy Habit, which starts May 16th. Get in now.

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Shed the Weight of Procrastination

When I was twenty, I had surgery that required a local anesthetic. The surgeon told me that if the pain ever got too bad, I could tell him to stop.

Stop?! Why would I want to prolong the pain? I didn’t want any breaks; I wanted it over as quickly as possible. Why would I want to endure the painful situation longer than necessary?

I wonder this same thing about people who procrastinate. They avoid writing content for their web site, filing taxes, or scheduling appointments. They even seem to cling to their procrastinatory habits like an honor badge.

Prolonging the pain and choosing to live in a state of suffering doesn’t make sense to me. Why would anyone want to bear an undone task like a constant weight? [Read more…] about Shed the Weight of Procrastination

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Five (Nasty) Tricks to Make Writing Easier

Ah, the delightfully creative human psyche. We trick ourselves in all sorts of ways to do the things we actually want to do.

Argh....get it!

Try these powerful methods to get yourself to write that blog, book, or article you’ve always wanted to write:

  1. Set yourself up on a caffeine drip.
  2. Use ropes to tie yourself to the chair. You will get BIC – butt in chair – with this method!
  3. Get your spouse to hold you hostage, locking you in a closet with your notebook and pen.
  4. Deprive yourself of food until you do it. Nails two goals at once!
  5. Call yourself names if you don’t do it. Namby-pamby, wannabe writer, loser…those are popular ones.

Have you tried any of these methods to overcome writer’s block? I bet they worked very well. The rope burns showed just how much you struggled to write that poem.
Obviously I’m being facetious here. Abuse and torture do not pave the high path to producing anything. And while caffeine is great for the illusion of brilliance, soon your adrenals are shot.
I’ve got a better way (and it’s fun and sexy too!): free writing.
I have worked with hundreds of writers using the free writing method as popularized by Natalie Goldberg. It works. Trust me.
Join me and your new writing tribe for the online Free Write Fling, which starts tomorrow. Or, if you’re feeling feisty, share your tricks for making yourself write in a comment below.

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The Season to Write

Roman Autumn - I'll be there next week! Holy See!

Autumn brings coziness, breezes, leaves scuttling, orange and red dripping from trees, emerging from the ground and making way to the kitchen and table: soups, squashes and beans. Sweaters, boots, collars turned up, scarves tucking you safely away from autumn’s chill.
Is there any better time to write than autumn? The transition from summer to autumn invites slowness and introspection. Life’s transitions are more apparent in the fall, and writing captures the moments I notice and appreciate.
A daily rhythm of writing helps us slow down, pay attention, and appreciate life. The ritual of writing helps ease the sorrow of seeing summer pass.
I invite you to join me to write every day in October. There’s still time to register for the Free Write Fling, which begins October 1st.
Write your rhythm for 15 minutes every day for the month of October. By the end of it, you’ve got a writing practice that you can commit to easily.
Everyone who finishes all 31 days will be entered into a drawing for two coaching sessions with me. Everyone who completes all the days get a copy of my e-book, Cross the Finish Line: Leap over the Hurdles to Completion.
Register here.
Repeat flingers, contact me to register and get your repeater discount.