“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.” ~Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati WHEN YOU SIT DOWN TO WRITE, do you struggle with lack of focus and creativity? Are you easily distracted by external stimuli? Have trouble clearly envisioning that scene you are trying to write? If so, you’re not alone. […]
I ARRIVED at Copperfield’s fifteen minutes before 1:00 p.m., the time set for the start of my Meet and Greet. A table had already been set up. On top of the table were copies of Accidental Jesus Freak and my bookmarks, attractively arranged. To these, I added a bowl of […]
SO YOU STARTED THE YEAR OUT STRONG. You created your big rock goals, developed an action plan for accomplishing those goals and scheduled time on your calendar. You review your plan frequently to keep yourself motivated. Sure, you’re not perfect, but you’re making progress, and that’s what counts. In fact, […]
OUR RELATIONSHIP TO DEADLINES IS COMPLICATED. From the time we start school — and sometimes even before — we are subject to deadlines in almost every aspect of our lives, from homework to after-school sports. As adults, deadlines stretch from projects at work to bills and taxes due. If you […]
LAUNCHING A BOOK is not for the faint of heart — whether publishing traditionally or doing it yourself. I am reminded of this fact daily now, in my efforts to keep up with all the tasks related to launching my second memoir, Accidental Jesus Freak: One Woman’s Journey from Fundamentalism […]
I AM PLEASED AND HONORED to introduce Sara Etgen-Baker. I met Sara virtually when she submitted her work for inclusion in the anthology, Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s and 70s. Since then, Sara has been a regular reader of and commenter on Writing Through Life, and we […]
ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH, I traveled to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico as a presenter for the 13th annual writers’ conference. If you love writers’ conferences and you’ve never been to San Miguel de Allende, you’ll want to add this to your calendar next year. The San Miguel’s Writers’ Conference […]
DO YOU HAVE TROUBLE GETTING STARTED? Do you schedule writing on your calendar, but when it’s time to write suddenly discover you have too many other commitments or priorities? Or maybe you think you should sit down to write because you promised yourself you would, and you think about it […]
AS PART OF MY NEW SERIES on the Writing Life, I’m happy to offer an interview with Dan Bessie, author of My Mother, the Notebook Lady, a new work of creative nonfiction. I met Dan virtually when he emailed me to ask if I would read his manuscript with an […]
THIS IS THE THIRD of a series on achieving your writing and productivity goals. In Part 2, you created an action plan for your Big Rock goal. (If you haven’t been following along, I suggest you start with Part 1 and read forward.) Today, I want to talk about how to […]
THIS IS THE SECOND of a new series designed to help you create and achieve your writing productivity goals. In last week’s article, Part 1, I showed you how to set your one-word intentional focus for the year and create your “big-rock” writing goal. Part 2 builds on the first, […]
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist WHAT DO YOU DREAM OF being or achieving in your writing life? As the calendar flips to a new year, are you looking forward to new opportunities to bring those […]
