Friday, April 24, 2020

Ways to Inch Back into Writing--If You've Stalled Out (Some Good Habits to Test Out during a Pandemic)

I subscribe to Jane Friedman's excellent newsletter and the recent article, "Writing from the Bottom Rung." by guest writer Lisa Cooper Ellison hit home (if the link doesn't work, go to her website and search her blog for that title).  

Jane discussed Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the bottom rung is food, shelter, and warmth, the top is self-actualization, where creativity happens.  

Like many of us, she hasn't been writing either.  She reasoned it out:  If the bottom rung is where we are living during this pandemic, then we can't expect to support a productive writing habit.

Make sure that rung is strong enough to support your weight, Jane advised, before trying to move up.  

Friday, April 17, 2020

Online Connection--How to Find Your Virtual Writing Tribe While Sheltering at Home

One of my students emailed me this week with a good question.  He's been part of a writing group and loved the social and creative time.  But now that he's sheltering from home, he wondered what else was available for writers?

So I'm running a past post this week, sharing my tips on how to find your virtual tribe.  Hope they are helpful to those of you self-isolating and looking for writerly companionship.

***

Nikki, who travels a lot, took one of my writing workshops and recently emailed me with a great question:  how do you find a writing group or writing partner when you can't physically meet regularly?

Friday, April 10, 2020

Making Time for Writing When You Have Nothing to Do

Last week I taught my first Zoom class to five writers from across the U.S. when our weeklong retreat in Santa Fe was cancelled thanks to Covid.  Two were working on memoirs, two on novels, all in progress.  Each day, we gathered to learn and inspire each other virtually.  I read their writing and offered feedback.  They were patient as I practiced intricacies of teaching remotely.  I think we all learned a lot.


Our final Zoom meeting was especially heart-opening.  We talked about our lives and our writing during this pandemic.  How a retreat away from "life" gave time and space to really sink in.  But writing while living maybe gave us practice at fitting writing into each day.

Friday, April 3, 2020

Three Practices to Keep Creatively Healthy Right Now

I'm back to writing this week.  You may not be, yet.  I've heard from a steady stream of students and coaching clients and many are still stalled out, unable to resume a book project.  Life in its new normal demands ridiculous amounts of time.  A recent foray to shop for produce took five hours out of my day, given the protective gear, the controlled shopping experience, the time to clean everything when I got home.

It's understandable, too, that fear for self, family, friends, the world can prevent any creativity.  Who has time or energy for it?  And is it really that important, in the face of all that's happening?

Three Different Storyboards to Map Your Book's Structure

I love the random approach to writing a book (islands, a term coined by Kenneth Atchity in Write Time, appeal to me most).  

Storyboards, however, keep me honest.  

They tell me when that random writing has veered too far off my book's purpose.