Motivation and the Writing Life

Multiple Projects at Once

December 1, 2014November 30, 2014Motivation and the Writing Life

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I try hard not to work on more than one project at a time. But sometimes, with several series, I’ve had to juggle multiple projects at once.

For me, the hardest part is writing two first drafts simultaneously. I think that’s because it takes a bit of time to move out from one story world and into another. Right now I’m outlining two books for a Penguin editor, and working on the first drafts for two different books. Ugh.

Things that I’ve discovered can help:Continue reading

Dealing With Writer’s Block

November 28, 2014November 27, 2014Motivation and the Writing Life

by David Khara, @DavidKhara

I wish I received a dollar every time someone asked me if I suffered from writer’s block—in France, they call it “the blank page syndrome.” You know, those moments when you want to write, you are ready to write, but you can’t seem to write a single word. Ideas keep coming to mind, but don’t seem to make sense. Or worse, every time you write a sentence down, you immediately erase it because you simply hate it.

Actually, I do no suffer from this syndrome, probably because I started writing novels at a fairly advanced age. Still, when I worked in advertising, I had this problem.

I was 21 at that time, and luckily enough, my boss taught me something that made quite a big difference, something I still believe in today: not writing is already writing.Continue reading

Allowing Your Book to Be True to Itself

November 3, 2014November 2, 2014Business of Writing, Motivation and the Writing Life

by Patrick Ross, @PatrickRWrites

“The author has certainly gone on an interesting journey, but I’m afraid the tone is too journalistic for our list. I’m looking for more literary and personal accounts of creativity and personal growth.”

That was a rejection my literary agent received on June 2, 2011, to our proposal for The Artist’s Road, a yet-to-be-written nonfiction work that we pitched as a craft book. It would focus on creative lessons I learned from artists I interviewed on a cross-country U.S. road trip for a documentary video series. My encounters with those artists and their authentic approaches to living an art-committed life had transformed me; part of that transformation was a compulsion to write the story of my trip. Yet my background was journalism; I wrote about others, not myself, and the book proposal reflected that.Continue reading

Goals: On Setting the Bar Low

October 13, 2014October 12, 2014Motivation and the Writing Life

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I’d been going to physical therapy since July for a back issue I’d been having (from sitting. Don’t believe that writing isn’t dangerous).

I’ve been an extremely good patient, if I do say so myself. I’ve done my daily stretches and other exercises. I attended all of my PT appointments.

The only time I balked was early last month when my physical therapist asked me to start going to the gym to use the weight machines. As soon as Carol finished her sentence, I was ready with excuses. I have no time. I’m on a deadline. I don’t enjoy being around large groups of people. I don’t enjoy exercising. I don’t understand the exercise machines. I’m a clumsy person. I don’t have an appropriate workout wardrobe. Continue reading

Writers—Be Careful How You Sit

August 1, 2014July 31, 2014Motivation and the Writing Life

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Today I have another public service announcement for all the writers out there—sitting can be hazardous to your health.

Yes, I know. We thought we had the kinds of jobs where injuries might be limited to paper cuts or possibly dropping a laptop on our foot.

Unfortunately, I’m here to state otherwise. I’ve been in physical therapy for back issues for the last month. Occasionally I wear a hideously unstylish brace that resembles a corset in both appearance and comfort level. Anyone seeing me in the brace has asked, “Elizabeth, what happened?”Continue reading