The fears we don’t face become our limits.

I doubt Robin Sharma was talking about research when she penned that. Researching books. Anne Lamott's advice is to actually speak with other human beings. She used the word "phone," at which point I began to skim, to mentally prepare my grocery list. I wasn't taking her advice, not at all. Like most writers, I …

Write to help yourself make sense of things.

My therapist says feelings aren't wrong. Actions can be, but not feelings. My therapist allows me to email her. Yes, I'm very lucky to have her, and no. You can't have her name. I'm a little possessive of her time. Writing my thoughts is good for me, she says. I agree. And it's not just …

When DID You Stop Beating Your Story?

All writers beat their stories.  Don't give me that look; they do. Any writer who wants to be read, who doesn't keep the stories to himself and tries (oh how hard he tries) to find an audience, that writer will beat and be beaten by his stories, often simultaneously. Whether or not he rises again …

Writing Advice from Lizards

Run fast, stand still. In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping. - Ray Bradbury Learning from iguanas. Close enough.

Spontaneous 10: Outlines, Like Recipes, Are Negotiable

Even if I have all the ingredients, I feel this uncontrollable urge to substitute things. It's not always easy to follow a recipe, but— can we agree— it's less risky? There's a frontiersman in me that doesn't want to take a well-worn path, even to chocolate cake. Where's the fun (or artistry) in that? My …

Language is Not the Star

A tide of writerly emails swamps my inbox each day. Everyone has advice on how to write and how to write better and how not-to-give-up-when-everyone-hates-your-work and here's some literary flash fiction. Here's some atrocious flash fiction from somebody you accidentally followed. Here's a Ted Talk. Here's some poetry. Here's this new author, that new agent. …

My Procrastination Protocol

Recently, I read an article that revealed a particular form of procrastination that mimics responsibility. And guess what? I do it. Maybe you do, too. Here's the thing. I am NOT guilty of cyberloafing, and I recently became that person who divorced Facebook and am now living under a rock, socially speaking. I write and …

Fear Gets it Done

This act of turning formless fear into places and characters [is] what a good writer does. - Rebecca Moon Ruark When I have written, and my task is to revise, revise, revise—that's my sweet spot. This can only happen after I've actually done the grunt work of pulling a story from who-knows-where, that mystical place …

Writing is a Solitary Pursuit. Being Read, a Sociable One.

Writing is a solitary pursuit. I remember telling my professor-uncle I wanted to be a writer. His response was that I should prepare for a painful, lonely existence. I was in college and had taken a few writing classes. Still high on workshop praise and being ever the pragmatist, I decided writing was the "career" …

Spontaneous 7 Oxymoron: Thin-Skinned Writer

  If you're a writer, you may start out thin-skinned, but if you're to survive, you can't possibly stay that way. Most writers fall into the craft because of some strategically-timed compliments, generally given by authority figures and well-meaning English teachers in our formative years. This is usually coupled with an insatiable appetite for reading. …