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Cafe Sounds for Creativity
Posted on August 11, 2013 6 Comments
One of the first posts I wrote here had to do with finding the right place to write. For me, that meant sitting in the library. But after a few months, my creative juices dried up. I think the space was too quiet. So then I got a desk for the bedroom at home and […]
Writing Advice from F. Scott Fitzgerald
Posted on July 25, 2012 3 Comments
Hat tip to Flavorwire for shining a light on this piece of advice published on Letters of Note. It’s from F. Scott Fitzgerald to the aspiring writer at the time, Frances Turnbull, who sent him a story for comment while she was a student at Radcliffe. (The Turnbulls owned a summer house called La Paix, […]
Emotion Is Not Always What, But Where
Posted on July 19, 2012 3 Comments
A writer’s ability to evoke emotion is the one skill that separates the greats from the mediocres. I’ve been compiling advice, articles, chapters, blogs posts and more that explain how a write can evoke emotion. So far, all of the examples, tips, and devices and I’ve read explain what to do, and I wrote about this […]
Fiction Should Evoke Emotion
Posted on July 18, 2012 1 Comment
The most important thing a piece of fiction can to do is evoke emotion in the reader. This is the goal of all art, isn’t it? To evoke emotion? The question is, how do the great writers do it? I’ve been digging around on this subject quite a bit lately and I have to say, […]
Series of Writing Lessons from the New York Times
Posted on July 10, 2012 2 Comments
I wanted to point you to a wonderful series of writing lessons that recently appeared in the New York Times. I stumbled upon the last of eight entries written by Constance Hale, a journalist based in San Francisco. This column was devoted to the voice of the storyteller. What I liked about it is that […]
Stay With Your Crap
Posted on June 11, 2012 16 Comments
This past Saturday I had difficulty writing. I knew what the problem was right away. I have absorbed a lot of craft ideas as a result of writing this blog, which doesn’t sound like a problem. In fact, it sounds like an advantage. After all, I’m reading as a writer and seeing with greater clarity […]
You Might Not Know What’s Good for You
Posted on May 30, 2012 9 Comments
This is a post about taking advice from other writers, particularly published writers. But before I get into that, I want to share a quick personal anecdote. Recently, I started going to a fitness trainer who is trained as a functional movement specialist. After listening to my goals and then assessing my flexibility and balance, […]