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Category Archives: fiction
The Shame I Feel
I’m stupid. I’m inadequate. I am a failure. This is what I grew up believing about myself, and there was no place that proved these points more often, more relentlessly, and more consistently than school. All day long, five days … Continue reading
Posted in Book tour, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, depression, economics, education, emotion, Energy, failure, fiction, History, Listening, Magic, Maintenance, marketing, Pain, Play, privacy, Process, Public appearances, Publishing, research, silence, Society, spaciousness, spirit, Starting a new work, Stillness, Story, Strength, success, survival, The market, the world, Uncategorized, Visibilty, what artists need
Tagged art and profits, character, creative life, life of a writer, literary world, priorities, process, productivity, promotion, public, research, sacred space; writing space; the writer's des, Starting a new work, storytelling, The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson, writing life
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Making Art in the Age of Trump
Writing takes spaciousness. It requires managing time and psychic space. It requires holding part of yourself away from things: reality, jobs, bills, money, even marriage and partnership and family. It requires keeping a large part of your heart and mind … Continue reading
Posted in Book tour, comfort, Community; Genorosity, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, depression, economics, emotion, Energy, failure, fiction, Grief, Listening, marketing, privacy, Process, Public appearances, Publishing, research, silence, Society, spaciousness, Starting a new work, Stillness, Story, Strength, survival, Uncategorized, Visibilty, what artists need
Tagged advice, character, creative life, fear, giving up, life of a writer, priorities, process, productivity, promotion, public, renewal, research, spaciousness, Starting a new work, working, writing life
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Relearning Stillness
For two months I have been on the move within a twelve mile radius. I was forced to leave my beloved studio (dubbed the treehouse) where I have worked and taught my classes for ten years. There was a lot … Continue reading
Posted in comfort, Day by day, emotion, Energy, fiction, Listening, Maintenance, Process, procrastination, silence, Starting Again, Stillness, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized
Tagged busyness, character, dread, fear, life of a writer, not writing, priorities, process, productivity, spaciousness, starting again, stillness, storytelling, Voices
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Soothing the Reader
There is something important to remember and that is that the reader wants you to succeed. The reader of a novel wants nothing more than to forget she is reading. She wants to fall into your fictional world so deeply … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, comfort, Completing a novel, creativity, critique, Decisions, Drafts, emotion, failure, fiction, Uncategorized
Tagged advice, character, details, priorities, process, reader's trance, storytelling
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Free Advice
When you’re a writer, you receive a lot of free advice. A good deal of it (most, I’d say) comes from people who do not write. I’ve been told I have to learn Latin (which I have nothing against, but … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Community; Genorosity, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Elitism, Energy, fiction, happiness, Magic, Play, Process, spirit, success, survival, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized, Wildness
Tagged advice, character, creative life, fantasy, fear, giving up, life of a writer, process, Starting a new work
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The Bridge – short fiction
As if I did not have enough problems, as if my tooth were not aching a dull, constant throb, as if my jaw were not swollen, as if fever from the infection did not have me teetering on the brink … Continue reading
Obsession
My life, my mood, my days, my sleep – everything goes better when I have an obsession. Not the unhealthy kind. Not the does-he-love-me-why-doesn’t-he-call kind of obsession. Not the I-need-a-new-pocketbook-and-complete-wardrobe-overhaul kind of obsession. Not the I- need-to-pull-my-life-up-by-the-roots-and-start-all-over kind of obsession. … Continue reading
Posted in Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, depression, Drafts, Energy, Exploration, failure, fiction, fun with what we do, Grief, Magic, Passion, Play, Process, Prompts, research, Starting a new work, Uncategorized, work
Tagged character, creative life, grief, holy pact, life of a writer, not writing, research, storytelling
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Defining Self
Because I had difficulty absorbing the information given in school, and because I failed tests, I believed that I was stupid. Because I believed that I was stupid, I believed that I was inferior. Because I believed I was inferior, … Continue reading
Posted in Community; Genorosity, Comparison, Competition, creativity, economics, education, Elitism, emotion, Energy, failure, fiction, Gratitude, home, intuition, Philosophy, research, Self-worth, success, survival, The market, Uncategorized
Tagged advice, education, intuition, life of a writer, literary world, research, self esteem, self-worth, success, survival
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Timidity and Standing Fierce
As a child I was timid. I learned early on that my opinions did not matter. If they were heard at all, they were argued with or denied. I did not excel in school. I kept to myself mostly. I … Continue reading
Posted in creativity, Day by day, editors, Energy, fiction, Gratitude, Journaling, Self-worth, silence, Strength, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized
Tagged autonomy, Fierceness, life of a writer, priorities, process, self-worth, success, Timidity, writing life
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On Writing and Balance
This is from a talk I gave at the Franklin County Arts Council Writers’ Guild Spring Retreat on balancing a creative life with a work life. The problem is never time. It’s urgency. How much urgency do you feel? How … Continue reading
Posted in comfort, Comparison, Competition, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, depression, emotion, Energy, fiction, fun with what we do, Grief, Process, silence, spaciousness, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized, Writing career
Tagged advice, character, creative life, fear, giving up, life of a writer, not writing, process, productivity, spaciousness, storytelling, writing life
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